Last year during my trip to Japan, I had the pleasure of discovering several small Japanese textile producers. One of them particularly struck me because they still produce fabrics - bolts and panels - printed by hand!
The panels are to be incorporated 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 make a jacket or a bomber jacket... I wanted to create the back with the design and use the rest of the panel to incorporate 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 matter, challenges don’t scare me 😊!
I started looking for a model I would like in the pattern library of the shop and traced the pattern pieces.
I used the leftover blue plain fabric from my partner’s yukata (see 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 take my sashiko threads and my thread cutter medallion to pass 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 patterns really exploded during the Edo period, that is the 16th century.
At that time, the technique was used by women to repair worn 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 patterns!
Today, sashiko is used to decorate accessories (bags, placemats, curtains...), clothing (kimono, jackets, trouser and apron pockets...) but also to create large pieces like blankets and bed covers.
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.
Materials
To embroider my panel, I used:
- an indigo panel with a maneki neko design
- a good sashiko needle from the Japanese brand Olympus
- a good thread cutter / a thread cutter medallion for the plane
- sashiko threads from Olympus and Daruma that I tested in Japan
Sashiko threads are essential in sashiko embroidery because they allow the locking of threads. You will not achieve a satisfactory result in traditional embroidery without suitable threads, or your embroidery will be damaged or simply come undone.
I chose lemon yellow, bright red, white, and navy blue.
My embroidery
I knew I wanted to embroider my design in sashiko, so I had to decide how to highlight the design. 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.
As I was not yet convinced, 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 was not enough; my embroidery was not 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 was a bit bare. No matter, I drew and embroidered patterns on the cushion.
Since the cushion has small tufts on the base design, I had fun recreating them in 3D using my sashiko threads. I must say it was a lot of fun! :-)
There you go, my sashiko embroidery for the back of the jacket is finished 😊! I’m still hesitating 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 of the 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 have introductions but also a motif creation workshop.
