Japanese Bagworm Fabric Bug Themed Birthday Gift: The Destiny of Things, Story 568
If I don't get this done, I might never! It's been over a month now and I'm determined to get this done today! This was a very special gift for my mom who is a quilter and textile collector and I actually found something she didn't have in her collection!
Imagine collecting all these bagworm bags and then stitching them into a chrysanthemum shape! Below is a close up.
I think you can see all the tiny even stitches now.
I wish I had taken a photo with rulers, but the other half of my mom's bug themed gift arrived late, so I was in a rush to gift wrap them in time. I think this piece was about 12x12 inches.
The one above is a double chrysanthemum. I was a little worried my mom would freak out over getting some bagworms, so I only bought her these two. I went back to buy the other two for myself, but they were already sold out. The sold out ones weren't shaped like flowers, they looked more like scales on a reptile or fish.
This is a close up of the double chrysanthemum, before it went to my mom. It looks the same as the single flower one, but you can see the little dark spot of the middle of the flower in the upper right hand corner.
I am one of those people who think the stitching on the back can be just as interesting as the fronts, so I took photos of the back and the bagworms were stitched on to some antique fabrics. I would call the back fabrics vintage, but my mom was delighted that the backs were antique fabrics.
I was happy to see that some other stitcher leaves long threads after knotting. Sometimes I get so excited or meditative over stitching that when I knot I forget to cut off the end thread or I even forget to knot and later go back and knot everything.
Not sure, but I think this is the close up of the single chrysanthemum. Japanese bagworm fabric seems to be hard to find and most of what I found were purses or bags, that were more on the primitive looking side, but I did find a very refined kimono embellished with bagworms. I've posted those photos after sharing the other half of my mom's bug themed gift.
Close up of the back of the other one. Since I wasn't sure if my mom was going to be bugged out and not like her bagworm fabric, I also got her some cochineal dyed wash cloths. She loves indigo, so to be on the safe measure, I got those too! Photo below.
Just in case, you don't know what cochineal is, it's a white bug that dyes red on cloth and usually lives on nopales cactus or at last it does on the one in our backyard! I think cochineal bug dye is from Mexico, as far back as the 15th century and it was primarily used for lipstick and food colorant before fabrics. When mixed with some kind of salt it can be used as a carmine dye. Don't quote me on that because that's all I remember from a couple of summers ago, when our nopales turned completely white! Our nopales today is only spotted white. Anyways, that's how I got the idea to send my mom a bug themed fabric birthday package.
Both, indigo and cochineal hand dyed wash clothes are super duper comfy soft! These are from EarthDyedGoods, available here on Etsy. You might have to click on the redirect notice, at least I have too.
Back to bagworm fabric, it seems that the fabric might be rare, but I'm not good at googling, but this is what I found. I could only find one purse and a bag on google.
Above is the more primitive looking bag. It looks like bark to me. I did feel the bagworm fabric and it felt like more like cork.
Below is the more modern looking purse I found.
That definitely looks like cork.
I sent this photo to my mom, in case she thought I was crazy for sending her worm stuff! Plus, besides quilting, she loves to make bags and purses and produces all kinds of patterns to make them.
Lastly, here is the exquisitely beautiful refined bagworm used as deers to embellish a kimono.
There are a total of 6 deer on this silk kimono gracing the front and back of it, available here at SalzTokyo on Etsy. Again you might have to click on the redirect.
What I Learned:
1. My mom loved her bug themed gift and couldn't believe how resourceful Japanese people can be by using just about everything! Now, the next challenge is what can I find her for Christmas?
2. As a recovering hoarder, I am kicking myself for not buying all 4 bagworm pieces! If I was still hoarding I would have bought all 4 of them in a blink of an eye! Such internal conflict I bring to myself!
3. There isn't much information about bagworm fabric that I could find. Here is a photo of it in it's most natural state I could find.
According to this research article bagworms are silk and resilient, read a detailed article, here. I wish this new google format had that link testing button!
I'm out of time and my brain is lacking oxygen due all the smoke here with all the California fires mixed with all the ash and the heat wave. I'm going to have to couch potato or meditate.
Anyone out there have any ideas to what to give to a quilter mom who has a huge collection of unique and unusual textiles that now includes Japanese bagworm fabric?
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