WHAT IS SASHIKO?
The Japanese word ‘sashiko’ means ‘little stab’ or ‘little pierce’. It is a very old quilting technique that was originally a form of darning used by the wives of fishermen and farmers as a way of thickening work jackets and prolonging the life of the fabric. Over the centuries, sashiko developed as a rural domestic craft and a huge range of patterns and motifs have been developed, with most of the designs based on a grid pattern, often referred to as moyozashi. You will also see sashiko patterns based on family crests or using inspiration drawn from ceramics and buildings.
Traditionally, sashiko was worked by hand with white thread on indigo fabric. Hand stitching not only gives sashiko its distinctive look but is also a wonderful way to relax. The stitches are meant to be larger than normal quilting stitches and it is a great way to practise your quilting skills. Sashiko patterns can be machine sewn but most machines can’t replicate the stitching style of true sashiko.
Sashiko is a versatile form of quilting that not only looks beautiful in its own right on solid fabric but can be used with patchwork blocks and in quilt borders. Sashiko designs can also be used as all-over quilting patterns. There are many, many sashiko patterns to choose from and they can be based on various shapes, including squares, circles, spirals, diamonds, hexagons, wave and step patterns. An online search of sashiko images will reveal stunning work that is created by combining patterns in unique ways. The grids that sashiko patterns are based on can also be distorted to create even more designs.
When I think of sashiko, my mind always goes back to the time I worked with Susan Briscoe as a technical editor on her wonderful sashiko books. There is no better expert in all things sashiko than Susan, and I would highly recommend her books, particularly The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook and Japanese Sashiko Inspirations.
The popularity of sashiko has led many companies to offer sashiko kits. These kits are the easiest and quickest way to stitch sashiko as the pattern is already marked on the fabric, with the correct length of stitches and spaces between stitches. For this article, we are going to choose this easy way of sashiko, which will not only give you a taste of the delights of this type of quilting but also skip the admittedly
