Sashiko Blog

Sashiko? Kogin? Hitomezashi? Boro? What are we stitching?

Which one are you stitching? 

Sashiko? Kogin? Hitomezashi? Boro? 

What all 4 techniques have in common, and how they differ...

How do you know it's Japanese Boro?

every culture has this practice in it's history. Before cloth was mass produced

Indigo blue cloth and sashiko stitching

....when manufactured cotton cloth became available, the peasant class continued to use indigo to over dye their sashiko stitched garments and bedding. The indigo strengthened the cloth, and no doubt gave coherence to the pieced and patched garments and household linens....

White cotton thread and sashiko stitching

....The wives being often too poor to purchase bundles of rags individually would group together to purchase, clean, sort and sashiko stitch the rags together to make clothing, bedding and household fabrics. It is around this time that white cotton thread appears in sashiko stitching.

A Little Bit About Symbolism in Sashiko

How does symbolism in design happen?

...I think its likely that women doing this stitching found it more interesting if they based the designs on things that had meaning for them. This would account for why designs that represent the sea and fishing are found on the coastal fishing peoples clothing (diamond waves for example) and designs having to do with crops (plowed fields, windblown grasses) are found on the clothing of the inland farming peoples.

A Bit of Sashiko History

Wonder about the fabric sashiko was originally stitched on,
and how the designs were transferred to the cloth?