Last year during my trip to Japan, I had the pleasure of discovering several small Japanese textile producers. One of them particularly impressed me because they still produce fabrics - rolls and panels - printed by hand!
The panels are meant to be integrated into other creations such as cushions, noren (Japanese curtains), bags, or clothing... When the pattern maker came back from the back of his workshop with cat designs including a maneki neko, I completely fell for it! I ordered them and immediately wanted to reserve one for myself!
I knew I was going to incorporate it into a garment and embroider it in sashiko!
So this year, during my trip to Japan, I started embroidering my little cat and I’m telling you all about it!
My project
This maneki neko immediately inspired me to create a jacket or a bomber jacket... I wanted to make the back with the motif and use the rest of the panel to integrate into the jacket (sleeves, front, collar...). I knew I would need plain or patterned fabric to complete it because it measures 111cm by 49cm; which is obviously too small to make a jacket. But no worries, challenges don’t scare me 😊!
I started looking for a model I liked in the shop’s pattern library and traced the pattern pieces.
I used the leftover plain blue fabric from my boyfriend’s yukata (see the January article here) to complete the jacket. The blues blend perfectly, so it was perfect for making my pieces.
For the back, I had to be clever and add two strips on the sides to complete my panel.
I overlocked my pieces the morning of my departure to Japan (always cutting it close 😂) and packed everything in my backpack for the plane. I made sure to bring my sashiko threads and my thread cutter medallion to get through security. For your information, sashiko needles pass security checks.
Sashiko: a bit of history
Sashiko embroidery is a very old Japanese embroidery technique whose exact origin is hard to date. Its rise and development of motifs really exploded during the Edo period, that is the 16th century.
At that time, the technique was used by women to repair damaged clothes. Indeed, purchasing power did not allow buying new fabrics, so they had to be repaired!
Japanese sashiko embroidery’s primary purpose was to make clothes last as long as possible while minimizing thread use, which also had to be conserved due to its cost.
With Japan’s industrialization and the resulting drop in raw material prices, sashiko embroidery became more decorative and creative with figurative but also very modern motifs!
Today, sashiko is used to decorate accessories (bags, placemats, curtains...), clothing (kimono, jackets, pants and apron pockets...) but also to create large pieces like blankets and bedspreads.
You can also see what I made for my Japanese apron here.
Finally, sashiko is increasingly used in boro, a Japanese upcycling technique.
Want to discover these techniques with me? We offer introductions 😊 right here.
The materials
To embroider my panel, I used:
- an indigo panel with a maneki neko motif
- a good sashiko needle from the Japanese brand Olympus
- a good thread cutter / a thread cutter medallion on the plane
- sashiko threads from Olympus and Daruma that I tested in Japan
Sashiko threads are essential in sashiko embroidery because they allow thread locking. You won’t achieve a satisfactory result in traditional embroidery without suitable threads, or your embroidery will get damaged or simply come undone.
I chose lemon yellow, bright red, white, and navy blue.
My embroidery
I knew I wanted to embroider my motif in sashiko, so I had to decide how to highlight the motif. Which parts to embroider? I wanted the panel to be noticed as embroidered without it being too busy.
So I carefully observed my panel and decided to start by embroidering the cat’s outline in white. Then, I started embroidering in red: the ears, the collar in red, and the oval Edo period coin.
Since I wasn’t fully convinced yet, I added yellow on the collar and bell but also on the Edo period coin.
The outlines of the cat and surrounding objects were now well embroidered. I felt it wasn’t enough; my embroidery wasn’t finished, so I added embroidery on the paws, face, and golden spots.
I was very happy with the cat embroidery but... the cushion it was sitting on looked a bit bare. No problem, I drew and embroidered motifs on the cushion.
Since the cushion has small tassels on the base motif, I had fun recreating them in 3D using my sashiko threads. I must say I really enjoyed that! :-)
There you go, my sashiko embroidery for the back of the jacket is finished 😊! I’m still hesitating whether to embroider other parts of the jacket before assembling it... like the collar... anyway, I’m still thinking it over.
Do you have any idea what model I’m going to create? I promise, it’s coming, just give me time to embroider all this 😂.
And you, are you tempted by sashiko?
Feel free to take a look, we offer introductions as well as a motif creation workshop.
