When I start introducing Sashiko in English about 10 years ago, the word of SASHIKO wasn’t popular among the general public. People in patchworking and quilting were eager to learn the Sashiko stitching techniques. I remember my challenges to try to reach out to quilting and patchworking enthusiastic people. Recently, I meet new people with the knowledge of Sashiko, and these people come across to Sashiko throughout mending. Sashiko Mending Jeans are especially popular among the new fashion.
People in patchworking and quilting were eager to learn the Sashiko stitching techniques. I remember my challenges to try to reach out to quilting and patchworking enthusiastic people.
Sashiko in Fashion Industry.
Recently, I meet new people with the knowledge of Sashiko, and these people come across to the word of SASHIKO throughout mending the fabric. Especially, Sashiko Mending Jeans seems to be popular, I assume. Interestingly, it is “Mending jeans with Sashiko” that I enjoy the most in Sashiko.
Sashiko Mending Jeans as a cool item
I was raised in the Sashiko family. Sashiko was always around me. However, I didn’t feel comfortable wearing most of Sashiko products in daily life simply because it wasn’t fashionable in the 21st century. As the side project of my regular Sashiko work, I started working on my garments like denim jeans, jacket, cotton shirts and so on. Then, I realize how cool Sashiko can be. It was around 2010 ~ 2011, then the time of realization how important it is to pass down Sashiko to the next generation comes to me after the earthquake in Northeast of Japan.
Sashiko is a process, not the result
Here are some photos of my jeans that I am working on mending, and wearing pretty much every day. Sashiko is not only the result. I start realizing the Sashiko is the process of mending, repairing, and reinforcing the fabric. Sashiko Mending Jeans will not be the end product since it requires repetitive patching and stitching. When I sell my Sashiko mending jeans, I would like to teach the buyer how to Sashiko it by himself/herself. Anyway, here is a serious of photos, as of today.
I did Sashiko mending on this jean a month ago
However, mending (sewing) means adding extra tension to the part of fabric without stitching. Therefore, the part without Sashiko thread starts getting torn. Then, I would need another mending project. This is why I say that Sashiko is the process, not the result. It is perfectly fine since it is fun doing it, and the more mending projects I would do, the Sashiko mending jeans get fashionable. (By the way, I believe “Boro” is the result of this repetitive mending with Sashiko. I am making Boro in future now!)
A hole. Thinking how to make Sashiko stitching on
I cover several methods of Sashiko mending in my workshop. It is a fun part for me to think what to do. I will update the result after I do Sashiko mending.
Preparing Sashiko fabric and matching it
Although I haven’t started actual mending process, I have prepared the Sashiko fabric to patch. Using Japanese vintage fabric with Natural Dye Sashiko thread, it will be a fantastic match.
I have a plan to make a serious of tutorial… wait for the update and keep stimulating me by leaving comments or messages so I will get motivated a lot faster.
Thank you for reading.
Enjoy Sashiko!
