Selecting sashiko thread colours

Sometimes a sashiko panel works equally well with different colour combinations, but choosing which to go for can be tricky! I went through this process recently, to help some customers choose colours for the Seasons Greetings panels in green and dark indigo blue, by 'auditioning' different thread colours and taking some photos. The first photo (above) shows the green panel with 20m #51 (shaded green) and #26. Although #51 has parts that are almost the same as the green fabric, they are a slightly different colour and a very slightly lighter value, while the sea green, light sea green, white and shading sections would show up really well. These are 6ply medium sashiko threads, and for this panel I would stitch with them singly, not doubled, as that would be too thick. Each 'pine needle' has two rows of staggered stitches, so you stitch out from the branch and back again (very well thought out), and a doubled medium thread would make the pine needles much thicker than in real life.

Then I looked at the possibilities in the 370m fine sashiko thread range, which is 4ply thread. These would all show up against the green panel, because they are different green colours, but the value of #11 jade green is probably a little too close to the green fabric, so it might not show up as well. The dark green #15 would show up well and look like a very natural pine colour. #8 bright mid green, between #11 and #15, looked quite vivid against the green fabric, but looked good against the indigo blue. The all looked good against the indigo, and the contrast with #11 and #8 was much better. I think those colours would work well on the indigo, but maybe not so much on the green. I can't make up my mind about the varigated shade #F, which might work for the green but I think the dark section wouldn't show up so well on the indigo. The 370m shaded threads have very long 'pitch' or colour change compared to the 20m threads, so several adjacent needles would end up the same shade and colour, which might give a slightly clumped effect to the needles. Althoug it is a 4ply, I think using it doubled might be too thick for the pine needles, but I would need to experiment to be sure. Either used single or double, I think one skein would probably be enough for the tree.

Next, we have the 100m #107 light green 6ply medium. This is a slightly different green from the background fabric, and slightly lighter. It would make a subtle contrast, but isn't a natural green for a pine tree (but does that matter?)

20m #07 mid green (at the top in the next photo) is a different green again, maybe a bit more like the colour of a real pine needle, but perhaps doesn't show up strongly enough against the background. It would work well on the indigo blue. Unfortunately this colour isn't produced in 100m skeins (yet!), but it is available in 80m fine 3ply thread balls, as shade #207, and would suit being used doubled.

The vivid green 20m #26 makes a good contrast.

So does #77, which would introduce touches of blue into the greens, and look very vibrant.

Here are all the threads above shown with the green and indigo blue panels. It is a tough choice, and your Christmas decor plans would also influence which colours you use.

I have been thinking about using a different colour for the branches. These are all 100m threads. For some of the greens, #106 yellow ochre would be a good coordinate, and I think the darker greens would look good with #114 brown, which is perhaps the most realistic colour. I think white or cream would look lovely for the pine needles on either panel, perhaps with #113 light grey for the branches.

 

There are so many options. Who says your tree has to be a 'natural' colour? There are also some blues which look very much like pine, such as 20m #72. All these thread colours are available from my website. I'll have to make my mind up soon, because I need to start stitching!

Sashiko sampler stitch along - more thoughts on colours...

I have been busy stitching several different versions of many of my blocks, before I deal with separate posts on the more complex ones and group the easier ones (mainly the geometrics) together for other posts. First, I need to update you on my next Sewing Street TV show, which has been moved from Monday 14th September to Monday 28th September, to allow more time for the show stock to arrive from Japan. I will be on at 9 and 11am for a full hour each time, on Sky 670 and Freeview 74, and of course the show will also be on YouTube - I will post a link to that as soon as I can after the live show.

The three cranes shown above are from my first block set (all the kamon blocks) on black, my second block set (kamon and geometrics from the first panel set on russet), and a third version on green (all the blocks from both sets - 32 large and 32 small blocks!)  To remind you of the coordinating colours, here are photos of the print fabrics and threads for all three sets - 

I haven't rejected the red and gold 'Victorian' block set, but I wanted to start stitching on the green panels asap, so jumped ahead to that one! I sometimes feel that the green colourway gets a bit overlooked - indigo blue is the most popular, followed by the other colours, but green is always at the end. It is lovely soft green and looks fantastic with this vintage chintz furnishing fabric and I wanted to try stitching with the softer blues, pinks and purples. There isn't actually any yellow ochre in the print, but I didn't want to be restricted to using cream or green for the rice sheaf design, and there are actually not so many green threads that really look right with this multicoloured fabric, so I wanted to use it for the gingko leaves as well.

I thought you might like to see how I dealt with the cranes on each colour. On black, I used red for the top of the cranes' head, with golden yellow for its beak, and shaded grey for the tail, the back of the wing and the neck. Real cranes have black feathers as well as white, and although of course the background fabric is black, I wanted to indicate the different coloured plumage through my sashiko thread too. I've used a mixture of doubled and single threads as well.

For my russet sampler, I don't have a red thread in my palette, because I'm using threads that coordinate with the fabric print. The closest I have is this peach shade. I don't have any yellow either, but the persimmon orange made a good alternative. I tried stitching the beak outline doubled this time, because I thought the persimmon might blend into the background fabric a bit too much.

For the green fabric colourway, I used a pinkish purple for the top of the head and the yellow ochre for the beak, this time stitching all of the beak with a doubled thread. I used purple for the 'black' wing and tail feathers. It doesn't have a strong contrast with the green at the moment, because the value of the green fabric and the purple thread is probably a bit too close, but once I have hand quilted around the crane's outline, it will add a bit more definition - the same goes for the varigated grey on the russet as well.

 

 

Here's all three blocks together. I didn't stitch this block first because it was my favourite block in particular, but because I managed to decide on the thread colours quite quickly for the green block. The russet is on the right in both photos, even though it looks a bit more like the brick red colourway in the second one.

Another block that I would put into the 'fiddly but worth it' category (!) is the rice sheaf kamon. On black, I used the golden yellow and stitched the cord around the sheaves alternating between red and white, celebratory colours in Japan. I have taken step by step photos of how to do this colour alternation and will put those in a future tutorial. On the green, I used doubled cream thread for the same cord, with the yellow ochre for the sheaves.

The waves kamon actually uses the same shaded blues/tuquoise thread for all three blocks. I just love that thread! It is paired with white on the black fabric, but with cream on the other two. The green version looks different again because I didn't extend the cream beyond the 'crest' of the waves to go right around the design, but stitched that part in the varigated thread instead.

 

 

Once again, when there is wadding (batting) and extra quilting added, it will throw the edge of the wave kamon into greater contrast.

 

 

So far, the only geometric blocks I've stitched have been from the russet set, where I drew a circle on each block and only stitched within the circle (see previous post) turning a square sashiko design into a circular one. Again, the circle edge will be defined better once there is wadding and extra quilting. On both these blocks, I haven't washed away the stitch markings yet.  The two black geometric blocks with the same designs were stitched for another project I haven't made up just yet. I've used bright blue and turquoise on the russet, which are closer in value to the background than the yellow ochre and ochre/green varigated thread I've used on the black.

My general thoughts on stitching the blocks in colour so far?

1) Often, you need to compromise slightly on the exact thread colour you want, because that shade may not be available in sashiko thread.

2) Just about any colour (other than black) shows up well against black.

3) I have to think a lot more carefully about thread colour on the mid value fabric colours, like russet and green, than on the darker black or indigo, or the light grey (taupe) or light blue.

4) It helps if you can accept non naturalistic colour and motif combinations! I may have some strangely coloured flowers...

It is an adventure and I'm enjoying experimenting with different colours.

On the TV show, I am going to give some basic techinique demos to go with all the blocks, and will also be reading you through the block and strip sizes for the quilt, so have a notebook to hand when you watch!

New QH sashiko panels in stock online

These are some of the gorgeous new panels that arrived this week from QH Textiles. They are designed by Hitomi Fujita and printed in Japan. Now listed in my online shop, click each photo to go to the individual panel listing for more info. They have been selling like hot cakes ('Maiko Bloom' has just sold out) and I hope to be able to get more, but I'm not 100% sure how much the manufacturers have in stock now - I've just heard that they wouldn't be able to get any more of the 'Season's Greetings' panels to me in time for Christmas this year, once I sell out of these.

I'm planning to stitch the green version of the lovely 'Season's Greetings' panel for myself. Although Christmas is not the major midwinter holiday in Japan that it is in many other countries - the big Japanese holiday is New Year - it is celebrated by many people and there are amazing Christmas decorations all over the place, especially in shopping malls.

 

 

The 'Wagara' ('Japanese') panel below has a LOT of stitching in it, and could be made up into a lot of Christmas presents - if you can bear to give it away. I love the way the designer has floated various family crests over geometric backgrounds for the 10in squares, and the other panels would make great 'stand alone' designs too.

The next set of panels are smaller 12in (30cm) approx 'hanafukin' size, printed on 'greige' (natural unbleached) Sarashi cotton. Designed by Ky Fujita and only just released. I want to stitch the Art Nouveau 'Purity' lily panel with bright orange for the lilies though, to look like the wild flower lilies on Mount Chokai!

Reiko Domon's kamon crests sashiko & applique sampler

 I've been having a glitch with my website email newsletter this morning, as the links don't work when I send it - although everything seems to work fine when I check the newsletter preview! So here's the main ones.

Reiko Domon, leader of Yuza Sashiko Guild, has been causing quite a stir with her sashiko and applique quilt (photo above) made using my 2019 limited edition kamon crest panel in the russet colourway, and we reached over 1000 members in The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook Facebook group this week.

You can see Reiko sensei's applique technique in this video clip. Many thanks to Shoichi Konno for making the video. It is basically a variation on needleturn applique, with the sashiko stitched first, using 370m fine white sashiko thread, which is the traditional 4-ply thread used by Yuza Sashiko Guild. For the applique, she has used a mixture of patchwork fabrics and vintage kimono silks. The hitomezashi (one stitch sashiko) patterns in the rectangular central column aren't traditional ones - they look very similar to the modern sashiko patterns from the new Olympus sashiko book. There are also some photos of Reiko's quilt as work in progress on Shoichi's Instagram (plus many photos of the countryside around Yuza-machi and on the slopes of Mount Chokai).

So far, I haven't included applique with my sashiko, although I love applique techniques too. I want to try this next! I hope Reiko sense's quilt inspires you as much as me.

Happy Stitching!

Susan

LIMITED EDITION printed sashiko panels - Autumn colours

 Olympus have printed a special limited edition of my sashiko panels on Autumn colours - brick red (above), mustard yellow and russet. I have just over 20 of each of these panels for sale, now listed on the website, but if you want one, you need to order quickly!  I can't re order them.  Sewing Quarter have got the rest of this limited print run, but I'm not sure when they will release them (and they tend to cost slightly more than from my website too). Click here to read about them on my website.

Both the geometric and the kamon crest versions of the panels have been printed.

I already have less of the mustard yellow than the other two, as I sold a few to my summer school group last weekend.

Of course, I have all the 'regular' colours as well - red (below), indigo blue, black, slate blue, taupe grey (a warm beige) and green - here on my website.