Teal Coffee Fukin

Pattern/Technique: Coffee Sashiko Fukin Club by SASHIKO.LAB

Modifications: I used the Daruma gridded hanafukin cloth, which required a slight mod to stitch at the midpoint of each cross to get the correct number of stitches. (Kazue covers this in detail in the course materials.)

Materials:

• Daruma or Olympus hanafukin cloth

• Sashiko needle (I purchased mine from Upcycle Stitches and really liked using it)

• Spring Murazome Natural Dye Thread from Upcycle Stitches in Uneven Green Dark Shade

New skills: kuguri-sashi

Lessons/Notes:

This course combined two methods of sashiko: hitomezashi, where you make a single stitch from point to point on your grid (in this case I used a 5mm grid so each stitch length is 5mm); and kuguri-sashi, a technique where you then weave through your earlier stitches.

When doing kuguri-sashi you should use the back/eye of the needle to weave the thread through the stitches so that you don’t catch the cloth with the sharp end of the needle.

I trimmed all the ends of my sashiko thread as I went, but what you’re actually supposed to do is trim after washing the finished hanafukin (I think because it’s essentially blocking the finished cloth, which may loosen the fabric/threads).

For the border, I opted to hand sew a border around the edge of the mat (approx 1/8” in from the edge) to catch the raw edges of the fabric that had been folded under. I used sewing thread (Guterman) held double in a navy that matched the background cloth.

I love how the variegation in the hand dyed indigo/gardenia sashiko thread looks across the woven pattern, giving it motion and depth. While photographing it, I realized it reminded me of the shimmering Northern Lights. (I have 2 vivid memories of the aurora: coming home from a school event on a cold winter night, getting out of my car and seeing a quarter of the sky shimmering just to the right of the big dipper; and sitting at a campfire with my grandma during the summer.) It wasn’t my goal with this project, but I think my subconscious was connecting to home & the past in some way as I stitched.

What I'd do differently: On my next hanafukin, I’d like to try and align the raw/folded edges of my cloth so that the border section is a bit more balanced across the length/width of the cloth. I’ll also probably machine sew the raw edges together with right sides facing, then turn the right sides out to hide the raw seam instead of trying to fold the edges under and hand baste.

Care: Machine wash cold (though I actually hand washed mine to prevent the natural dye from bleeding), dry flat

Indigo Eye Pillow

Pattern/Technique: Good Vibrations Eye Pillow by Kristine Vejar, from Making: Intricate

Modifications: I found the silk pretty tricky to hand sew (it’s partly why I also sewed fewer lines on the pillowcase), so instead of hemming the open end by hand sewing, I used the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine.

Materials: Good vibrations eye pillow kit (indigo dyed silk crepe de chine, cotton muslin, indigo dyed embroidery floss), rice

Lessons: The silk was pretty tricky to sew through with multiple strands of embroidery floss, so I ended up stitching only a couple rows of running stitch. If I did something similar in the future, I might try using my sashiko thimble to brace the needle on my palm for support.

Remember to account for seam allowances when sewing a design. I sewed a neat “reflection” motif where the running stitch looked like it had bounced off the edge of the pillowcase top piece, but when I sewed the pillowcase together this effect got sewn into the seam allowance.

What I'd do differently: Add less scented oil & don’t add a mint-based oil to an eye pillow. I have a lovely lavender mint oil and decided to add a few drops to the rice to scent the pillow. Unfortunately I accidentally poured in too much (there was a visible oil stain on the muslin pillow insert) and the menthol from the mint made my eyes water when I set it on my eyes!

Care: Hand wash, lay flat to dry