I found a new craft to obsess over. Sashiko.
Do you Sashiko? Okay, I'm not sure if the proper way of writing it is 'sashiko' or 'Sashiko.' Whatever. It's a Japanese form of stitching and honestly, I haven't done much research on its history. Facebook kept telling me I should join a Sashiko group and there was an interesting photo of someone's work and well, the rest is history. I'm hooked and totally obsessed.
Sashiko is basically a running stitch and the purists in the Facebook group get a little bent if you don't use the historically correct thread and fabric type, but there are plenty of folks in the group doing it their own way. Can you guess which group I'm in?
Yep! I'm a non-conformist Sashikoer.
I only discovered Sashiko in October or November and I've already finished 3 pieces. The first was a totebag kit I got from Amazon. It was fun to stitch and went quickly. The second project was much bigger. Tumbling Blocks from KimonoMomo is partially pictured above. I had SO much fun stitching it and both the fabric and thread were SO much nicer to work with than the Amazon kit. KimonoMomo also had fantastic customer service. And no, I'm not affiliated with KimonoMomo other than being a very happy customer. So happy I ordered more pieces to stitch. ... And have about 6 more in my shopping cart.
I may enjoy Sashikoing even more than knitting!
But let's focus on Tumbling Blocks. That's only a tiny portion of the piece in the photo. I plan to turn it into a table runner and I've bought the fabric backing... from Michaels because I had a coupon. Of course, the fabric person at Michaels had no sewing knowledge and well, neither do I. I had planned to put a layer of felt/batting/something between the front and back so that it's not just floppy fabric laying on the table but the sales clerk suggested I not do that, specially since the inner piece/lining/whatever you want to call it won't be quilted. It will only be attached on the outside seams. So, assuming some of you are sew-ers (not sewers ha ha)/quilters, what would you reccomend?
I can't wait to have Tumbling Blocks finished and on the table.
Happy stitching!
Lovely stitching! I have seen that technique and tried it once myself since I love hand quilting. Kate at the Last Homely House channel does a bit of it when she quilts. I tried it on a table runner of mine after I sandwiched it with the batting and the backing and it was a bear to do going through all those layers. I almost gave up. It's a pretty sloppy mess but I finished it. It's true that the layers will shift if you don't though. I wonder what the solution is myself.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm thinking I might quilt the batting to the back then sew the back to the front. Or just go the easy route and have it floppy and flat on the table.
Delete