June Hirano

 These are some of the pieces that June Hirano made using Japanese fabrics and stitching them together with sashiko stitches.  She uses sashiko thread mostly white but also different colors to accent certain areas.  She talked about Mottainai or the Japanese term for recycle or reusing old or things you would normally discard and repurposeing them.

 I was able to attend a presentation that June gave at the Trash to Treasures sale that Temari had last month.  June finds her fabrics from trips to Japan and years of searching for Treasures at Temari sales.  She recently gave a workshop "Sashiko:Repair and Remake" with June Hirano at the Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo this past weekend on June 3.  Unfortunately, I didn't want to fly to Hilo. 

 This was a densely stitched jacket that she made.  Much like the Japanese firefighters jackets.

This was a blouse that she found at a Uniqlo shop where she added a small rectangle of kasuri and some sashiko stitching.  I've always found it hard to use the Japanese fabrics that I have in clothing.  She makes it look so easy to make.  I've heard that she offers a class about how to use Japanese fabrics in clothing.  Hopefully one day, I will be able to attend it.

Sashiko thread

I wish I had taken the time to look through this book before I started hand quilting my clamshell sampler.  The book "The Classic Quilting of Sashiko" is an 1998 publication from Quilter's Resource publications.  It looks like a Japanese publication that has been translated to english.  The graphics and projects have a very Japanese feel to them.  Thankfully the centimeters are also translated to inches.

I don't remember how I got this book, but I do remember my Mom giving me her Sashiko thread stash.  She had taken a class in Hawaii and had some wonderful samplers made with mostly the white thread against the traditional indigo fabric.  I guess she was planning to make more colorful samplers with the thread stash that she collected.  I am very fortunate to have these, since they are probably very expensive now.

 As an example, I purchased these 2 small packets of sashiko thread from the "Calico Cat" store in Hawaii for $3.95 each.  These small packets are about one third the size of the upper threads.

 This is the sampler that I worked on with the Sashiko thread.  It is a clamshell pattern using some of my hand dyed fabric and other japanese fabrics.

This is the back of the clamshell sampler which shows the knotted threads.  After I read the book, I realized that I was not supposed to knot the thread, but take 2 or 3 backstitches.

Doing this sampler made me realize the following.  Do your homework.  Learn as much as you can about something. Take the time to read the instructions.  You'll save yourself time and a lot of knotty situations.