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Tag: slow-stitching

  • “Hanten Jacket: Tradition from Japan

    Susan Brisco’s The Book of Boro is about the traditional Japanese art of saving textiles over the course of generations. The history of how peasants used and reused fabric by adding layer upon layer is fascinating. According to Briscoe, laborers wore hanten jackets, or “half-jackets,” to work in the fields. Today, boro textiles are highly collectible and quite expensive. My plan is to to join friends in making a hanten jacket while learning about this traditional Japanese fiber art.

    I’m stitching like crazy, using every free moment and hope to finish by the time we arrive at the retreat. This Pinterest board gathers some ideas for my jacket. Real boro, however, is created over time and generations. In fact, clothing was made in such a way that it was easily deconstructed for reuse in making another garment. The rice fields of northern Japan are probably the origin of the “green movement.”

    There really is no rhyme or reason to my stitching. I improv something until another idea comes along. I am trying to throw in more straight lines than anything else. The straight lines should pull everything together but without gauging it, who knows?

    The rabbit area. Several things are happening in the rabbit area. After the few flowers I added some neutral circles, thinking that they might look like flowers with the right stitches. Hmm, not especially happy work. My one “rule” is I cannot rip anything out. Wait, a loophole! Applique to the rescue!

    Let’s try weaving. The little patchwork right in front of the rabbit is actually woven in place on top of the navy. Many women (not just Japanese women) used this technique to repair holes in clothing using only needle and thread (and lots of time). In essence, it is weaving fabric on top of the place where fabric is missing. It’s easy enough: begin with a good knot on one side of the hole. Stretch the thread across the space to the opposite side and anchor it with a knot. Keep going from side to side filling the entire space. The warp of your fabric is complete. Now feed the weft thread back and forth between the warp threads, pushing it tightly together. Anchor with a knot every few runs.

    I made the most headway on this piece. This section is large enough that, once the stitches are in, a full section of the hanten jacket will be complete. Those straight lines are fast stitching. They aren’t perfectly straight, but that adds to the character of the jacket. Now that the water is calm, I can keep going. Eventually I’ll get to the shores.

    Lastly, these triangles are below the rabbit but with a few lines of straight stitching separate the two areas. There’s space for two more boxes then everything will become straight stitching. And there you are: all caught up to my slow-stitching boro endeavor.

    If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read these:

    https://marymarcotte.com/2021/01/12/slow-stitching-boro-fabric-beginnings-one-piece-complete/
    https://marymarcotte.com/2021/01/19/lets-boro-together-more-jacket-slow-stitching/

  • Let’s “boro” together: more jacket slow-stitching

    I’ve been sick with a sinus infection that has knocked me to my knees. I’ve done three things? sleep, sit, stitch. Not a bad combination, but really, it’s probably getting time to move. I do have good news though. My boro jacket stitching is coming along. Hours of stitching can really add up. I think this is where I was on my last report: straight lines with a few kooky stitches. Then I decided to change thread color, which you can’t even tell is different in this photo. The wavy “watery” lines are the palest of blue-greens. It was just a whim, very improvish of me. This piece is complete. I had just sewn up two additional pieces before I got sick. Thank goodness!
    This one is completely different from the first, I guess I was thinking clouds. I got this far and decided I wanted to do something different, again. So I picked up what is now the third piece. Circles, flowers, wonkies. That’s what Milly named the shapes. Wonkies does seem to fit, so we’re running with it. But they definitely need some more work.
    And after a few hours, I got to here. Can you see that I’ve decided to start introducing a few neutrals? One reason was to cover the stem of that flower on the left. I don’t even know why.
    And here we are on piece 3. More of the same. In other words, lots of wonkies. I can’t figure out why I can’t get things to be symmetrical, but I figure if I add enough wonkies, they will look like they are supposed to be that way.
    I still have these two pieces to finish and at least another two or three to do. Then let’s remember that it’s supposed to be reversible, so the neutral side is waiting. Hmm, maybe my wonkies will find symmetry by the time I get to the end. I’m not so sure it matters. Most of the boro jackets I’ve seen online are far from symmetrical, which is one reason they are so charming and popular. These are a couple of really interesting patterns that I think I may have to try. Don’t the textures look yummy?!

    Thanks for visiting. Have a wonderful week!

  • Slow-stitching: Boro Fabric Beginnings, One Piece Complete

    My little boro fabric is coming along quite nicely. It’s slow, but that’s the idea with slow-stitching. My peeps cannot understand this concept, but their fun doesn’t bother me. I’m enjoying the calm that handwork provides during this time of no studio. We’ve worked out a plan and Richard (poor hubby!) is working diligently to fix up what will become my new studio. But more on that later in the week when there’s something to report. Since SQI was all about indigo, let’s focus on the indigo boro fabric.

    The first piece. It’s right at the end in the photo, but I’ve actually added the few lines needed, including the “scattered rice” where my needle is. I actually stitched the rice while Richard drove me to Baton Rouge and back. The roads are much to bumpy to attempt a straight line, so I decided to go with it. “Scattered rice” is my name for this stitch because I have spilled raw rice a few times and it definitely looks just like this.

    Did you notice the wavy lines? I worked on the piece for several hours one afternoon and white got boring. So I changed to an almost blue-green. (It looks white here, sorry.) I am improv-ish enough to use what happens to be at my chair. That thread happened to be an almost blue-green. Why not? And since I was changing color, I figured I’d also change stitch. There you are, a few waves of water. I’m sure I’ll pick up that color/motif again somewhere in the ensuing pieces.

    One the left is the back of the section now completed. The lining fabric (right photo) is thin enough to see through it and make out the variances in the table. (The whiter section has four or five layers of lining.)

    The back of the piece (right photo) is more difficult to see because the white thread barely shows up against the off-white fabric. I’m not really sure what this fabric is. It’s thin like gauze but doesn’t have the hand of gauze. I took it off the back of curtains, I think, and have a pretty good piece, so I’ve decided to use it for the entire jacket, both the navy outside and the neutral lining. Actually, if I play my cards right, it will be reversible. But I’m not promising myself that quite yet. There’s way to much slow-stitching to do and the end of February is on a faster trajectory than my slow-stitching.

    I have two more pieces of the indigo ready to begin stitching. The one above is next in line and is a bit larger than the first one. Below is a very large piece. I’m thinking it will be for the back, perhaps. We’ll see, I suppose.

    I have nor begun layering smaller pieces on top of the bases yet. I’m still not sure how “authentic” I want the jacket to feel. The traditional jackets may have many, many pieces, and I like that look. But I’m not sure how practical that might be. I plan to wear the jacket, assuming I like it. So I think that I should spend a little more time deciding what my “look” is before I add too many small pieces or different stitches.

    Look at these jackets from my Pinterest board. They are fabulous. Would I wear them is another question altogether different. I have figured out that I need something longer than this waist length. Most likely hip or mid-thigh, because I get cold and a jacket with this many layers will be warm. Are you beginning to get a sense that I have lots to work out before I arrive at our retreat?