Contemplating Sashiko Embroidery
Tuesday, May 1, 2007 at 07:29AM in Stitching Sashiko, like blackwork, has such interesting patterns. I find the white on navy blue effect to be very striking and its development from a practical use of quilting for garment longevity to be fascinating. So I picked up the Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook by Susan Briscoe, which turned out to be a beautiful book with a nice history and a fantastic collection of patterns.
I checked around online and found few resources, but quilt.net has a good text FAQ and Vicki Key's pattern page has some nice images. Most exciting was finding Lucy Arai, an artist who used sashiko in her contemporary mixed media art. I also found some places to buy the fabric pre-marked with the patterns and the traditional thread used to work it, but that wasn't really the part that interested me.
I want to use the patterning in my Footstep pieces. Ultimately, I'd like to distort and alter the regular pattern across the surface, but I decided to start with simply applying the concept. I had to think about the method for awhile, since I didn't want to draw permanent lines on my canvas and wasn't sure how traditional marking methods would work with mixed media. I don't particularly like tear-away stabilizers.
So I took a 12"x12" piece of cardstock and drew out the grid and then the pattern and then the individual stitches. There's a section of it shown below. I will tape the grid to the canvas and pierce holes through the ends of each stitch, then use the paper as a guide when I'm actually stitching on the canvas. I'm not entirely sure how well this will work, but we'll find out.
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Reader Comments (4)
How wonderful to come across your blog. My maiden name is Robinson, so it is with added delight to read about your experiments with sashiko.
You might want to use a water soluble marking pen to draw your grid onto the canvas. Test first with a spritz of water to make sure the ink does come out. I have had no trouble with the canvas I sew.
Remember, sashiko patterns are all developed from the grid. As you are working through a pattern, stitch the longest, parallel lines first. Work your way through the progressively shorter parallels.
Good luck, enjoy and practice will yield straighter more even stitches. It took many years of practice after my uncle taught me before my stitches were straight and even, but if you end each stitch before and begin each stitch after intersections they will look great right away!
Lucy Arai