{week 15} sashiko embroidery

I love the look of sashiko embroidery – its clean lines and elegance have had me wanting to have a go for some time.

1. Sashiko apron, 2. sashiko envelope inside, 3. Sashiko pouch, 4. sashiko, 5. Sashiko Pillow, 6. sashiko embroidery

Traditional sashiko uses a special needle, thread and thimble. I substituted them for a normal embroidery needle and thread – and I don’t have a thimble so had to manage without. The traditional designs, like this one from Purl, are lovely but I wanted to do something very simple, and colourful. I decided to make a simple envelope cushion from simple linen and a colourful backing fabric (by Anna Maria Horner).

Sashiko uses just a simple running stitch where all the stitches are equal width. I picked three colours of embroidery thread to match the backing fabric. I drew lines on the linen with a water soluble marker so I kept my stitches straight and arranged the leaves that I’d cut out of the backing fabric until I had a design I was happy with.

The design came together very quickly – you don’t need an embroidery hoop and you work several stitches at a time.

I’m very pleased with the finished cushion – I definitely want to do more sashiko embroidery and try out a more traditional design.

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