Sashiko Quilting

Because today was declared a snow day for the public schools, I was able to corral my mother into helping me cut fabric for the sashiko squares (for the handbag project. I used art stencils from Michael's (instead of sashiko or quilting stencils) to draw a design on the fabric, but next time I'm just going to use a ruler and do a simpler pattern.

Sashiko is a bit different from what little handsewing I've done before. It's really obvious why it derives from 'to stab'; the stitch looks like a running stitch, but you don't perform it like one. Instead you stab through the two layers from the 'wrong' side and back again, trying to make neat, rice-sized stitches that like up nicely.

It'll be interesting to see what the handbag looks like when I'm finished, but I'm afraid this will take weeks of effort to finish. It's not as portable as my knitting or crochet, so will only get worked on at home, and it's nowhere near as fast as those either.

Ah well, I knew it was going to slow when I started out, but hopefully this will help me learn sewing and garment techniques.