Just a Sashiko

This whole exercise started on May 1st, 2004. I know that because the paperwork that came with the class that I took was dated. Just above the equipment list was a note that read: At the end of the class, each participant will go home with a nearly completed project. My first project took two days. The first one was May 1st, 2004 and the second one was a Tuesday in the Spring of 2010 at an open workshop day at the Northumberland Quilt Guild... (So she was absolutely right.)

Last spring my mother asked me for a Sashiko. She liked my wall hanging and would like to have one done on blue fabric (which is actually the traditional colour.) Shortly thereafter, I bought some dark blue plain cotton and some actual Sashiko thread at Avonport Discount Fabric. I know that it was made for sashiko because it was with kits of pre-stamped sashiko fabric. All of the writing on the package was in Japanese and the only part that I could read was 100 - which I presumed to say 100% cotton.

In September (her birthday is in October) I remembered her request, found the fabric, the thread and, after a frantic search, my package of papers from the class. I am usually pretty good about taking notes in a class, but this one had been very hands-on... and I hadn't written much on my papers. I had copied a couple of extra patterns, and I thought I remembered most of it. So away I went.

The directions did tell me what I needed and I had everything except a package of dressmakers carbon which I found at Fabricville here in town. I wondered how old it was, when the pattern would NOT transfer... however, once I figured out that I had it upside down, I was far more successful. I got the first pattern (the chrysanthemum, which looks EXACTLY like a fan...) transferred, put the batting on the back, pinned the four corners and away I went.

The next pattern was the Seven Treasures of Buddha - overlapping circles. No problem. I have a mug from a church kitchen that I traded one of my own mugs for because it is exactly the right size to trace these circles with. When I got that pattern stitched, I ran into a hitch... I had forgotten that the pattern really should have been transferred onto the fabric before the batting was attached... darn! This suddenly became much more difficult.

I got the butterfly transferred by, more or less, drawing it free hand, quilted it, and then, with more difficulty, I managed the hemp leaves which are a series of straight lines, which were easier to trace than they were to draw.

Then, because I didn't want to make exactly the same one I had done before, I decided that I would like to do a different pattern - one I had never made - and didn't have the pattern for. Sometimes these brilliant ideas of mine backfire a bit. This was one of those times. So far, instead of taking two days, the wall hanging had taken about a week. I had one part left to do -and I found a pattern that I loved that I had pinned on Pinterest. It looks like a curved Y (sort of) and the curved parts all make interlocking but incomplete circles. I have always had a good eye for patterns and I blithely assumed that I would be able to recreate this, no problem.

Well. I fiddled. I sketched. I got the template plastic and I traced a couple of shapes. After an hour and a half, ON PAPER, I finally managed to recreate the pattern in some sort of reasonable manner. (It only took me about 20 minutes to stitch the pattern once I had it drawn!) And, after only one week, my two day project was ready for binding.

Mom's birthday was Saturday and the Sashiko was finished and wrapped in lots of time. She unwrapped it, held it up and informed me that she loved it, weren't the colours lovely! I suggested that she turn it around, she might like the front even more. (The back is completely plain as it is put on after the stitching is all done.) And when she had done that she agreed that it was beautiful. (She was 87 years old - we'll cut her some slack!) Now that I have Mom's sashiko done, I have discovered a wonderful tutorial on-line that would have been a big help if I had looked at it BEFORE I started. However, you can't have everything!

I have since made three sashiko mug rugs - and I'm getting better at doing them and am enjoying them more and more each time. :-) It is still taking me a bit of time to get the pattern drawn onto the fabric - and I tend to have to replenish it partway through - but I am happier and happier with each one I make.

And on Monday, my friend Barb showed me a book with beautiful patterns in it... LOL Also too late - but a wonderful inspiration! In any event, I am having a lovely time immersed in hand work - not my usual forte - but they are small, portable and now that I have some patterns shrunk down for the mug rugs, easy and quick! Whatever you are working on, I wish you much joy AND completed projects!!

Here's Mom's Sashiko - the pattern that gave me such a hard time is in the upper left hand corner...

Here is a close up of that pattern. The 'fan' is actually a chrysanthemum. :-)