Sewing Adventures: Sashiko cloths or Hana Fukin

Ever made anything where you weren’t entirely sure what it is you were making? that’s the situation I found myself in with these sashiko cloths. I ordered them from a Japanese site with only minimal translation. I thought I was purchasing pre printed sashiko panels…which I was. These ones are a little different, the fabric is slightly lighter weight and the print has an extra panel off to one side that was printed with Japanese instructions.

Using Google translate I tried to read the instructions and couldn’t not make head nor tail of it. So instead of you know looking things up and getting expert advice I blindly waded on in with stitching. In hindsight I wish I had figured it out better but as it is it’s not a huge issue just more a case of not being correct which vexes me and I feel I’m being disrespectful to the beautiful work of the Japanese stitchers who make these.

The cloths are actually Hana Fukin which translates as flower cloth or kitchen cloth according to the research I’ve done so far (this is by no means extensive and I may have got it wrong). It indicates a soft useful cloth normally with a flower design stitched on it that is used a cleaning/polishing/useful everyday cloth.

Because I got my instructions wrong I stitched the cloth first before folding it right side together, stitching around it on my machine then turning it right side out before stitching the turning hole closed. It works even though I’m fairly sure I did it wrong.

Despite my misunderstanding they were a joy to stitch and are actually wonderfully useful in the kitchen, I tend to use them as a napkin replacement good for wiping fingers when they get sticky etc. Like many of my other sashiko pieces it’s incredibly joyful to have beautiful pieces to use everyday because there is no sense in only keeping the beauty for “good”.

Fabric – pre printed panel bought randomly on the internet and now can’t find again but similar ones can be found at BeBeBold

Pattern – pre printed but next time I’m going to find out the correct way to do them

Changes – get better at translating instructions