I know.   You were all set to try a kuguri-sashi sashiko stitching project, but then...

 How much thread do you need for these preprinted Kuguri-sashi fabrics?

Basic technique for Kuguri-sashi explained

Kuguri-sashi is one-stitch sashiko stitching and a needle weaving technique combined in a two step process to create beautiful textured cloth...

Why leave some slack thread in your sashiko stitching?

You are putting a lot of thick sashiko thread between the warp and weft threads of the fabric as you stitch. This is going to make the fabric bunch up as the stitching gets more dense. It has too, the width of that thread is forcing the threads of the fabric to push up against each other closer and closer as your stitching progresses.

What to do?

Tutorial for stitching sashiko and weaving design

This blog will walk you through stitching the hemp leaf design. It is part of part of the Hemp Leaf and Coin design, a preprinted fabric kit by Olympus.

Sashiko and weaving projects use sashiko stitching to create a firm base of stitching through which other threads can be woven to create a textured design. 

Start by...

Many of us enjoy stitching the 12" x 12" ready to stitch preprinted sashiko sampler designs made by Olympus, Japan. We just aren't sure what they are for! Recently new ones came available and the header on them calls them Hana-fukin, so I looked it up.

Hana-fukin is the name for a useful household cloth.  It could be a tea towel or dish cloth, or a clean square of cloth to put under a meal, or use in the center of a table, or to cover a bowl of fruit or eggs, or to cover cooling cookies or cake....