I’ve spent the weekend making a quilted fabric basket – 4 sides, each showing a different variation of Boro/Sashiko… Two sides are decorated by hand, two by machine. Two have fabric scraps stitched in place, to mimic traditional Japanese “Boro” mending, two have more regular, geometric Sashiko stitching in white thread on a navy background. It’s fully lines and about 30cm x 30cm. For someone like me – who likes neat, carefully finished off seams – the patchwork sides were a real struggle at the start, and I almost gave up, thinking I’d hate the results. I also hate anything random, with no regular pattern….. In the end, I’m glad I persevered because I love the different colours and textures and will certainly use this technique again. I wanted to put the handles on the Boro sides, but they were made from quite a heavy fabric, so I put them onto the Sashiko sides instead. I’m about to start another sashimi/Boro project – this next one will be more intricate…. I think!
