Sashiko Visible Mending Workshop. With Rachel Barclay. Saturday, June 15, 2024. 12-3 PM. $90.00. $25.00 holds your space. Call 203-245-5921 to register. Price includes mending kit.
Visible Mending celebrates resourcefulness and sustainability by showcasing hand stitching rather than hiding it. This workshop will highlight the act of mending and textile repair with Sashiko Japanese Embroidery. With humble beginnings in rural Japan, Sashiko’s running stitch insulated work garments for warmth and longevity. Moving into contemporary times around the globe, the bold, geometric beauty of Sashiko continues to both strengthen and decorate fabrics.
Students will learn how to patch a rip or hole, reinforce a worn area, and prepare their distressed textile in order to stitch a Sashiko pattern of their choice.
Bring in one or two garments to assess for mending or decorating. Ideally, areas to repair will be no larger than four inches. Medium-weight, woven cotton fabrics work best; such as denim jeans, cotton or linen shirts, pants, cotton dresses.
Please bring in a couple garments from home to assess for mending, good reading glasses, snips or small scissors.
Each mending kit will include a pair of Sashiko needles, a tapestry needle threader, fabric for each class, and take home pattern instructions. Instructor will provide communal Sashiko threads, fabric markers, pencils, stencils, templates, and rulers.
Rachel Barclay studied Textiles, Installation Sculpture, Printmaking, and Elementary Education in San Francisco and Long Beach, California. Throughout her journey as a creator, educator, and parent, she has focused on making functional sewn and embellished garments, and mixed media textile objects. After learning Sashiko and Visible Mending with Jessica Marquez of Miniature Rhino, Rachel embraced the hand-work practice as an act of mindfulness, empowerment, beauty, and sustainability. She continues to study online with Kazue Yoshikawa of Sashiko Lab in Kyoto, Japan. Rachel shares her joy of hand-stitching with adults and children, alike, teaching workshops in Sashiko Basics, Sashiko Embroidered Tea Towels and Table Runners, and Visible Mending. She lives in a small Connecticut town alongside her woodworking spouse and their two young adult offspring. Follow her creative process on Instagram @rachelharrietteb.