Shall we Sashiko?

I have long been fascinated by Sashiko, a timeless art form which incorporates my favourite stitch, the running stitch into gorgeous patterns. I found this book The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook by Susan Briscoe at the library and decided to give Sashiko a go. I instantly took a liking to a particular rule of Sashiko which is you push the fabric into the needle to make stitches instead of stabbing. I've always preferred to use both my hands in needlework as I don't like to overwork my right hand. But what about the fabric and the needle? I couldn't imagine walking into Spotlight and asking for Sashiko fabric, thread and needles. The sales staff would probably go, "Sa What ah? Needles over there." So, no. I did not go to Spotlight. But I went to Art Friend and was shocked to find Sashiko needles.



Sashiko needles aren't ordinary needles. At least not the ones I got. They were the only ones available. They are like fangs. They are giant needles. There was no way I would be able to use any of my fragile fabric. So sadly, I had to use my ordinary needles.

Keeping in tradition with Sashiko, I used the darkest blue fabric I owned. For the cord, I used cord bought at a hardware store's closing down sale. The embroidery is done in white cotton perle. (Nope, still can't find Sashiko thread anywhere. This is Singapore after all.)



My girl loves the bag. She asked me to make one for her.

The Year of the Dragon

No, no, no. It's not the year 2012. One day, I was seized by the idea that being born, ahem, in the year of the dragon, I should possess at least one bag with dragons on it, or something dragon-like. This may sound ridiculous or weird but every bag-loving Chinese worth her soy sauce would know what I mean.

Oooh, I'm so scary


I saw this pattern of a cartoonish dragon in an Anchor embroidery book and knew I had found my dragon. So I drew a bag around the dragon. I wanted the bag to be all about the dragon. Yes, yes. I know. It's the wrong thing to do. You always draw the bag pattern first before you add the embellishment. I always break my own rules.

The fabric is a nice royal yellow and for the embroidery, I chose a fiery red. I used backstitch which is my second favourite stitch as it is almost like drawing with a pencil. My favouite stitch is of course the running stitch because it is so easy yet versatile. And you are born knowing how to sew it.

This bag is good for keys, loose change, some notes for a short trip to the foodcourt

Another fat bottomed drawstring bag

I did not set out to make just another fat bottomed drawstring bag. This one I tried to do differently by adding a piping. I had never done piping before but it's never too late to try.

The piping is on the left with a contrasting strip on the right


Sewing the piping made me wish I had a piping foot. All I had was a non-adjustable zipper foot. I'm definitely going down to my sewing machine dealer soon. I thought of googling for a piping tutorial just to be sure but I think I'll leave it for another bag. The bottom consists of a circle. It's a pretty straight forward bag totally uninterfaced. The fabric for this bag came from my girl's old dress. It came with a lined petticoat which I used for the lining. It's quite obvious the fabric is pretty faded as it was a hand-me-down from a relative who probably got it as a hand-me-down too. I love recycling old clothes into bags but my girl is still quite squeamish. She would yell out, "Hey, that's my dress!" each time she sees her clothing recycled into a bag.