JAPANESE TEXTILES TECHNIQUES

Shibori resist

With a 1500 year history in Japan, Shibori, or the inventive art of shaped resist as defined by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada is the collective term for a multiplicity of bounds stitched, folded, clamped and pole bound means of creating pattern on textiles.
Patterns are traditionally dyed using indigo.

Boro mending

Boro (or more accurately “Boro boro”) means “rags and tatters” in Japanese are refers to the endlessly patched and repaired clothing and bedding made by the very poorest farming people in Japan. Unable to buy new fabric, clothing or bedding, they cobbled together whatever scraps they could find and endlessly mended these fabrics.

Katagami/Katazome stencil resist

Katagami stencilling came into being as a means to create intricate, crisp patterns from finely cut handmade paper stencils. Stencil cutting is a highly skilled craft with a ten year apprenticeship. The use of stencils to dye fabric is known as Katazome and is practiced by a different group of equally talented craftspeople.

Kogin counted thread sashiko

Kogin originated in the cold, Northern part of Honshu (Japan’s main island) in Hirosaki City. It was used to decorate Sunday best jackets to go to the temple and was comprised of repeating motifs in the form of squares arranged in a diamond formation to create panels of pattern.

Sashiko embroidery

Sashiko, derived from the Japanese verb Sasu meaning “to stab'“ or “to pierce”, was a country craft used to decorate clothing and homewares
Typically stitched by poor farming women, the skill was so highly prized it affected a young girl’s chances of marriage. In Moyozashi sashiko patterns are created using even running stitch that never touches.