Sashiko
in EQ5
Nowaki (Blowing Pampas Grass) & Inazuma (Lightning)
Katabami (Wood Sorrel)
If
you have used Layer 3 of the Quilt Worktable for quilting designs, here's
an idea that goes one step further. The new
snap features and the ability to copy & paste on the quilt, make it
easy to tessellate sashiko designs across the quilt. All of the PatchDraw
motif designs below require the use of the Advanced Drawing features in
EQ5. You can find out how in my new book, EQ5 Drawing: Exercises in
Block Design.
Nowaki (Blowing Pampas Grass) & Inazuma (Lightning)
You do
not have to limit yourself to making quilts with just squares and rectangles.
Here's a hexagonal design that would make a lovely table topper!
Katabami (Wood Sorrel)
Here are
some other sashiko design examples created in EQ5. I created them
as open sided motifs in PatchDraw so that I could repeat the design on the
quilt itself. The ability to copy & paste on the quilt worktable
make this a snap!
Jigsaw (American puzzle)<VBG> & Kasane Kikko (overlapping tortoise shells)
Juji (Tens or connected crosses) & Bashamon (Chinese god of good fortune)
Manji (Buddhist cross) & Manji variation)
Kaki No Hana (persimmon flower) & Hishi Seigaha (diamond-shaped waves)
Most sashiko
designs are simple closed patches repeated on the PatchDraw block. Using
the Advanced Drawing features keeps the designs neat and symmetrical.
In addition, a lot of the sashiko designs are made up of single embroidery lines. To accomplish this in EQ5, use my "thin line as closed shapes" technique found in Chapter 2 of EQ5 Drawing.
In addition, a lot of the sashiko designs are made up of single embroidery lines. To accomplish this in EQ5, use my "thin line as closed shapes" technique found in Chapter 2 of EQ5 Drawing.
You may
be wondering what to do with these wonderful sashiko creations, eh? Besides
hand embroidery you can use these for quilting designs too. Check
out the resources below for more inspiration.
Mary Parker's book is fantastic! Besides all the design and project ideas, you get a little history behind the art of sashiko as well. The last part of the book is a reference guide to hundreds of sashiko designs along with color diagrams of how to stitch them as continuous line embroidery.
Be sure to check out Betty Gant's web site too. Her technique involves transferring the designs to lightweight fusible interfacing, ironing it on the back of your fabric, loading 12 wt. perle cotton (or 8 wt.) onto your machine bobbin and stitching from the back of the piece.
If you have other ideas for your EQ5 designed sashiko, please email me them to me so that I can post them here to share with others.
Mary Parker's book is fantastic! Besides all the design and project ideas, you get a little history behind the art of sashiko as well. The last part of the book is a reference guide to hundreds of sashiko designs along with color diagrams of how to stitch them as continuous line embroidery.
Be sure to check out Betty Gant's web site too. Her technique involves transferring the designs to lightweight fusible interfacing, ironing it on the back of your fabric, loading 12 wt. perle cotton (or 8 wt.) onto your machine bobbin and stitching from the back of the piece.
If you have other ideas for your EQ5 designed sashiko, please email me them to me so that I can post them here to share with others.
RESOURCES:
- Book: Sashiko: Easy & Elegant Designs for Decorative Machine Embroidery by Mary Parker
- Web site: Betty Gant Designs
