Stitch Club :: Sashiko

After exploring kantha-stitching for the first month of Alison Glass' Stitch Club, I was pretty excited to see what was up next. Sashiko! Something I have admired for sure but never ever dabbled with. I originally had three projects in mind, but ended up settling on just two, omitting the final one where I would actually mark a design on fabric.

So first, I used Alison's Observatory Pulsar in Meteorite, which actually has +s printed right on it. I chose the color I did as it was dark blue and off-white, a clear nod to traditional sashiko. I stitched right over the +s with #8 perle cotton, not traditional, but great for a first try. The design is called a modified Asagao, and I purposely stitched on an oblong piece of fabric - about 6 1/2" x 18" because I had a tentative final project in mind. And just for the record, I backed it with a length of Kona cotton for my stitching.

I really enjoyed the stitching! I suspect the distance between the +s was larger than might be traditional, and the finished stitching is somewhat loose, but it really was a fun way to go.



So having recently made a Modern Japanese Rice Bag using the pattern by @kzstevens, I thought that would be a perfect pattern to use with my very first sashiko piece. I forewent the boro patches and stitching and just let my saskiko be the focal point.

A favorite detail of this bag are the drawstring casings which are especially fun with a mix of fabrics.

And I was so happy that I had enough left of the Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric that I used in the first bag that I could use it for a bit of the exterior plus the lining of this new bag. The piece is Rose Petals - neutrals on gray. "arbre Rose" translated means "pink tree" in English.

For my second Sashiko project, I chose to purchase an all-over pattern printed on 100% cotton Sashiko cloth from a Japanese company. The one I chose was 12" square with a Kaku-Shippo design. I used an off-white Japanese sashiko cotton thread that I purchased from snuggly monkey with Tulip long sashiko needles. I enjoyed stitching this piece very very much.

Once complete, I chose a simple Table Mat pattern from Simple Sashiko by Susan Briscoe.

I used Essex Linen in Ivory for the backing, as it pretty much matched the thread I used. What drew me to this pattern, besides its simplicity and being something I would actually use, was the way the 'backing' peeks out on the sides by just 1/8", and is secured by hand-stitching. Something about that little detail really 'fit' for me.

So I don't expect that Sashiko will be my go-to stitching going forward, but I was more than happy to give it a try.

If you missed my June Stitch Club project, you'll find it here.