Ode to Charlene

I always love it when I find a treasure that bears someone's name - even a first name only as is the case with this lovely Sashiko indigo work apron. Charlene did a masterful job of creating this Sashiko sampler, and very appropriately selected something indigo to work on. Likely we will never know who this lady Charlene is, and it is only my guess that she is from somewhere here in Southern California, or at least lives in this general area.  Was it perhaps made as a gift that for whatever reason was never used, or did Charlene just have a strong interest in learning Sashiko and perhaps decided to create this sampler to learn to work some of the various patterns that interested her?  Although I am always thrilled to find these beautiful treasures, I am also saddened that people don't treasure and keep handwork the way I know that we all did when I was younger. You can click on the image to see it in larger format.

Sashiko, literally "little stabs," is a form of decorative reinforcement stitching (or functional embroidery) from Japan. It was used by the poor country folks such as farmers and fishermen to reinforce points of wear, or to repair worn places or tears with patches in garments, bedding, and other everyday textile items such as Saki bags.  It is interesting that the thinking was such that even everyday items were deemed worthy of decorative quilting and embroidery, though to be honest, I have also seen many a piece with just plain straight Sashiko stitching lines. Still, it is clear that the indigo cloth was highly valued, not just by the stitching, but by the fact that there is still a lot of old Japanese clothing and household textile items made of indigo cloth to be had through dealers such as SRI.com, one of my personal favorites. There is a link on this site for them. The white cotton thread on the traditional indigo blue cloth gives sashiko its distinctive appearance, though decorative items sometimes use red thread.

The oldest surviving item of Sashiko-stitched clothing is from the Asuka period and is a Buddhist priest's robe that was donated to a Japanese temple in AD 756.

Many Sashiko patterns were derived from Chinese designs, but the Japanese also developed many of the designs. The fact that we often see art forms in Japan derived from the Chinese makes me wonder about relationships that are not as obvious as what we read in history books.

In 1824, The artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) published the book New Forms for Design, and the designs from the book served as the inspiration for many Sashiko patterns.

Some of the better known patterns are:

    * Tate-Jima — Vertical stripes
    * Yoko-Jima — Horizontal stripes
    * Kōshi — Checks
    * Nakamura Kōshi — Plaid of Nakamura family
    * Hishi-moyō — Diamonds
    * Yarai — Bamboo Fence
    * Hishi-Igeta /Tasuki — Parallel diamonds / crossed cords
    * Kagome — Woven Bamboo
    * Uroko — Fish Scales
    * Tate-Waku — Rising steam
    * Fundō — Counterweights
    * Shippō— Seven Treasures of Buddha
    * Amime — Fishing nets
    * Toridasuki — Interlaced circle of two birds
    * Chidori — Plover
    * Kasumi — Haze
    * Asa no Ha — Hemp leaf
    * Mitsuba — Trefoil
    * Hirayama-Michi — Passes in the mountains
    * Kaki no Hana — Persimmon flower
    * Kaminari — Thunderbolts
    * Inazuma — Flash of Lightning
    * Sayagata — Key pattern
    * Matsukawa-Bishi — Pine Bark
    * Yabane — Fletching

There are many other names of patterns that stem from nature or from meaningful symbols. For me, it is a testimony to mankind that throughout history, man has had an intimate connection with his surroundings and has taken meaning and seen beauty in the simplest of everyday experiences with those things.

Still Another of History's Mysteries

There is something wonderful and magical about finding a quilt that presents a number of mysteries and then researching to see what we can learn about its history.
Whoever would have thought when I went to view this quilt for a possible appraisal for it to be donated to a museum that it would have led to such a fantastic adventure for all of those involved, and also that I would have made four new friends because of it who will probably be my friends for life. I hope that you will understand if I don't provide a lot of names involved with this quilt as I want to overall respect the privacy of the family. It is now published in some work the family is doing, so they don't mind it being talked about generally.
This quilt is called the Pratt family quilt, and it came from a town in Massachusetts. Family members all signed the quilt, and it is dated, and they not only signed it, but wrote sayings on each block, a practice of the times. The owner and her friend who was visiting her (their children are married) had both worked on the genealogy of the piece extensively when I met them. I was so intrigued by the piece, and also so interested in learning more about the genealogy of the piece that I decided to go with them to visit my good friend of many years, Don Beld, an amazing quilt historian. I wanted him to see it too and see if he might have anything to add about its provenance.
This story could easily become a book because so many things began to happen because of this. We did take the quilt to show and so some new friendships began to form all the way around.  And then Don, who is working with another certified appraiser, Pam Weeks, on a book about quilts from the Sanitary Commission that came into being during the Civil War, began to think there might be a relationship of the quilt with the Sanitary Commission in some way, though he clearly believed the quilt itself was not made to benefit that Commission.  And as the owner and her friend continued to do their own research, sure enough, some letters written by one of the signers of the quilt mentioned the Sanitary Commission more than once.
The quilt was made possibly by one member of the family, and the family all signed it. I do believe it was probably not only made but also quilted by just the one person because the handwork is all so consistent and well done. And then apparently after it was made, or perhaps before the blocks were put together, the signatures and sayings were put on. Over this long period of time, we have come to know a lot about the genealogy of the family, but we still are not clear on the intent of the quilt.  It seems to have been a gift to the one lady who quilted it, but as to the occasion, we are still uncertain.
But the research we all ended up getting involved with in one way or another, and the friendships that have come about as a result of it are just priceless.  And in my mind, what an adventure it has been to keep researching and learning new facts as we go along. Sort of like it was when I was working in archeology as we would start out on a project and then new things would be uncovered, or new information, and sometimes things we had believed would turn out to be incorrect, but the new things we learned were even more exciting.
Some day I may be able to report more about this. In the meantime, I will tell you that the owner of the quilt then introduced me to a mother and daughter who also had some quilts for me to look at.  I went there and spent some quality time with them, not doing any appraisal, but studying and looking at the quilt, and helping them to solve some of history's mysteries.  And in the end, we have all become the best of friends.  I just spent some quality time with one of the ladies at a museum exhibit of antique clothing from the 1770s to the 1880s, and it was just the best day. One of the other ladies came to help me get home after cataract surgery and she filled my home with such good meals to eat for the time while I was recovering.  We all exchanged Christmas presents and as I noted, this goes way beyond appraising a quilt (something that still is pending and I might even have another fellow appraiser do the work for them when the time is right).
It is so typical with the discovery of antique or ethnic textiles that you never know where your discovery will take you. It is always a wondrous journey.

And then there were eight . . .

And then there were eight . . .

OK, we all know how I go to thrift stores and find ethnic textiles or other funky textile items.  It is a hoot because you never know what you will find, so you can't have any agendas when you go looking.  You just look, recognize something that speaks to you as being an ethnic textile or some other fun textile thing, and then you say to yourself, hey, it is just a dollar, or perhaps it is even less, so of course you have to take it home.  I guess I am the Queen of Rescuing Ethnic or Funky Textile Items. For me, it is also the fun of trying to figure out history's mysteries.  I love looking at something, sometimes for hours, and thinking about it, trying to figure out just why the maker or makers did what they did or what they did to make the textile items.This crocheted doily with its dead swans lying around on the base, makes me wonder if the maker had a good idea but somehow got discouraged along the way and did not starch, or whatever else it is that folks do to make something stand up. I remember years ago when I had this idea to make a number of women figures that would be wrapped in red strips of cloth. I took my first figure to show this person who lived nearby and who thought she was the best fiber artist ever, and she cut the piece down to where I took it home and all the muslin forms I had cut out and stitched, waiting to be stuffed and wrapped, and put them in a box in a dark place, and I never got them out again. I am a different person now and more confident regardless of what others say, and I might just go back to those figures and get them made just to spite her and even get them published somewhere.[Photo]I think even if swans we make fall over dead, we should use use them anyway and tell everyone that yes, it is our artistic statement about swan doilies - kind of like all those quilts that were made to humorously "kill" Sunbonnet Sue.  I guess we will never know, but I do know I really enjoy seeing such humor.