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Post by takadainotora on Feb 24, 2008 22:19:31 GMT -5
NO! Furoshiki are frequently double-layers, the two sides complement each other and they are pretty colors and prints. Think really classy square silk scarf, not bandana.
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Post by Water_Tengu on Feb 24, 2008 22:20:10 GMT -5
ah, ok. that seems a lot thicker and easier to manage
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Saionji Shonagon
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Feb 24, 2008 22:37:52 GMT -5
buy? isn't a furoshiki in essence just a very large "do-rag"? OK, I realize I have spent far too much of the day squinting at needle and thread, but did you not write the following? 1. "i agree, this thread has actually pushed me to make one for myself" 2. "personally i tie two corners, do one half-hitch, place chopsticks on top of that tie, then make the half-hitch a square knot." If you know what a furoshiki is, why would you act like you do not? If you do not, why would you claim to know how to tie one? I confess I am puzzled.
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Post by Water_Tengu on Feb 24, 2008 22:57:56 GMT -5
i thought that was what it was. i have tied one before, but obviously what i tied was not a true furoshiki. now i shall have to look up what exactly they are and how they are made.
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Post by Noriko on Feb 24, 2008 23:12:00 GMT -5
Furoshiki are frequently double-layers, the two sides complement each other and they are pretty colors and prints. Think really classy square silk scarf, not bandana. Ah, I just pick out a nice cotton print from the quilting section that I really like (sooo many pretty patterns....). I don't really bother to line it/make it double sided, though. So many end up with yogurt splats on them...(long story...)
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bovil
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Post by bovil on Feb 25, 2008 1:30:31 GMT -5
Ah, I just pick out a nice cotton print from the quilting section that I really like (sooo many pretty patterns....). I don't really bother to line it/make it double sided, though. So many end up with yogurt splats on them...(long story...) The double-layer idea solves so many problems, though. In ultra-traditional use (as a wrap for bath goods) being able to clearly identify the side that you're supposed to lay down on the ground/floor and the "up" side that your clothing goes on while you're undressing is really valuable. In addition, "lining" your furoshiki can prevent yogurt splats from soaking through.
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Post by takadainotora on Feb 25, 2008 1:39:10 GMT -5
Furoshiki are frequently double-layers, the two sides complement each other and they are pretty colors and prints. Think really classy square silk scarf, not bandana. Ah, I just pick out a nice cotton print from the quilting section that I really like (sooo many pretty patterns....). I don't really bother to line it/make it double sided, though. So many end up with yogurt splats on them...(long story...) I went to a couple of shops that had a lot of furoshiki; the less expensive ones were rayon, some single layer and some double. The really expensive ones were silk. They didn't have any made of cotton. A book I have on Japanese gift wrapping recommends softer fabrics as making neater knots than something crisp like cotton or linen. I have some solid color polyester scarves that I like to use as furoshiki and they work better than cotton if I'm tying them to make a bag rather than a wrapper.
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Saionji Shonagon
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Feb 25, 2008 2:04:43 GMT -5
If you go to the links I posted in the Vendor forum, they come in a variety of sizes and materials (cotton, rayon, silk) - and price ranges. (Another place to look around is eBay, BTW.) Or make your own out of a square of fabric as Norie-hime does. Laundry-friendly materials are a good idea if one gets attacked by yogurt flinging ninja or has to carry home a bundle of unwashed sake cups from a party. And in a fascinatingly serendipitous act of timing, the following was posted to the Immortal Geisha forum this evening: www.immortalgeisha.com/ig_bb/viewtopic.php?t=10420I keep getting them as presents or finding them at flea markets. (I love living in the Bay Area!) Some are cotton - including the one that is currently being used as a window shade in my bathroom. The silk ones I have are a crepe silk that is very scarf-like and one of those is double sided. Average size is probably about 26 x 26, though the really big green and brown shibori one the Baroness of the Far West gave me is easily a yard square.
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erink
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Post by erink on Feb 26, 2008 19:57:51 GMT -5
Yes, modern furoshiki are delicate and decorative and not really suitable for carrying dishes. They're frequently made of rayon and mainly used for gift wrapping.
However, I've also seen examples of traditional (but likely post-period) needlepoint with white stitching on dark (indigo?) fabric. The stitching was partly intended to reinforce the fabric because it was used for carrying things.
A few Pennsics ago I picked up a couple yards of indigo blue cotton blend on super sale. I have many interests, and I frequently use it to carry my (modern) middle-eastern hand drum around. I actually tie the cloth around the cheesy nylon drum case so I can zip my pen and notebook in there, then strap it across my back. I probably should finish the rest of the edges one of these days....
If carrying dishes, you might want to sneak a zip-top bag inside before you wrap 'em up. Looks just as keen from the outside!
Tengu-sama might be thinking of tenugui, which was recently mentioned on the wafuku forum as a potential head covering. I believe these cloths originated in onsen or bath houses for clothes wrapping.
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bovil
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Post by bovil on Feb 26, 2008 20:45:17 GMT -5
However, I've also seen examples of traditional (but likely post-period) needlepoint with white stitching on dark (indigo?) fabric. The stitching was partly intended to reinforce the fabric because it was used for carrying things. Indigo fabric with heavy white running stitch is sashiko, a very traditional embroidery/quilting technique. It's been documented back to the Asuka period. It was commonly used to reinforce the corners and edges of large furoshiki.
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Saionji Shonagon
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Feb 26, 2008 20:48:39 GMT -5
However, I've also seen examples of traditional (but likely post-period) needlepoint with white stitching on dark (indigo?) fabric. The stitching was partly intended to reinforce the fabric because it was used for carrying things. I believe the technique you are referring to is called sashiko and as far as I have been able to find out, it is an Edo period development - peasant garments were darned to reinforce the fabric, and the darning stitches were done in decorative patterns. (Insert mantra, "Crap! Edo!" here 'cause sashiko can be very pretty.) On a slightly different tangent, one of the fellows in Rising Sun was on a quest for a drinking vessel at Estrella, but was afraid to purchase something breakable. Bowls for tea ceremony are traditionally packed for transport in simple wooden boxes. www.trocadero.com/goldentaste/items/473627/catphoto.jpgThe problem with boxes is that they start to eat space. Currently I wrap breakables in napkins, dishtowels or other fabric, but my to-do list includes making individual padded pouches for my pottery feast-ware.
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Saionji Shonagon
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Feb 26, 2008 21:13:34 GMT -5
Indigo fabric with heavy white running stitch is sashiko, a very traditional embroidery/quilting technique. It's been documented back to the Asuka period. Really? Share source, pretty please?
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bovil
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Post by bovil on Feb 26, 2008 21:20:00 GMT -5
I believe the technique you are referring to is called sashiko and as far as I have been able to find out, it is an Edo period development - peasant garments were darned to reinforce the fabric, and the darning stitches were done in decorative patterns. (Insert mantra, "Crap! Edo!" here 'cause sashiko can be very pretty.) Well, the first mention I saw was in Wikipedia, which was repeated all over the place, and had no citations. Just "Buddhist robe from the Asuka Period donated to a temple in 756 AD." However, I actually found a decent and more detailed reference (it's near the end of the PDF). Alas, I haven't found an image. I also don't have the resources to check the bibliography quickly. The Shosoin Collection has a Buddhist robe ca 756 AD that features sashiko stitching. That's all I've got. Perhaps someone else has better resources to look into this.
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Saionji Shonagon
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Post by Saionji Shonagon on Feb 26, 2008 21:28:09 GMT -5
The Shosoin Collection has a Buddhist robe ca 756 AD that features sashiko stitching. That's all I've got. Perhaps someone else has better resources to look into this. Maybe they do, but a quick flip through my copy of The Silk Road and the Shoso-in doesn't seem to illuminate the matter. May take a deeper look later, but I really should be turning that kimono silk into a Regency dress for this weekend....
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Post by takadainotora on Feb 26, 2008 22:04:25 GMT -5
I just did a quick google on "sashiko+history" and found the following from an article in today's New York Times about an exhibit of antique clothing:
The quilted coats were originally a necessity to keep fishermen warm and dry at sea in the days of sail and oar. Over time they evolved into ceremonial robes for festivals or when fishermen assumed positions of authority. In the 1920's, when the fishermen put engines in their boats and adopted Western clothing, the coats went out of fashion and out of use. Because most were eventually discarded, the ones that were saved are especially prized today.
They are called sashiko no donza in Japanese. Sashiko is a kind of needlework practiced in Japan (sashi means stitch, and ko means small) and donza is a fisherman's coat. Their fabricators use a running stitch to make complex geometric patterns and stripes on layers of fabric. The densely spaced stitches made the cloth thicker and warmer and provided a way to reuse old fabric, just as Americans do in patchwork quilts. The coats, which required great skill, took months to sew. They were often made by the fishermen's grandmothers, mothers or wives. Though no one knows exactly when the Japanese began making the coats, they were used widely as early as the late Edo period, which ended in 1867. Awaji, the largest of some 300 islands in Japan's Inland Sea, was then very prosperous, a major source of fresh octopus, fish and farm products for nearby Kobe and Osaka.
Another site suggests that sashiko began with imported cotton thread coming into Japan from China in the 17th century.
If anybody can find evidence of it earlier, please share; I bought a sashiko pattern book in Kyoto and I'd love to use sashiko furoshiki or sashiko embellishment on my dark linen kosode.
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