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.