Update on Edinburgh classes - 

Main course is cancelled but there will now be a 'reunion' session on 24th November, so I'm collecting names for that. Please bring any current sashiko projects you'd like help with, but I will also have a couple of 'new' patterns to show you. Reiko Domon has included some wonderful patterns by Hokusai in the new Yuza Sashiko book and I want to stitch some of those.

Rice Sack Bag class - places still available on this mini course. 15th December (to start the hitomezashi panels) and 5th January (machine sewing the bag). This is the handbag I usually use (in photo). The latest version is called the 'indestructible', as I've added a lot of little strenghtening pieces inside the bag (finally found a use for those sashiko cloth 1cm leftovers!)  It has an outer pocket and a little 'ticket pocket' detail too.

The remaining date (1st December) I'm going to suggest to Gerald and Alison that I run an 'Exploring Japanese Boro' workshop, with the option to start making one of the boro bags or a boro panel. Since I've got the workroom dates booked, I don't want to waste them.

All individual days and courses are £40 per day. I'll take the bag samples over to Edinburgh Patchwork next Saturday morning, so you can see them in the shop too. UPDATE - I've negotiated a special discount offer for all workshop participants on 24th November, 1st December and 15th December -  20% off marked prices across Edinburgh Patchwork's shop for those attending my classes! A great time to treat yourself for Christmas (on 5th January, the shop will be having their annual sale with even more discounts).

Some of the boro bags - first two mini ones are by Fiona Fitheridge -

The 'indestructible' Rice Sack Bag

I needed a new version of my favourite 'Rice Sack Bag' for our Tokyo trip.  It ended up being made in a bit of a hurry, and finished off just a few hours before we left for Edinburgh. A version of this bag first appeared in '21 Terrific Patchwork Bags' in 2003 and the original bag was made in 2002.  It is just my favourite everyday bag.

 

Once again, I wanted an outer zip pocket, as it is such a handy place to store our passports and boarding passes at the airport.

I also wanted to make it as a sampler, like my previous one, which has almost worn out.  Of course, the part of that one that has been the toughest part (Rice Sack Bag Mk. 6 I think) is the hiteomezashi section!  The rest of the bag has worn away, but the sashiko has survived very well.  Having a sampler is handy for classes, as I can use my bag as a sampler, as well as taking it as a bag.

This time, most of the patterns are variations on the same foundation rows - persimmon flower stitch, crosses stitch and yamagata (mountain shape) all merge into each other.

The side pocket, just the right size for Japanese travel cards and train tickets, is sorobanzashi (abacus stitch), from Yuza-machi.  I put it on the opposite end of the bag this time.

I left the back of the bag as mostly the foundation rows, so you can see how the patterns build up.

Why 'indestructible'?  I stitched it using a machine stretch stitch this time - three stitches forward and one back - as I think the movement and stretching bags this bag experiences when in use are the main thing that eventually made the stitches pop in my previous versions.  I give these bags a hard time!  There are also little reinforcement strips sewn inside the bag at important points, rather like the reinforcements used in kimono construction.  There is a lot going on inside that you can't see now the lining is in.

Some of my students have asked for this for a class, so when I've got dates fixed up (for Edinburgh and maybe for Stockton), I'll get them posted.

Here's the bag on its first outing -

Bags & wallhanging - also from Australia

June Fitzgerald from Brisbane, Australia, sent me some pics of recent projects. The wallhanging above uses patterns from both my sashiko books and June paired them with a lovely acorn motif fabric she bought on a trip to Japan. As I always say, fabric makes the best souvenir!

She made a Swag Bag from 'Fabulous Fat Quarter Bags' for her niece (lucky niece) and once again, the black fabric really makes it look classy. Prints with black backgrounds are always good for coordinated projects like this.


The Rice Sack bag from '21 Terrific Patchwork Bags' is also given a sophisticated look with her fabric choices. She's used the original block selection from the book, but it looks so different with stronger contrasts.


June also tipped me off re Lisa Walton's hand dyed sashiko threads - www.dyedheaven.com June wrote 'One of her new yarns which I purchased is ideal for autumn maple leaves. The variegated colours of the yarns make them very exciting. It is a shame they are not on the website. Her fabrics are of the highest quality and beautiful to work with.' Looks like Lisa has some gorgeous hand dyes there - it will be interesting to see what June uses them for next! Thanks very much for the photos!

Hexagon Quilters and the Rice Sack Bag Revisited

It's over two weeks ago now that I had a great bag making workshop with Hexagon Quilters at Reading, after the Sashiko and Japanese Country Textile talk the night before (glitches with a worn out wifi router at home and my week in Ireland led to my long blogging break - new router now installed!) Some more variations on the Rice Sack Bag (my favourite) were created. From left above - Kaffe Fasset printed stripe used for panel and strap; Cathedral Windows panel combined with Ricky Tims fabric; checkerboard panel coordinating with colourful tsumugi stripe; scrap panel with same tsumugi (closest to the original bag panel, which was foundation pieced from scraps); Thai patchwork panel combined with Thai (?) ikat; straw coloured Japanese fabric with blue tsumugi stripe; blue/brown colourway of Robert Kaufman's "Imperial" collection with brown tsumugi. Endless possibilities for making this bag very unique, as you can see.

I also remembered to take some work in progress photos during the class. We were in a very comfortable church hall, with a view of the gothic church through the back window and the old churchyard on the other side.


This lovely quilt is a version of my Kasuri Sampler from "Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match". The fabrics are from Euro Japan Links Limited (see my links menu right). I love the inclusion of the soft lilac and turquoise fabrics. Otherwise, it is probably it is one of the closest versions to the original, as even the border fabric is the same tsumugi stripe - I'll add a photo of my Kasuri Sampler at Quilts UK 2007 so you can see them both together (may have to do a blogpost rounding up all the versions of this quilt sometime soon!)

Rice Sack Bag - revisited

The original alternative version of the Rice Sack Bag from "21 Terrific Patchwork Bags", made with African wax batiks, is looking very much the worse for wear - after nearly 8 years! - and it was about time I made a replacement. It is still my favourite bag design for every day. Some new tsumugi cottons arrived just after Christmas, with a good selection of blue stripes. These 141/2in wide fabrics always look good with colourful Japanese patchwork cottons and Kona Bay Japanese prints. I had a heap of offcuts from trimming 2 1/2in strips from the "99 Treasures" charm pack leftovers, all irregular widths but as the Rice Sack Bag panel is foundation pieced onto calico, odd widths can easily be used up. The effect reminds me of sakiori rag weave and I added a line of sashiko-style big stitch down the wider strips, stitching by eye for a rustic effect.

I wanted to add an outer zip pocket into the side panel (somewhere to store receipts) so I needed two matching zips. I found a matching 30cm and 20cm metal zip, so that meant the patchwork strip would need to be 8in finished, 2in wider than normal. I positioned the pocket opening just before the bag begins to slope towards the top. The stitch and flipped foundation strip included a wider strip where I wanted to cut and insert the zip. Although it is tempting to not line the pocket, allowing the main bag lining to work as a pocket instead, I could see things could get lost between the bag and the lining, so I made a proper pocket inside. This has a lining folded between the main lining and the bag, sewn down on either side of the patchwork strip.


I also wanted a ticket pocket again. A few years ago I had a Rice Sack Bag (now retired) made from the table runner panel from "The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook" with a ticket pocket, just the right size for a railway or tube ticket. This was originally the idea of a quilter who came to one of my Rice Sack Bag workshops, to use up the little pieces of fabric left over from the ends of the side panels (side panels in this case meaning the strips on either side of the patchwork one!) I missed having that useful pocket, so I added one to this bag, accenting the top with another print scrap strip.


The strap for the original bag was tubular, which tended to loose shape after a while, made from a 5in wide strip. I used to cut one strap and the two side panels from one 14 1/2in tsumugi width. Because the patchwork strip is wider, I could cut narrower side panels and a wider strap strip, to make a strap four layers thick (by folding the strap strip in half and in half again lengthwise, with the raw edges sandwiched in the middle - a method I use a lot in more recent books). With several rows of machine topstitching, this makes a nice firm strap. It is 2in wide.

However, it also posed a problem. The Rice Sack Bag strap is usually sewn to the outside of the finished bag, with the raw ends turned under = eight layers of strap fabric with this style strap plus the bag outer (patchwork strip here, so 2 x two layers) and the lining (another two layers). I could see even the Bernina turning up its toes at fourteen layers of fabric. So I tried slotting the ends of the strap into the top of the bag - a neat design finish.


This is easy to do except when the bag tapers to a point, as the Rice Sack Bag does. I ended up clipping the lining and outer fabric on either side of the strap, then machining across several times on the inside (this isn't seen when the bag is finished!) I might add a semamori stab-stitched charm on the outside, on each end of the strap, stitched through all the layers.