Annie's boromono - finished

 

Annie Horrocks sent me a photo of the boromono she started at the Japanese Art Quilt Boromono workshop I taught at Broughton Gifford in 2012.  She's added hand dyed fabrics for the circles and lots of sashiko style stitching. 

This is how it looked at the end of the workshop.  The colour scheme is very restrained but there's lots of texture in the fabrics, which makes this small boromono really lovely and modern.

 

Recent workshops

I'm very busy with a book project at the moment, but here are a few photos from recent workshops.  First, we had a 2 day workshop weekend at The Studio, Loch Lomond - Japanese Art Quilt Boromono followed by Crazy Sashiko.  The photo above is my latest workshop sample for this, a  table runner, and I plan to make some placemats to go with it. Although I had planned to spend a day on each subject, everyone enjoyed their boromono sewing so much, we let the patchworks grow a bit bigger and started our sashiko after lunch on Sunday.  The crazy sashiko is inspired by the very simple sashiko from my old boromono pieces and sashiko workwear, but working with machine patchwork with the possibililty of some later applique patches as the piece grows.

The photo above is the back of the boromono on the right below - it was made from recycled wool kimono fabrics.  Why do quilters always hold their quilts up so high we can't see them in the photos? :-)

Since I started teaching this workshop several years ago, I found the work of Japanese quilter Junko Maeda, who makes lovely boromono, some influenced by Korean pojagi wrapping cloths and others very heavily stitched without marking with very simple hitomezashi (one stitch sashiko) patterns.  They have an appealingly rustic look.  Her 2006 book is one of my favourites and I recently bought another book, 和の布つなぎ (could be translated as 'Harmonious Patchwork?' - literally 'Harmony of linked cloth').  This is an earlier book and shows more pojagi-influenced pieces, but also very interesting.  If you are in the USA, the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum is going to have an exhibition of Junko's work next summer - click here for more info.  I wish I could see it.  Maybe there will be a catalogue?  I've e mailed to ask.

If you can't wait that long for an interesting boro-inspired exhibition and you will be in Japan later this month, Ginka Niigata's exhibition will be on next week - see this link for more details.  The lovely boromono and 'chikuchiku' crazy sashiko piece is from her blog.


 "Chikuchiku exhibition"
1/23-31 (Sunday holiday)
Venue / Niigata "Ginka Niigata" (Niigata Chuo-ku)
025-222-4395

 「チクチクちく展覧会」
1/23-31(日曜休み）
会場／にいがた「銀花」(新潟市中央区）
025-222-4395

Back to my workshops, we had a Spinning Squares workshop at The Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth in December.  I liked the fabric combination in the last photo so much, I got the same layer cake ('Potluck' by American Jane for Moda) but I'm going to add some of Moda's 'Russian Tradition' paisley fabrics to mine (the last but one photo shows the blocks made with that layer cake).  I hope I get some photos of the finished quilts.

Workshops last week in East Sussex

For some reason, I couldn't get Blogger to load up these photos earlier in the week, so there's been a bit of a delay in posting about the three workshops I had in East Sussex from the end of April to the beginning of May.  I seem to have got around it today by using a different internet browser, so there will be a few blog posts in very quick succession!

The second workshop was with Burwash Quilters and we did 'Japanese Art Quilt Boromono'. As you can see from the photo above, creative people can't be tidy :-)  The group set up their sewing machines at one end of the room, but had their cutting tables in the centre.  It worked very well for this workshop, where we are alternating between cutting and piecing all the time, giving everyone plenty of room to arrange and evaluate their patchworks as they grew.  Here's some of the boromono, which are inspired by old Japanese rag cloths.

This quilter had lots of indigo and other hand dyes she had done herself and combined them with small Japanese prints and a lovely bold Indian recycled floral fabric, which reminded me of Japanese sarasa prints (which were Indian inspired).

The lilac pieces in this boromono are silk dupion, with a slight two tone effect - very difficult to capture the subtlety in a photo.  Mixing different fibres can add a lot of interest.

A great collection of old shirt fabrics makes a good boromono.  This one is complete with pockets and even a buttonhole strip as a diagonal applique.

Dorothy made TWO boromono in the workshop.  The first one will become a picnic throw and uses up furnishing samples.  The fabrics with the floating squares and grids give an interesting look when pieced in.

This is her second panel.  We did a fabric swap as the scrolling batik was perfect for a project I'm planning - the bold diamond motifs on white are one of my yukata fabrics.

Rusts, browns and creams make a harmonious colour scheme.

A large scale printed linen and a cream an blue check worked very well with some Moda patchwork fabrics, with a rather French feel to this patchwork.

I can't really have a favourite, but I love the yellow tsumugi cotton picking up on the same yellow in the Indian handprinted cotton here, and the use of the pillowcase bags (complete with a label)!

Large scale furnishing fabrics always work well for this.  The butterfly fabrics were carefully cut and positioned among all the florals while the large pale flowers make the dark fabrics more interesting.  There aren't all that many pieces in this boromono, but it is bold and has a very attractive sense of direction in the patchwork.

Very pale linen-type fabrics are framed by a stripe, which runs in both directions.  The light greens and blossom colours were all around in the countryside during our visit, so this has a strong Spring feeling for me.

There were a few more pieces I didn't manage to snap, but I'm looking forward to seeing photos of the finished panels. 

My other workshops were both sashiko - 'Sashiko for Summer' with Brede Crafters on the first Saturday and 'Sashiko Furoshiki' with Rye Creative Stitchers on the second.  The first two photos are from the first workshop and the rest from the second.  Lots of lovely fabric colours chosen for these pieces.

Broughton Gifford boromono workshop

On Saturday, I taught the Japanese Art Quilt Boromono workshop at Broughton Gifford Piecemakers near Bath.  In this workshop we make our own version of the vintage Japanese rag patchworks that have become so collectible as 'accidental abstract art'.  Unfortunately I forgot the battery charger for the camera, so I didn't get photos of individual quilts, but Diane's husband took a group photo at the end and the quilters have promised me photos of their finished pieces, so hopefully I'll have more pics for a follow up blogpost soon.  Click the panorama above to see the photo in more detail. The many different fabric selections included recycled shirts, hand printed/dyed, indigo and rust dyed, antique and modern Japanese indigos, taupes and plains, so each piece was very unique.

Diane sent me this photo with sashiko quilting added to her patchwork, which incorporates some small pieces of antique Japanese fabric, including one with a raw edge patch from it's previous life (the dark square just off centre). She wrote, 'Thanks for your interest in my pieces of old fabrics.  I found another hole in one of them - hence the other small triangle stitched on in red.  I felt a connection with the person who tacked the other patch on.'

 

Annie made a very subtle boromono using textured woven Japanese taupe patchwork fabric, including both sides of several fabrics, with stripes and directional fabrics running both vertically and horizontally.  The light border makes the central patchwork seem to float on the background.

 

On the previous Thursday, I visited the South West Embroiderers' Guild and we had a relaxing day with an Introduction to Shonai Sashiko workshop in Plymouth.  Again, I didn't manage to get any photos, so I'm hoping they will send me some! :-)

Workshops at The Quilt Room

I taught a workshop at The Quilt Room, Dorking, on Friday and another on Saturday. This is the second time I've run workshops there - I think the first time coincided with their 25th anniversary and they are now celebrating their 30th. Last time, the shop was in a different building, with the workshop area upstairs (and much smaller). There is now a large, well-lit workshop area off the yard at the back of the shop.

Friday's workshop was "Introduction to Shonai Sashiko" - here are the samples made in the workshop -

On Saturday, the course was "Japanese Art Quilt Boromono". This requires very little measuring compared with most patchwork methods and produces one of a kind random panels inspired by Japanese boromono ("rag thing" cloths) - click here for some information about boromono on Sri Thread's website. The rotary cutting and sewing is very simple, with the interest created by the composition of the piece, very much along the lines of abstract art. It doesn't need Japanese fabric to work!



The final two panels are shown with their backings sewn on, using the "bagging out" method without a binding. The original boromono don't have wadding in the Western sense, having layers of old fabric inside sometimes instead or other times nothing at all.

Workshops coming up

I'm teaching two Japanese textile workshops at The Quilt Room, Dorking, this month. The first is already sold out but there are some places left on the second - 'Japanese Art Quilt Boromono' - click here for details and scroll down.

The boromono or scrap cloth is a project that allows for very free piecing, with little measuring needed. It is great for using up scraps or for playing with an assortment of fabrics, a bundle of stripes and checks, some Japanese taupe wovens etc.

Here are some antique boromono from my collection (also called "ranru" or tatter cloths) -


Once totally utilitarian items, with the patching on the back rather than the front, old boromono are now highly collectible, with good large examples being sold for several hundred $ or GBP to collectors who value them highly as accidental abstract art. Check out the boromono at Sri Threads to see what I'm talking about!

Here are some boromono in progress at earlier workshops -



They don't have to be blue!

The boromono can end up as large as you like, although a piece approx. 20 x 30in is more likely to be achieved in a day. I finished my boromono in the photo below by backing it with a piece of furnishing linen, bagging it out without wadding rather than binding it, and adding very simple sashiko stitching inspired by that on the paler old boromono above. Although I used recycled fabrics, the subtle wear and patina seen on old boromono is something that it will acquire in use.

If you are interested in attending this workshop, please contact The Quilt Room direct, using the link at the top of this post.