This designer panel is by Hitomi Fujita for QH Textiles, one of fourteen I stock (ideal for combining in a sashiko sampler quilt). These stunning original designs take hanafukin panels in a new direction, while staying traditional.  This classic design features the written  hiragana characters いちごいちえ ichi-go ichi-e and o-mikuji (fortune papers, random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan) against three circles featuring traditional sashiko patterns.  Please see my stitching suggestions below for ways to stitch this design to best advantage. Hand printed in Japan.

What does ichi-go ichi-e mean? It is the Japanese equivalent of a 'once in a lifetime' chance - so don't miss it!  A special design for those who are really interested in Japanese traditional culture.

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 -
Use different thread colours to emphasise different parts of the design. The folded and knotted papers would look natural in white or cream. You could bring out the written hiragana characters in a light colour, or accent them in red or mid blue. Red and white are colours used a lot in Shinto, with red the girls' traditional colour and white the boys' colour in Japan, rather than pink and blue. A touch of golden yellow and yellow ochre would look good around the circles, echoing the golden decorations at temples, or go for more natural shaded browns and greys to evoke the atmosphere of a Shinto shrine deep in the forest.

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.