Little travel project

I'm I bought a number of pieces of fabric printed with Japanese sashiko designs at a craft fair a year or so ago along with a few skeins of sashiko thread. I haven't tried any of them, so grabbed one to try on the plane while travelling to Canberra for Christmas. I chose a variegated thread - just wanted to see how it would play out.

I couldn't decide whether the technique would be like Italian blackwork - where the direction is important and the idea is to keep the line of running stitch continuous, or whether you jump from one shape to another on the back of the fabric.

I began working with the stitch continuity assumption. This way, you go where the stitch takes you, rather than where the design takes you. With a variegated thread this matters. Following stitch continuity, I took the closest option each time I got to the end of a line, sometimes going over a stitch to change direction.

In the end I decided the design was a better guide and switched. This way I followed a shape and pathway, if necessary 'jumping' the thread across the back (no more than 2 cm). This gives a greater sense of flow and continuity.

It was a lot to fun to do - and a goood travel project. 

When I finished the piece I used the same thread to create a casing along the top and to stitch the two sides of the piece into a bag.

I had plenty of thread left to make a cord to thread through. Voila! Another bag to put gifts in.