Sashiko in... Stockton!

I will be running my sashiko course in Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees, from September 2017.  The venue will be All Saints Church, TS18 5EB, in the middle of Hartburn village (NB, there is another All Saints in Stockton, but the postcode will give you the right one!)  The course will run on the following Tuesdays, from 11.30 a.m. to 4.00p.m. - 12th September, 10th October, 14th November, 28th November, 16th January, 6th February, 27th February, 27th March, 24th April & 22nd May.

The samplers above were made by three of the students from my Edinburgh course which finished earlier this year - from the left, Penny McLaren, Pamela Lyall and Sam Townsend.

As we will have a slightly later start than the courses I run in Scotland and therefore slightly shorter sessions, I'm running the course over 10 sessions rather than 8 and will divide out the course content slightly differently.  Each session costs £32, payable one session in advance each time.  If you would like to join us, please contact me via my website.

I will be arranging the 2017 - 2018 dates for the Edinburgh Patchwork sashiko course soon!

Sashiko from Scotland

Here's a sneak peak at some of the sashiko samplers by last year's Edinburgh Patchwork sashiko course which will be part of the Sashiko from Scotland exhibit touring to all the Grosvenor Spring Quilt Festivals, starting at Ardingly and finishing at Exeter - from left to right, by Penny McLaren, Pamela Lyall and Sam Townsend. Pamela's is a first quilt too! This is the introduction I've written for the exhibition -

This exhibition is a selection of sashiko sampler quilts from the four courses I taught in Scotland since 2013 - two at The Studio, Loch Lomond; one at Edinburgh Patchwork and the fourth at Kaleidoscope, near Glasgow.  Ruth Higham, who founded The Studio with Isabel Patterson and Patricia Macindoe, persuaded me that there were enough stitchers interested in Japanese sashiko to run a longer course. The Studio was prepared to host it, so I ran the first eight day course there, over 10 months.  We did many Yuza and Shonai Sashiko patterns, drawing on my links with Yuza Sashiko Guild, and it has evolved to include a wide variety of larger sashiko designs over the years, so later samplers have grown!  My aim is to introduce the students to various pattern marking and stitching techniques, so by the end of the course they can look at almost any piece of sashiko and say ‘I can try that!’ 

I will be running courses at Edinburgh Patchwork and in Stockton-on-Tees from September 2017.  My next course starts at The Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth in March and we are looking at running another course at Kaleidoscope.  Please contact me for details via www.susanbriscoe.co.uk

This is our second Edinburgh Patchwork group at their third session last Saturday.  They are producing some lovely work, both for their samplers and other smaller projects some of them are doing on their own, in between classes.

 

These are some of the sashiko panels that were started at the previous weekend's day class, where we made flowers, leaves and Japanese motif templates by paper folding and used those to make designs.

Penny's noren curtain has a moon and crane motif, but the marking doesn't show up much in the photo!

Fiona and Jo had got most of their panels stitched by Saturday.  Lovely use of colour in these sashiko panels.  I'm looking forward to seeing the others finished.

Edinburgh - first sashiko class

Our new sashiko course at Edinburgh Patchwork got off to a great start on Saturday.  As well as the more usual versions of jujizashi ('10' cross stitch) and komezashi (rice stitch) that were made, Fiona came up with this variation on jujizashi -

And Stephen experimented with this version of komezashi -

I must find where I put my book about the Awaji fishermen's donza, as there are very similar variations in that book.

I'm back in Edinburgh next Saturday for a talk about the 1718 coverlet at Thistle Quilters - https://sites.google.com/site/thistlequilters/program  In addition to it being a bit of a Q & A about the coverlet, I'm going to show the slideshow of how the book was made and run another slide show of the coverlet detail photos during our question and answer session.  Should be interesting!

Sashiko courses in Perth and Stockton-on-Tees

The next sashiko course at Edinburgh patchwork will be starting on 8th October and it has been fully booked for a while now. 

I will be running another course in Scotland starting quite soon - at The Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth.  I've been teaching introductory sashiko day workshops there for a few years and it is great to have the opportunity to run the course quite close to home.  It will be on Thursdays, with the following dates -  2nd, 16th, 30th March; 13th, 27th April; 25th May; 8th and 15th June.  Some of the classes are slightly closer together than usual, as they have patchwork classes using their workroom on the alternate weeks.  Booking will be via the shop.  If you can't wait for that course to begin and would like a head start, I am also doing an Introduction to Shonai Sashiko one day course on Friday 21st October, at the same shop.

I've been visiting my mum quite a lot over the summer and have come up with a plan to teach my sashiko course in Stockton-on-Tees next year.  I have found a great venue - All Saints Church, in Hartburn, Stockton-on-Tees, which is just off the A66.  It used to be the village school and is a well lit space, just right for a hand sewing group.  My plan is to run the class on a weekday, possibly a Tuesday, and at roughly one month intervals, with a break for Christmas and New Year, starting in mid September. I will be handling all the bookings for that, so if you are interested, please e mail through my website.

The gorgeous sampler at the top of this post was stitched by Hazel Clark, who came to the course I taught at Kaleidoscope earlier this year.  We will run the course again there sometime in the future, but we need to discuss possible dates first.

Plus, there will be a chance to see sashiko samplers made by students on all four of my longer courses so far, at the Spring Quilt Festivals with Grosvenor Shows around the UK, starting at Ardingly in January and finishing at Exeter in April.

A splendid sashiko sampler

Here is Ray McLaughlin's sashiko sampler, which she has recently completed after coming to my sashiko course at Kaleidoscope. She has made a beautiful arrangement of the sashiko blocks and complemented them with some patchwork blocks from 'Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match', using one of my cotton yukata fabrics for the kimono blocks.  Using a cream print for the sashing and border gives a great contrast to the dark blue sashiko fabric too.  She says we can include this quilt in the 'Sashiko from Scotland' exhibit that will be touring the Grosvenor Shows Spring Quilt Festivals in 2017, so you may have a chance to see it in real life.  Well done!

Sashiko course to run in Perth

I am going to run the Yuza and Shonai Sashiko course at The Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth from mid February 2017.  The classes will run from 10.30 to 4.30 on Thursdays and there will be eight sessions like my other courses, but we will have mostly a fortnight between sessions, so we can finish well before the summer holidays.  Trudi and Mhairi will be putting the info on the website when they have finalised the spring workshop programme and will be including the info in their newsletters as well, but if you can't wait until then, you can contact them via their website - http://www.thepeacockandthetortoise.co.uk/

There will be a small difference with the course materials.  As the shop already stocks sashiko thread and fabric, they will deal with supplying the students.  I just don't have enough Yuza Sashiko thread and fabric to supply a third course as well as my other two!  We have chosen the Olympus dark blue sashiko fabric and there will be a choice of cream or white Olympus 100m sashiko thread.  These are the nearest equivalents to the Yuza Sashiko materials and this way we won't have the supplies shortage issues that I had earlier in the year, when I had underestimated how much fabric the two other groups would use up.

Bookings will be taken via the shop.  It's great to be running the course closer to home, as well as my other two venues.  Now we just need to finalise the dates for the Kaleidoscope course and I will announce those soon.

The sampler above was made by Liz Clarke who came on the course at Kaleidoscope.  She combined her samples with Moda 'Nocturne' fabric to make this very sophisticated bed runner.  Lovely!

The next sashiko course at Edinburgh Patchwork

I have only three places left for the next sashiko course at Edinburgh Patchwork, which starts on Saturday 8th October.  Please contact me if you are interested in booking a place. 

Edinburgh Patchwork, 4 Bellevue Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4BY,

tel: 0131 538 5030 www.edinburghpatchwork.com

Saturdays - 8^th October, 22^nd October, 10^th December, 28^th January 2017, 11^th February, 25^th March, 8^nd April, 29^th April (this date may need to move to later in May if it clashes with the Knitting and Stitching Show at Edinburgh).  Each session costs £38, payable one session in advance, and the first £38 is your deposit.

I will also run the course again at Kaleidoscope, Dobbies Garden Centre, Boclair Road, Milngavie, Glasgow, G62 6EP, tel: 01360 622 815 www.kalquilts.com - dates to be announced soon.

On Wednesday, I'm going in to The Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth to discuss possible dates for running the course there too.  It would be a weekday course in Perth, possibly on a Thursday, and I would be looking to start it in the Spring.  More info about that as soon as I have it.

We will be learning how to stitch numerous hitomezashi (one stitch) and larger sashiko patterns from the Yuza town and Shonai district of Yamagata Prefecture in Japan, an area noted for its special sashiko patterns and long tradition.  Exploring the different groups of patterns, we will make a series of samples – finished sizes 9in and 4 1/2in square, plus some rectangles 9in x 4 1/2in – that can be combined later into a patchwork sampler.  These patterns are handed down through the Yuza Sashiko Guild and among other stitchers in the area, and this is the only longer course taught with their approval outside Japan.  Ganbatte kudasai! (Go for it/work hard!)

The gorgeous sampler in the photo above was made by Hazel Clark at the Kaleidoscope course. The shaded Moda print she used for the border and sashing looks wonderful.

Last sashiko sessions at Kaleidoscope and Edinburgh Patchwork - for now!

The final sessions of the sashiko courses at Kaleidoscope and Edinburgh Patchwork were on Thursday and Saturday respectively.  We looked at a few more patterns and then started arranging blocks to get ideas for the sampler quilts that the students will be making up in their own time.  

These are some of the blocks from the Kaleidoscope group.  Mixing in some patchwork blocks is also very effective.  Some of these samplers will be wall hangings, table runners etc., but there are a few that may be ending up as bed quilts.

At Edinburgh on Saturday, we had a little celebration for the end of the course with a (very small!) glass of cava each at lunchtime, which certainly made the start of the afternoon a bit lively!  The finished sampler on the side wall is Rhona's, from the first Loch Lomond course.

Here are some of the block selections from Edinburgh.  The workshop space has flannel design walls on either side, so it makes arranging blocks easy.

The samplers in the photo below are by Maureen's from the second Loch Lomond course and two that Fiona has made on her own (using some of the samples from the one hour workshops at the Edinburgh shows too).

I will be running these courses again, with the Edinburgh course starting in October 2016 and the one at Kaleidoscope starting at the end of January 2017.  Contact me if you are interested in Edinburgh and contact Kaleidoscope direct if you want to join the course there.  Everyone says how much they have enjoyed the courses and they are now at the stage where they can continue sashiko on their own or with friends.  The Edinburgh group are going to meet up regularly at one member's house too and continue as a group.  A selection of sampler quilts from all four courses I have taught will be touring to the Spring Quilt Festivals with Grosvenor Shows, so you may have a chance to see them in spring 2017.

2016 - 2017 Edinburgh Patchwork Sashiko course dates

We have just two more sessions to go for the sashiko course that has been running at Edinburgh Patchwork since the autumn and we have lots of lovely sashiko samples for our students to put together into their samplers at the end of the course.

The sampler above was made by Irene Beattie and the one below by Isabel Patterson, who were both members of our first sashiko course at The Studio, Loch Lomond.  Every sampler is unique.

So it is time to announce the next course dates - eight sessions on Saturdays once again - 8^th October, 22^nd October, 10^th December, 28^th January 2017, 11^th February, 25th March (this was moved from earlier in the month to avoid a possible clash with the Quilt Show at the SECC in Glasgow), 8^nd April and 29^th April (this date may also need to move to later in May if it clashes with the Knitting and Stitching Show at Edinburgh).

We meet at Edinburgh Patchwork, 4 Bellevue Street, Edinburgh, EH7 4BY, tel: 0131 538 5030 www.edinburghpatchwork.com but for this course, I handle all the bookings, so you need to e mail me if you are interested in joining us.  The shop is open from 10a.m. to 4p.m. and we start in the morning once everyone has arrived. Each session costs £38, payable one session in advance.  Four places have already been booked, which leaves just six places available for the next course.  If you are interested, please let me know asap.

I am also planning to run the course again at Kaleidoscope, but as yet we haven't finalised dates.

 

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We will be learning how to stitch numerous hitomezashi (one stitch) and larger sashiko patterns from the Yuza town and Shonai district of Yamagata Prefecture in Japan, an area noted for its special sashiko patterns and long tradition.  Exploring the different groups of patterns, we will make a series of samples – finished sizes 9in and 4 1/2in square, plus some rectangles 9in x 4 1/2in – that can be combined later into a patchwork sampler.  These patterns are handed down through the Yuza Sashiko Guild and among other stitchers in the area, and this is the only longer course taught with their approval outside Japan.  Ganbatte kudasai! (Go for it/work hard!)

 

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Session 1 - rice stitch variations and woven stitches - small samples –on 4 1/2in squares, with grids directly drawn on the fabrics.

Session 2 - persimmon flower stitch, coin stitch and variations - small samples and long sampler, plus more variations on persimmon flower stitch - triple, igeta pattern, infinite - on 4 1/2in squares.

Session 3 – introduction to flower diamond pattern, fish scale stitch, diamond stitch, abacus stitch - on 4 1/2in squares plus stitching on stripes and patterns in circles.

Session 4 – fans and kamon crests – marking and stitching corner fans and family crests – on 9in squares, using paper templates for the fans and chaco transfer paper for the crests.

Session 5 – drawing larger patterns with straight lines – raimon (lightning spiral), masuzashi (stacking boxes), asanoha (hemp leaf) and elongated asanoha – all on 9in squares.

Session 6 – moths/butterflies, grasses and bamboo patterns – patterns for all over pictorial effects - on 4 1/2in squares

Session 7 – drawing larger patterns with curved lines – shippou (seven treasures – like wineglass), fundou (balance weights – like applecore patchwork), nowaki (grasses in clamshell shapes), seigaiha (ocean waves, also clamshell shaped) and ganzezashi (sea urchin stitch, a variation on shippou) – all on 9in squares.

Session 8 -– sewing samples together into a patchwork sampler – with a brief look at some of the denser hitomezashi patterns - paving block, kasuri (ikat) check, ground stitch, cedar stitch, facing butterfly, arrow stitch.  It will be possible to do this session with any combination of samples made in the previous sessions – 4 1/2in and 9in – using 1in sashing strips.

Sashiko courses in Scotland

The students from the two sashiko courses I have been running this year have been producing some great work.  I have been a bit too good at forgetting to take my camera, so I don't have many photos yet.  Here are just a few.  I'm sure Maureen from the group that meets at Kaleidoscope's shop at Milngavie won't mind me using a pic of her gorgeous samples first - I love that circles block! 

This is a view of the large workroom at Kaleidoscope.

At our most recent session, I started the group on some slightly different sashiko - pictorial designs (everyone is making a noshi design in sashiko) and fans.  Previous sessions have focussed on hitomezashi (one stitch sashiko) and we will be returning to that later on the course.

These pieces will be made into samplers later.

 

Just so the group I teach at Edinburgh Patchwork don't feel left out, here are a few photos from one of our earlier sessions.

I am thinking about running courses at both shops again next year.  If you are interested, please let me know - I can be contacted via my website www.susanbriscoe.co.uk

Three sashiko classes and a quilt

I had three sashiko classes one after the other at the end of last week.  The first was the beginning of the Yuza and Shonai Sashiko course at Kaleidoscope near Glasgow.

The second was at The Peacock and the Tortoise in Perth - Introduction to Shonai Sashiko.

 

 This course introduces several hitomezashi (one stitch sashiko) patterns briefly.

Carol started making a sampler with yellow thread on brown, going for a retro look, and had made some cushion panels with her squares from our earlier workshop there.

The final class was at Edinburgh Patchwork, where we had the first session of the Yuza and Shonai Sashiko course, the same one we are doing at Kaleidoscope.

Here's a selection of the variations on rice stitch and other patterns that were made.

As well as the workshops, I got the 'Cinnabar and Nutmeg' frame quilt ready for Today's Quilter magazine.

It has now gone away for photography, so we can't use it at home for a while!  I want to add a lot more quilting when it comes back too.  It will be a very cosy quilt to use.