I thought I’d show you a few samples of sashiko stitching used as an embellishment on other projects today.   I use sashiko thread and stitch a few random lines on prints and plain fabrics quite often just to add texture and interest.  The thing to remember when doing it is to make your stitches  – I know you know the rest of this sentence! - about the length of a grain of rice on the top and about 1/3 that length on the back.  This spacing keeps your brain, and therefore your eyes, interested. It is easy for your eyes to understand it as a solid line, yet it is more interesting than an actual solid line.

Here are examples of sashiko stitched lines used on pieced print fabrics. The projects would be good enough without the stitching, but it gives them just that extra bit of interest.

Another option is to use sashiko stitched lines to give interest to a plain fabric like this linen bag

You get the idea.

Sashiko thread comes in 20 colors, plus about 6 variegated colors. I think I explained how to cut and braid the thread before you use it somewhere else in this blog. This keeps the skeins from becoming tangled messes!

Okay, one more picture – this is my new needle book kit (there are only a few). You can find it on A Threaded Needle, along with the bag handles, sashiko threads, metal purse frames and kits (including the taupe clasp purse with the two little birds), and some of the fabrics in these pictures.  The metal frames come with patterns and are surprisingly easy.

If you are in the Vancouver area, A Threaded Needle (me) will be at the North Vancouver Lion’s Gate Quilt Show June 8 and 9. Its in the Delbrook Rec. center. We would love to see you.  We will also be going to the Edmonton Creative Stitches and Crafting show in September this year.

Talk to you again, soon maybe

Cheers,

Susan

No matter what your craft, there is always the preparation, and getting that right can make such a difference to enjoying the rest of your project and having it turn out well.  I’ve been meaning to get this information on this site for some time. When I first encountered sashiko stitching I loved the look, but the problem transferring the design onto dark blue fabric almost made me give it up!

Directions I found back then amounted to actually graphing and drawing the design onto your fabric directly using a ruler and chalk pencil. Not only was that painfully not fun, the design rubbed away before the stitching was done.   Then iron away white pens seemed a solution, but I still couldn’t abide the graphing part.

So I made some full size sashiko patterns and discovered the following method.

Method 1

Begin with your sashiko design, a permanent ink fine tip pen, some white featherweight fusible interfacing (pellon) (non-woven is best), tape and a ruler.

Tape the pattern to your table. Tape the interfacing glue side (the rough side) down over the pattern. Tape it to the table.  Using the ruler and pen trace the design onto the interfacing.

Now lay the interfacing, glue side down, over the back of your fabric and using a medium heat iron, fuse the interfacing to the fabric. (The glue heats, melts and fuses the interfacing to the fabric) Begin in the middle of your design and iron gently toward the edges. I lift and set my iron, rather than sliding it. This helps to keep the interfacing from pulling out of shape.

Now your design is securely on your fabric. It won’t rub away as you do the stitching, it will stay easy to see, and it will stabilize the fabric a little without changing how it feels.  You will leave the interfacing on the fabric when you are done, there is no need to remove it, it will be covered in your finished project.

One more detail: you will be stitching from the BACK of the fabric.  Try it before you agree with yourself that you can’t do it.  It’s actually just as easy to stitch this way plus  you have better control when you are turning corners and crossing over open spaces. Remember to make your long stitches on the finished side tho!

Method 2.

Okay, say you hate method 1 for some reason I can’t imagine (or because you are stitching on a finished garment and can’t put interfacing on the back)  I think your best method for transferring the design in this case would be to use white sewing carbon.  Lay it over your fabric, waxy side down. Position your pattern over it and trace over the design lines. Check at the beginning to make sure the carbon is showing up on your fabric as you trace.

This method is quick and good for small area, but rubs away if you are stitching a large area.

Method 3.

So here is another option, tho its really an expanding of the second method. After you trace the design onto your fabric using the sewing carbon, trace over it again with an iron away marker.  Now it will stay put while you do the stitching.

Sorry,since I never transfer by either of these methods I have no pictures!

Cheers

Susan

What is a blog entry without  pictures? I wish I had taken pictures of the booth, but I forgot to pack the camera. I will take it to the Creative Sewing & Crafting show in Abbotsford (Tradex Conference Centre) the 23, 24th and bring back pictures then.  For now, the best I can do is a few sashiko projects you haven’t seen yet.

This picture was sent to me by Val Wojtula who teaches sashiko in BC, Canada. She designed it and made the hanging, and I expect she teaches it.  You can find her contact information in Resources in the top menu bar.

This one is a combination of a Sylvia Pippen sashiko and applique pattern (Coreopsis) and a traditional sashiko design (Paving Stones) designed and stitched by Julie Burns. She will be with us at the Tradex Creative Stitches Show March 23,24. Hurray!

To everybody we met in Victoria, thank you again.

Susan

This large runner (it could also be used for a bed footer) is going to be our next  e-mail sashiko project.  Some of you have done this with us before.  It works like this: you sign up to get our newsletter at www.athreadedneedle.com and that gets you the information you need to sign up and for buying your materials for the project.

Then you get a series of e-mails (these are free) with step by step photo directions for making the project as we all make it together.  This is a bigger project than some we’ve done, so I would guess there will be about eight e-mails over about eight weeks, the first to show piecing the runner top, then one each showing the sashiko stitching for each new sashiko  circle, then one more to show putting it all together.

This is a good way to learn sashiko stitching. Its also a good way to be part of a group if you live in a rural area.

When the project is done your name will remain on our general e-mail list so you will know when we do another project, but we don’t send weekly, let alone daily e-mails! I try for monthly, but that doesn’t always happen either.

Did I give a start date? How about early April?  But if you are interested sign up for the newsletter now so you get on the sign up list and get the supply list.

This will be fun!

Cheers,

Susan

The again, maybe not, I’ve been so busy scrambling to get patterns published, new samples made, and meters and meters and meters of cotton and linen/cotton fabric cut and folded.  Who knew that would take so long?

So…I’m just going to send you somewhere else for your sashiko/indigo fix this week (-:  Once again, you can see how indigo and sashiko are so linked in my mind that I think of one as the extension of the other.

The process and textiles on this site make me feel like crying they are so beautiful.  I want to quit everything I am doing and do this too.

http://rickettsindigo.com/indigo/Farming/IndigoFarming.html

Talk to you soon,

Susan

That being established, here is something I wondered about and am drawing my own conclusion.

Why don’t we get tired of the traditional sashiko designs?   What makes them still ‘work’ for us even after looking at them for several years, as I have been doing?

They are, after all, pretty simple looking geometric designs.

Here is why I think our brains remain pleased and interested.  I took the following passage from a book called Fractals, The Patterns of Chaos, Discovering a New Aesthetic of Art, Science and Nature by John Briggs.  He writes:

“To make great artworks, artists must find ….just the right balance of harmony and dissonance to create tension and the illuminating ambiguities that can flow from it.  That proper balance is the one that catches the brain’s processing by surprise and subverts habituation.  It’s the balance that forces our brain to experience the words or forms or melodies as if for the first time, every time, no matter how many times we have encountered them before.”

What holds our interest in the traditional sashiko designs is the perfect balance between the strong geometric design, and the “wait, what’s this?” surprise of discovering that the design might not be the design, and yet still being sure it is.   In other words, when we look at sashiko stitching we see a repetitive pattern and our brain enjoys that, but it doesn’t become habituated to the pattern (bored) because it is repeatedly engaged and stimulated by having something to figure out and finish.

Some sashiko designs are more strongly appealing that others, and this, I think, is created by the effect of the extra stimulation of the brain in figuring out which design to see.   For example, in the design below, you may see the flowers, or you may see linked circles, or your brain may focus on the long oval lines.In the Sayagata design below the brain switches back and forth, trying to decide whether the key fret goes to the left or the right.  This would be tiring if the overall design were not so strong, but the definite white lines on the dark blue background assert a strong enough pattern that the brain is intrigued by the option of left or right.

One more example.  This design is a particularly complex one for all it’s apparent simplicity.  I see hexagons, wreath like circles and triangles, and all of them please me enough that I want to see them, so my brain is kept entertained and interested moving from one to another.  Once stitched, the strong fractured, white lines on a dark blue background will add another layer of interest, in the brains need to connect the stitches into lines.

The technique for making  sashiko stitches creates a balanced broken line: long stitch, short space, long stitch, short space.  If you want to see how this also keeps the brain pleased and interested, try stitching some even stitches and spaces, some irregular stitches and spaces, and some good sashiko stitches where the stitches are 2/3 the length of the spaces between them.  You will see that your brain finds the even stitching less engaging, and the irregular stitching intriguing only for a short time.  The 2/3 , 1/3 patterning of the sashiko stitch lets the brain easily see and enjoy the design, but leaves it something to do to keep it engaged (it ‘fills’ in or ‘finishes’ the design)

There is one more element that lends to the enduring quality of sashiko design, or put the another way, that gives the brain enough to do while looking at the sashiko that it stays engaged and interested.  It is the relationship between the stitching and the background.  In some designs this may be one of the strongest dynamics of the design.  Take the Diamond Waves design for example. Are the waves the white lines or the blue spaces between them? It doesn’t matter, but the design is more interesting because of the choice.

Talk to you again soon,

Susan

• Susan Fletcher,
• February 2012

]]> http://sashikostitchers.com/why-sashiko-designs-dont-bore-your-brain/feed/ 2 http://sashikostitchers.com/my-sashiko-stitched-stash/ http://sashikostitchers.com/my-sashiko-stitched-stash/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:46:37 +0000 Susan http://sashikostitchers.com/?p=653 Continue reading →]]>

And there is more.

The thing is, once I started sashiko stitching I couldn’t stop.  I keep some in my purse in a baggy with a needle and thread, and nail clippers instead of scissors, since all there is to cut is the thread.  I keep some thrown in a messy heap on the back of my couch where I sit to watch TV at the end of the day.   I have always hated to not have something for my hands to do, and sashiko is so easy and peaceful that I’ve become addicted to stitching it.

I love the low tech, no equipment, nature of sashiko. I love the way it can be utilitarian or a work of art.  I love the way it keeps me calm in the ferry line up (-:  It’s a ferry trip from where I live to, well, anywhere, so the ferry terminal line up is just how it is.  Sometime I’ll post a picture of where I live and show you why its worth it, but I digress.

What to do with it all now?

Some of the pieces were experiments.  The bear didn’t really work, tho it looked like he was going to along the way. Finished he makes you cross eyed and dizzy!

I was and am still, interested in using sashiko to stitch images.  This drawing worked quite well, I think.

But I once stitched a  flying crane in white sewing thread – I’ll go take a picture, you can see what you think….

Here it is:

But the majority of my stash are traditional designs stitched on dark blue fabric with white thread

I thought I’d try cutting some up and piecing it.  You know you have a lot of stitching on your hands when you are willing to go that far!

I think this might work tho, if it were bed size and quilted.  The amount of the repeats would probably give it an over all cohesiveness, and the quilting would soften the cut effect.   Or it might be like the bear and make your eyes swim! (-:

Maybe I’ll find out, or maybe I’ll think of some other way to use these pieces!

Happy Stitching,

Susan

It occurs to me we need some photographs of sashiko on this site! How did I come to overlook that for this long?

This kimono may be the largest sashiko piece I have stitched so far.  It was made for the Gibson’s Fibre Arts Festival show a few years ago, and it was the first time I added colored thread to a sashiko design. Also beads.

The design is mine.  I transferred it in the usual (for me) method, drawing it first onto white featherweight fusible interfacing and then fusing that to the back of the fabric and sashiko stitching from the back.  This transfer method is great for designing your own sashiko arrangements on clothing.  You cut the clothing pattern pieces from the interfacing, arrange your design on it.  Since you can see through the interfacing it is easy to move and trace parts of designs.

I lined the inside of the kimono with a heavy bamboo embossed satin.

Here is a close up of the one of the dragonflies.  There are patterns for these dragonflies available on A Threaded Needle.  They are in a pattern called Dragonfly Cloth. (click link and scroll to the bottom of the page to find it)

Talk to you again,

Susan

I came across this link and excerpt in one of my old  newsletters.  It is too interesting not to share. I wish I could visit this place.

Below is an except copied from the  link:
The house where indigo lives

It is worthwhile to take a look at the link and while you are there have a look at some of the other articles about craftspeople, artists and design.

An indigo dye workshop built in the Edo period. It is here where Tadashi Higeta tends his vats of dye, full to the brim with foaming blue liquid. Indigo was once a pillar of Japanese domestic life, and has now been pushed to the wayside. This quiet, intellectual man is keeping his family tradition alive.

Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translated by Claire Tanaka

There is an interview, this bit is taken from it:

When was this indigo dyeing workshop founded?
It was founded over 200 years ago. They say the person who started the workshop had lost a child, and was inspired by his grief to build a workshop where “people can come together”. This kagiya-style building was built in the latter part of the Edo period. I am the ninth generation at this indigo workshop.
Words like “ninth generation” and “Edo period” really give a sense of historical significance.
Well, I suppose it’s a sort of “preserving tradition for future generations” kind of thing, isn’t it. These days, young people aren’t familiar with indigo dyeing at all. But in the olden days, indigo dyeing workshops were called kouya and they were all over the country. Here in Tochigi prefecture alone, there were several hundred. Back in those days, the fabric of Japan was a beautiful blue. About eighty percent of Japanese clothing was dyed with indigo back then.

Here is the picture:Here are the materials you will find in the kit:

And here are the directions:

First
1. Lay one piece of white fusible featherweight interfacing over the paper pattern piece (it is in the bag with the frame you bought) glue side (rough side) down.  Trace the outline of the pattern, and all the other markings onto it. You may find it helps to tape the corners of the pattern to your worktable.  Repeat with second piece of interfacing.
Take your piece of interfacing with the purse pattern traced onto it, and lay it over the sashiko design.  Position it to suit yourself and trace the sashiko design onto the interfacing. I put mine on an angle. Repeat with second piece.
When the tracing is done on both pieces, lay each piece of interfacing over a piece of your fabric (rough side down) and use your iron to fuse them to the fabric.

Second, sashiko stitch the fabric
Important:  Do not cut the purse pattern out of the fabric at this point. We are going to stitch the sashiko first. Don’t throw the paper pattern away either. You may want it again later.

If you have done sashiko stitching before, you can just go find a comfortable chair and stitch away.  When you are finished you can continue at part 3.

If this is your first sashiko stitching project go to “How to do sashiko stitching” under the How To menu at the top of this page. Scroll past the interfacing transfer part to the how to begin stitching section.  Thread your needle and do the stitching as shown.

Third, make the purse

Now that you sashiko stitching is complete, cut out the purse pieces. Cut out two more pieces of fabric for your inner purse lining.
Lay your outer (sashiko stitched) purse pieces with their right sides together and sew along the the area indicated on the paper pattern by the dotted line. Use your shortest stitch length.  Repeat with remaining inner purse fabric pieces.

Place the outer shell inside the inner lining bag. Right sides will be together.  Match the raw edges.
Match and pin the side seams on both sides.  Sew across the seams.
Back stitch to make this tiny seam strong and secure.

Turn the fabric pieces right side out (the corners will be sewn together).  Do this by pushing both pieces through the opening on one side, then separate the two parts as in the picture. Now push the lining inside the outer part.

Work your fingers along the inside seams to make them matched and flattened. Your two side stitched seams should be exactly at the top.
Match the raw edges carefully, and then stitch them together, staying near the raw edge so your stitching will be covered by the frame.

Final step, attaching the fabric to the frame:

Open the frame out flat on your work table with the side with the holes against the table.

Turn your fabric wrong side out and place it over the frame to get an idea about how it is going to go together.

Okay, the bit you’ve been waiting for! Thread your needle with the strong bag making thread. Note the needle must be small enough to go through the holes in the frame. Make a small knot in the end of the thread and, in the center for the fabric on one side, just under the line you machine stitched, push the needle and thread through.

Find the center hole in the frame and push the needle through it.

From the other side, push the needle back through the next hole in the frame. Continue until you reach the corner.

I’m switching to pictures from the same purse in a different fabric now, so don’t be disconcerted. You didn’t mysteriously loose your place (-:

Take a little extra fabric in your stitches at the shoulder curve of the frame, adjusting as needed until the end of the frame and the end of the un-stitched fabric meet.  Be sure to pull the stitches tight.
When you have reach the hinge corner of the frame, stitch back to the center.  Your stitches on the front of the frame will now make a solid line.  Be sure you are pulling each stitch tight, and that the raw edge of the fabric is well inside the frame.  It is this second row of stitches that lets you catch and fix the fabric anywhere it is not secure in the frame.

Note: Just to be sure we are clear, remember the tiny seam we made earlier across the side seams that now is a little finished seam at each corner of the fabric? This part is NOT going to be stitched to the frame. It provides the ease needed for the purse to open and close.

Stitch the fabric to the frame on the other side in the same way.

Here is a picture of the same clasp purse made in blue.

I hope you are as pleased with your little clasp purse as I am with mine!  What, I wonder, will you use it for?  I made several from and so far one has embroidery thread in it, one is just sitting around being pretty (-: and one I gave away for a gift.

My next one is going to be made from the scraps of a woven fabric I made years ago. They are tussah silk, too beautiful to throw away, too small to use.  I think I will stitch them to a linen fabric first…  it gives me that sick with excitement feeling thinking about it, which generally means I’m on to a good idea!

Happy stitching,

Susan