This designer panel is by Hitomi Fujita for QH Textiles, one of twelve I stock (ideal for combining in a sashiko sampler quilt). Her stunning original designs take hanafukin panels in a new direction, while staying traditional. The circular motifs in this design represent the end of Japanese tsuzumi hand drums, an hourglass shaped small drum used in various dance and theatre performances, with scrolling karakusa vine or fern motifs. Please see my stitching suggestions below for ways to stitch this design to best advantage. Hand printed in Japan.
I currently have the UK exclusive on this design and limited supplies in stock.
It is a 'hana fukin' with literally means 'flower cloth' and printed on indigo blue coloured narrow width traditional sarashi cloth (an easy to stitch traditional Japanese cotton cloth). Each panel is supplied in one piece with a plain area the same size attached, because they are designed to be stitched through both layers and the edges turned in to make a little cloth, but you can stitch the printed layer separately (as I often do). They may be stitched with a doubled or single thread (or a mixture of both, for an interesting effect), in white or using coloured threads. Any of my medium sashiko threads would be ideal for these panels.
Stitching suggestions for the panel -
Tzuzumi drums often have red or orange cords while the drum skins are a creamy colour - the cords are the 'loops' grouped together at the edge of the circles. The centre of the drumskin is usually plain rather than patterned (as in this design) but would look great either echoing the cord colour or in the same thread used for the rest of the drum end details. The fern scrolls could be stitched in green.
These hand printed designer panels are more expensive than the other hanafukin I sell, but the patterns are so beautiful, I wanted to start selling them! I have more more designs by Hitomi Fujita in stock, including larger panels.
Sashiko Cloth by QH Textiles (Australia)
Printed with water-soluble ink - marks wash out
Composition : 100% Cotton
Individual Cloth Size : Approx. 30cm x 60cm (Finished size : 30cm x 30cm)
About Sarashi cotton -
Sarashi cloth is quite lightweight compared with other sashiko fabrics, but is very easy to stitch, super absorbent and wears well. It is one of the fabrics traditionally used for kimono underwear! The second photo shows a comparison between these panels and those by Olympus Thread Mfg. Co., which are most of the other hanafukin I sell. This QH Sarashi fabric is a slightly finer weave, although the stitch length is about 3mm (the same as my Olympus panels), and is the one in front in the photo. The fabric shown both plain and with 5mm dots is the Olympus fabric. The shade of blue is also very slightly different (it actually looks more extreme in the photo than in real life). For a quilt or other project using hanafukin panels, you could mix the two brands and the colour difference would be minimal. If however, you want an exact colour match with all the panels, please just use hanafukin designs from one brand.
