potd - Sashiko Zokin

I've just put out a  big bundle of hand-stitched zokin cleaning cloths made from old cotton remnants, probably from the middle of the last century but unused.   A bit boro.

potd - Old Sashiko Books

A few wonderful old 1970's and 80's sashiko books for some retro inspiration...

potd - Laundry

Summer is a good time to clear the shop laundry basket and I've been washing old indigo fairly constantly for the last week or two. These are  old  futon cover panels and some garment linings dating from early to mid 20th century (some a little older) - some hand woven, some not.   I unpick the panels, defluff  where necessary, cut them into usable pieces,  iron and sort  according to their condition, size and use. There is no waste at all. This is a little bit time consuming so I never have as much old plain indigo in the shop as I'd like.  Hopefully this summer blitz will remedy that.
At the textile auctions this  plain indigo is just  called  uraji ('lining') and is what has traditionally been used for sashiko stitching for 300 years or more since cotton and indigo both became widespread in Japan. As well as sashiko, cotton was recycled in traditional rag weaving (sakiori), made into bags, cords etc -  and the  rough patchwork that we now value as 'boro'. In the north of Japan,  where it was too cold to grow cotton,  bales of fabric  remnants were imported from the south.  My customers are using the fabric for sashiko and  patchwork projects and I love knowing that we are continuing the recycling tradition.
 The women who first dyed, wove and stitched these pieces couldn't have imagined them ending up on my  clothesline in Tasmania ...which is today's photo of the day...

potd - Zokin

We've got another bundle of old hand-stitched zokin cleaning cloths...

potd - Sashiko Furoshiki

Large, late 19th - early 20th century  well-used  and patched  furoshiki wrapping cloth with sashiko stitching

potd - Zokin

Handstitched zokin cleaning cloths dating  from around the middle of the last century. Someone went to the trouble to stitch a big pile of these (I've already sold quite a few)  and they were never used. It was traditional in Japan to turn fabric remnants into cleaning cloths in this way, often  more carefully stitched than these ones. We've had them in the shop before and customers seem to use them as table mats.

FAQ - What do you do?

Customers often ask me what kind of sewing I do and they're often surprised that I don't  make kimonos, that I'm not a quilter and that I rarely sew with silk.  The truth is that I do very little sewing!  I'm usually kept busy enough preparing fabric for the shop - and being a mum. I never use a sewing machine unless I really really have to. My taste  and temperament leans very much towards more rustic handstitching.  I'm very interested in all traditional Japanese techniques for re-using and recycling old fabrics but I'm not good at all with little fiddly things (like the oshie in my previous post  for example). I love and appreciate so many of these traditional crafts  and I guess I could become better at that kind of work if I persevered, but it's not what I enjoy making.  Here are some pieces that show what I do enjoy.

I made the first pieces some years ago for an exhibition that my sewing group put on in the shop.

This is a sashiko furoshiki wrapping cloth that I use as a table cloth in the shop. It's about  60cm square and is stitched on  a piece of old futon cover.  Some years ago I found an article in a Japanese magazine about an old lady from Kyushu  who was doing the most amazing random freehand sashiko . I've seen very few other examples of it but I enjoy doing it myself and like how it looks.  These coasters and mats were also for the exhibition:

 

 

This is a silk komebukuro (rice bag) style drawstring  bag that I finished  recently. I had started it years ago and purposely left it unfinished for  komebukuro workshops. It's quite big ( a useful size for storing things) which made my husband comment that I couldn't really call a bag that size a  kombukuro. I like this style of working with random sized  strips.

 

 

This is the first, much smaller,  bag I made for the komebukuro workshop, using antique cottons.

 

 

This piece of patchwork is a detail from a quilt (it will be tied not actually quilted) that I've been working on for years and will eventually finish one day  - maybe. The squares are about 5 cm square but you can see that precision isn't really my thing! Again,  I like the randomness of it.

 

 

 

Lately I've started working on some traditional sashiko cotton hanafukin cloths for a potential workshop. These dishclothes were the kind of  stitching that women would sit and work on in the evenings to recycle their  cotton remnants. The one on the left is hitomezashi stitching  which is a kind of sashiko done in straight lines of vertical and horizontal running stitch on a grid. But again my taste is always to the more simple and I prefer the simple lines of the second one.

 





 

I haven't run any workshops for a few years now. We don't have very much space and as the shop got busier it became too difficult to run them  when we're open. I'm thinking of starting a limited programme again in the new year. One  of the workshops I'm working on is Ainu embroidery.  The Ainu are an indigenous people of northern Japan and I will post about Ainu textiles again in future.  I still have a lot of work to do to prepare for this workshop  -  my embroidery skills leave a lot to be desired. These are some of my  first attempts  - they don't have the same flare as original Ainu pieces - and please don't look too closely at the stitching!

 

 

 







 

 



In Store...

I've just put out a few more netsuke, including these three that are still attached. The first is a smooth, flat  gourd design and is attached to a leather lined kinchaku which probably dates from Meiji period. I love this:

 

This tiger and bamboo netsuke is a little older and is attached to an old tobacco pouch in not very good condition:

 

 

The last one is a delicate shiitake design netsuke attached to a small  damaged inro (case for medicine etc) . The inro doesn't really have any value but it's nice to have the little set together.

 

 

I've just put out a couple more rolls of silk shibori.  They both date from about the 1960's. I haven't had a lovely roll of allover kanoko shibori in the shop before:

 

 

This vibrant pink one is quite lovely:

 

 

 

I have these cotton bundles for sale on my website as well. They're made up of  antique indigo remnants in varying conditions. They're perfect  for  quilters and textile artists with a taste for 'boro' and all things rustic.

 

 

I had these lovely old Japanese glass beads in the shop a few years ago and just discovered that I still had some more (it's like that here!)  Based on the original packaging I think they date from mid 20th century.

 



 

 

Customers sometimes ask if I sell fabric with pre-printed sashiko patterns.  We only sell old indigo for traditional sashiko  ( you can of course do sashiko designs on any fabric that your needle and thread go through!) and I have never tried to source new sashiko fabrics pre-printed or plain. I like the character of the old fabrics and they usually have a more open weave which is easy to stitch.  I unpick most of the sashiko fabric from old futon covers and sometimes work jackets and linings ( we usually refer to this fabric as 'uraji' which just means lining).  I wash it, de-fluff it (it often still has old futon wadding stuck to it)  and  because it's  never in perfect condition divide it up into usable pieces (including remnants and patched pieces).  I decided to put patterns on some of the smaller panels. They're ready to stitch  to use as panels in quilts or smaller projects or you can just hem them to use as a table mat. If  they sell I'll keep doing it... it really doesn't take long to transfer a pattern with chalk paper.

 

 

 

It's impossible to put everything we have  in the shop on my website.  If you're ever interested in purchashing something from my 'in store' posts and can't make it into the shop  just give me a call or send me an email.  

 







 

 

 





Gallery: Zyta's Sashiko Hanten

This is a truly amazing sashiko hanten jacket  that my customer Zyta Cwalinska has created using patches of antique indigo cotton from our shop.

 Zyta only began sashiko last year and her first piece  was one of the viewers' choice winners in our exhibition in October.  Zyta's hanten was inspired by traditional sashiko stitched and patched fishermen's hanten. She has  beautifully stitched the lining as well  but somehow I forgot to get photos so I'll add them later if I get a chance. 

 

 

Zyta's sashiko reflects what I love about a lot of old sashiko. It's a very individual piece which is full of character and shows the hand of the person who created it.  There is a warmth to Zyta's stitching which has been lost in many modern sashiko projects. We think of sashiko being traditionally done on plain indigo but it was often stitched on patterned indigos such as kasuri (ikat) as well. The floral  katazome panels wouldn't have been typical on fishermen's hanten but give it a more feminine feel and look stunning.  The combination of the fabric pattern and the sashiko pattern makes each panel in the jacket unique and gives another dimension to its character.  Many thanks to Zyta for letting me share these photos of her amazing work.