Look how an Etsy buyer used my blooming heart textile art as a zokin decorative patch! BEFORE:
Created from eco friendly boro and vintage threads, 2 more available here.
Photo via MendingWays
I thought M was going to add this to her screen divider collection, where she hangs a lot of her textile art collages and brooches, but instead, she did something completely different and it would have never crossed my mind to embellish a zokin with it! It turned out really really really cool! Such a prominent surprise! Thanks M! I hope this inspires others as much as it has inspired me!
AFTER:
Want, want! Gotta get me a zokin now! or look through my boro stash and make one! On the more serious side, look how nice the Japanese pieces look with the cottage style rose print drapes! The plant seems to tie it all together with it's pop of spring green!
Photo via kind Etsy buyer, thank you!
Here is what M said about her blooming heart textile art patch:
My patches
are beautiful! I am so happy with everything I have ever purchased from
this shop! (and I have placed lots of orders). There is always something
new. Kennedy is such a lovely person and it is always a joy to order from her great shop.
M is one of my biggest supporters to my alternative to hoarding! She has been a great inspiration and motivator through the years.... I can't thank her enough!
M is one of my biggest supporters to my alternative to hoarding! She has been a great inspiration and motivator through the years.... I can't thank her enough!
She is also an artist and as soon as I catch up on some blog postings, I hope to show you some of her textile collage art. I'll need to get her permission first and try out some of her fun projects!
Here is a close up of her beautiful zokin piece with the blooming heart embellishment.
CLOSE UP: I like how the blooming heart patch is tacked on carefully with tiny blue x stitches in each corner, so it can be removed easily and used somewhere else, if desired.
I just love all the wabi sabi stitching on this zokin. It reminds me of the back of a cutter quilt that's shrunk over the years from countless washings. Oh my, is that a boro textile bag I see peeking out from the right of the photo? Photo via Etsy buyer
Saying Goodbye: I
get so happy when M orders my textile art patches because I know she'll
do something amazing with them and photo email share it with me! It's
so fun watching how another artist transforms them. From what I've seen
her whole house is an artist's haven heaven! I hope one day, I can do
the same. I have little corners of my house like that, but her house is
just wonderful!
I love making these blooming hearts and this is my first version of smaller ones. In the past I made some larger ones and they have gone to some "forever" homes! Looks like I'll be stitching another batch soon!
I love making these blooming hearts and this is my first version of smaller ones. In the past I made some larger ones and they have gone to some "forever" homes! Looks like I'll be stitching another batch soon!
What I Learned:
1. I've always thought about using zokins traditionally, as dust rag cloth from cleaning everything from table tops, floors, furniture, cars and such. It's very eco friendly since they are made from discarded and worn out kimonos, towels and other fabrics. Usually there are several layers, some folded for added thickness and others not and then held together with sashiko stitching.
2. Also zokin is traditionally only used to clean areas that are very dirty. For example, you wouldn't use your zokin to clean your dishes and/or fruits or veggies. Traditionally one would use a new fukin or dish cloth to clean the mentioned above items. Then when the new fukin starts looking dingy after many uses and washings, it might be used to clean and dust counter and table tops until it starts tearing and looking quite dirty, then it would be folded up and added with other old used up fabrics.
3. What's the difference between zokin and boro? To my grandmother and mother, boro simply translates to rags, but traditionally it has various meanings and today even more, to me it means old time worn fabrics, mainly clothes and blankets (futons), that have been patched up and mended through the years. After the clothes have totally fallen a part, one would use those pieces to add to your used up fukin to make zokin.
Many other things could be made too, like a boro rug or sakiori. Sakiori is when they take boro or other strips of old time worn fabrics and weave them into something thicker. The thickness is usually like a heavy placemat.
Basically one would use the boro until it was completely gone, as if it dissolved into water.
How have you used your boro rags lately? I do have an extensive Japanese boro collection now, but I use mine, I guess it would be called American boro, in a more practical sense. I'm mending my own clothes all the time and waiting for them to fall apart to make other things, like zokin.
When we first moved in, our bathroom didn't have a window covering, so we just hung up a large beach sized towel. We thought this would be a temporary solution, but we soon found out everyone used it as a very large hand towel and over the years, I've mended it! I'm thinking of trying to make a shower curtain out of thread bear towels because it would be easier to clean by throwing it in the washer, rather than spraying and wiping down plastic.
Of course now, during these uncertain times, we are adapting again.
When we first moved in, our bathroom didn't have a window covering, so we just hung up a large beach sized towel. We thought this would be a temporary solution, but we soon found out everyone used it as a very large hand towel and over the years, I've mended it! I'm thinking of trying to make a shower curtain out of thread bear towels because it would be easier to clean by throwing it in the washer, rather than spraying and wiping down plastic.
Of course now, during these uncertain times, we are adapting again.
Here is the other patch she ordered.... It has a very old scrap of katazome with a newer fabric background. I wonder what M will do with this one, but I do now, it's most likely in her leather wallet patch storage organizer until needed! That story is here. 2 more patches like this one, available here. Photo via MendingWays
Thank you so much M for always taking the time to share your photos and inspiring me! I just love your zokin as a table display protective mat! You are so creative and so kind!
For example, your leather wallet patch storage organizer has motivated me to organize all my scraps of boro.
I've been rolling them on to shipping tags and Bingo cards! It is so much easier now to see what I have and I went a step further and bundled them into groups, like katazome, kasuri, stripes, solids, plaids and more! I'll take a photo this weekend. A heartfelt thanks again M!
I've been rolling them on to shipping tags and Bingo cards! It is so much easier now to see what I have and I went a step further and bundled them into groups, like katazome, kasuri, stripes, solids, plaids and more! I'll take a photo this weekend. A heartfelt thanks again M!
I just love making these blooming hearts! This is the larger sized one, it's made from my red childhood hadajuban or kimono undergarment, which really was a more casual kimono or long coat, but I wore it out and now it's boro. Larger blooming heart available here.
Photo via Hoarder Rehab
How have you been spending your time in lock down? I can imagine that everyone's home is probably spotless with spring cleaning and such with more time for family through Skype or Zoom.
This is the blooming heart that started it all! In my head, it was going to be a couple of summer strawberries on a plate, but my stitching seems to have a mind of it's own.
Sales were down and then soared up and now have dwindled to very low. Not sure, what to do? Keep the shops open til all this blows over or to temporarily take an Etsy vacation? Most likely take an Etsy vacation because we haven't been new listing and sales so slow.
At least I have more time now to catch up on all my blog stories!
Click on the shop names to visit my hoard: HoarderRehab with 183 items, The Destiny of Things- 178 items, VintageToGoEasy - 173 items and JunkDrawerAndMore - 174 items. And now, Mending Ways with 35 items!
Maybe you'll find something and give it new life and a new home! All lookieloos are appreciated!
Created from eco friendly boro and vintage threads, 2 more available here.
Photo via MendingWays
Related Stories:
Leather Wallet Textile Patch Storage Book: Mending Ways, Story 11
4. Stitching Repair Hot Pads: Mending Ways Story 7
5. All my Mending Ways Creative Outlets Hoarding Alternative stories, here.
Stay safe, stay well, stay calm and stitch on! Thank you readers from all over the world who continue to support my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things by taking part with your visits!
5. All my Mending Ways Creative Outlets Hoarding Alternative stories, here.
Stay safe, stay well, stay calm and stitch on! Thank you readers from all over the world who continue to support my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things by taking part with your visits!
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