Sashiko Fukin (刺し子ふきん）is one of the most popular Sashiko items in Japan. Fukin means a sampler or a dish-cloth. The Japanese use this square piece of white cloth to cover the food, wipe the dishes, and other many kitchen activities. Here is a sample of How to Sashiko Asanoha Fukin with video of me stitching and the photos of each step. There is no “right” way to proceed the stitching. It is merely a sample but would be useful when you work on the Sashiko Stitching with Asano-ha pattern.
Preparation | Sashiko Asanoha Fukin
Sarashi (晒）is a Japanese thin cotton fabric. (I plan to have them in stock soon).
We prefer to make Sashiko with the double layers. After drawing (transferring) the pattern, secure the two layers with safety pins or such.
Steps of How to Sashiko Asanoha Fukin
The core concept of making a good Sashiko Fukin is to have the “one-stroke” stitching. The optimal (the most efficient) way to stitch vary from a pattern to pattern.
Step.1 | Around of Sashiko Asanoha Fukin
Stitch around the corner. Then, the safety pins can be removed.
Step.2 | Diagonal Lines
Find the longest line, which happens to be the diagonal lines. Enjoy running stitch without cutting the thread until the thread runs out.
Use “Kasane” to continue.
Step.3 | Small Zigzag Lines
After enjoying the long diagonal lines, then move to the small zigzag lines.
Step.4 | In-between Lines
Fill the leftovers with using Kasane.
Step Extra | Enjoy addition
The Fukin Project complete with the step.4
However, I decided to continue the process by adding another color to make the double stitches to enjoy the difference between dark Indigo & Light Indigo.
Join our community by taking our Workshops
Sashiko is a process of simple stitching. However, without proper basics, it could be confusing and difficult to enjoy. Upcycle Stitches LLC & Atsushi offer the Sashiko Workshop in NYC and Online. Please consider joining our community where you can learn not only how to stitch these beautiful Japanese geometric pattern but also connect to a community where people share the same great passion to Sashiko.
Some of the tutorials are available online, Youtube.