Recently started sashiko, on my third piece. Find it so calming after a stressful day. Glad to know I guessed correctly on how to deal with ends on the backside.

Recently started sashiko, on my third piece. Find it so calming after a stressful day. Glad to know I guessed correctly on how to deal with ends on the backside.

Recently started sashiko, on my third piece. Find it so calming after a stressful day. Glad to know I guessed correctly on how to deal with ends on the backside.

The La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum in La C, WA has a close connection to Japanese sewers/quilters. I took a course from a Japanese expert.

Here is a link to my blog:

vivian-institches.blogspot.com/.../embroidery

I have done some Sashiko hand work. I was looking for something to do while traveling across Canada and the States one summer. I took a Sashiko kit with me. It was great because it didn't take a lot of room and was easy to do without a hoop. I made two pillow fronts, two backs and a handful of little coaster size saches. The pillows went on to be a wedding present and the little coasters are still waiting for me to but some herbs and spices in them.

This year while traveling over the Christmas break I made up another kit and it was great to do on the numerous flights. As you can see I enjoy Sashiko, and I was thrilled to see it in the recent Stitch magazine I received in the mail. Sashiko is quick, travel savy and there are some great patterns out there.

I tried a pillow kit a couple months ago and really enjoyed doing it.  I have avoided hand sewing because in the past I never felt the results met my expectations.  I am almost done with a pattern I have transferred to a piece of linen and continue to like the process.  Using the colored sashiko threads now available adds a whole new dimension, my first project was with a variegated color.

I have used denim and fine crochet cotton and sashiko to make all sorts of small items  gets very hard on the hands but looks great.  My husband is very shirt so I cut off the legs of his jeans for the denim therefore it costs very little

Cheers Marietza Anne Jones

I have used denim and fine crochet cotton and sashiko to make all sorts of small items  gets very hard on the hands but looks great.  My husband is very shirt so I cut off the legs of his jeans for the denim therefore it costs very little

Cheers Marietza Anne Jones

It's too bad you didn't include more pictures of what sahiko looks like. I have never heard of it and the examples are too far away for me to get an idea of what it is.

Great article, but I felt some important aspects were not covered. More detailed info about exactly how the needle is handled would have been helpful. Is it held as in embroidery with thumb and forefinger, with all the work done with the above the work hand? Or, as in quilting, does the bottom hand lift the work, with a middle finger thimble doing the pushing? You suggest a rocking motion - not much to go on there....!

A picture of a hand pushing the needle would have really be enlightening. An article like this is a bit like a quilt pattern that leaves the maker with the instruction to "Quilt As Desired"...

I am in love with Sashiko! Learned it at the Puyallup Fairgrounds at the Expo. Incorporated into an art quilt. It's very soothing work for me!

In a class I took on machine sashiko I was told that the number of stiches in a design(ie.a wheat in the wind) should be the same in every one.  The same should be true in hand stitching.

Since you are quilting at the time of stitching you can do a series of blocks.  Put your knot at the far edge when you join the squares they won't show.