A Sashiko Tablecloth Finish.

For my birthday in 2023 a friend worked this table runner, which I loved. It was part of a suite of Sashiko designs, called Galaxy Dreaming, from Indigo Niche in Queensland. There were two square panels in addition to the runner and I thought it would be good to work the square panels as placemats. 

My friend got on board and made me two for my 2024 birthday, and I bought another six panels to make a full set. 

The designs are beautiful and a joy to work. It became obvious the squares were too large for placemats so I decided to join them into a tablecloth, and bought another runner. 

I have been working these over the last two years between other projects. They are ideal ”grab and go” projects. All you need is a panel, one hank of thread, a Sashiko needle and scissors, ready in a pouch. Once I got to the second last panel I made an effort to push on and finish.

Until then, I had assumed I could arrange the panels either side of the two runners. When I did so, it wasn’t straightforward.

I tried several configurations on my extended table, deciding in the end to go with a variation of my original idea.

To make it work, I needed to buy some matching indigo fabric to add a border - and to fill the gap in the centre.It took a while to purchase the fabric.

There is only one shop in Adelaide with a range of indigo fabrics for Sashiko and I had to wait for their latest shipment to arrive to get a close match. The colour variations in indigo are astounding. The shop owner tells me she has 1000 bolts of blue - all different.  Only one bolt worked. It is a linen/cotton mix and the panels are cotton. The mix will, I hope, stand the test of time.

My quilting friends would be unimpressed with my construction techniques, but I did measure carefully, and use a chalk marker to get straight lines. I had hand- hemmed each panel to the marked border, but they were not identical in size; nearly, but not quite.  I accommodated the difference in the overlap as I stitched it together by machine.

I considered taking it to a laundry for pressing, but settled for spreading beach towels on the table and pressing in situ. That worked. I then tried the tablecloth out for a family dinner. It worked very well, generating discussion.

Time then to wash it. I put in into the washing machine on a short, cool cycle on a day with no rain forecast and a lot of wind. It came off the line bright, clean, crisp and robust, the fabric plump and consistent. 

I decided ironing would achieve little, folded it into eighths and rolled it for storage. 

In spite of the simplicity of Sashiko, this has proved complex. In the final stages I began to think about how design traditions are melded. These designs were inspired by Aboriginal stories and translated into a Japanese stitching tradition. Embroidery, like other crafts and art forms, has evolved in this way for millennia. I have spent a lot of time exploring such transitions in Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Mexican, Ukrainian, Indian - and several other cultures. This tablecloth confronted me with a contemporary cultural transition. 

I got in touch with Sue Howie, the designer of the panels. She has been generous with information about her design processes. There is also  a lot of useful information on the Sashiko Australia website.

I am planning to offer the tablecloth as a trigger for discussion in one of our World Embroidery Study Group meetings next year. 

In the meantime, I have a tablecloth to enjoy.