#patchwork embroidery

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Tomato pants and shirt I made! Was my first time doing patchwork embroidery on clothes so it's not perfect

[lauren-e-s-art]

Sam's Soul

December 11, 2021

Fabric, thread

3.5' x 2'

Remember how I said this class really awakened my inner artist? This was the piece that did it. My professor taught us this Japanese patchwork technique called 'sashiko'. It became popular among lower class citizens as a way to patch up their clothes in an artistic way, and eventually when it became popular enough the upper class started to copy them and made it somewhat a sign of status. I fell in love with this project, losing track of time while listening to audio books and sewing for hours in the classroom or in my bed. I would drop into a state where I wouldn't move from my position for hours and the people flowed around me without me noticing me. Even years and many embroidery projects later I have yet to reenter that state.

The base of this piece is a Kikoi cloth, a style of fabric native to Kenya and I centered my best friend's face onto the middle, then surrounded it with fabrics of different textures and colors, sewing it with as many different techniques as I could learn. My only regret with this project was stitching a face, as it's not my favorite thing to sew. I tend to work in a more abstract way.

Me and one of my classmates were given extensions with this assignment due to our chosen sizes and how diligently we were working on our projects, so I was able to work on mine until the end of the semester while almost everyone else finished theirs in about 2 weeks. I've been working on a much smaller scale since then, usually 4"x4" or 6"x6", so it would be fun to try something bigger sometime.

Another thing that I like about patchwork embroidery is that my style isn't expensive. I tend to use leftover scraps of fabric from surrounding peoples' unwanted clothes, blankets, and leftover fabric, so I usually only have to by the thread and sewing tools, which tend to last for a while.