These pre printed panels from Olympus Thread Mfg. Co.are called 'hana fukin' with literally means 'flower cloth'. They are printed in grey on white 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 have done above). I have added a short photo tutorial on my blog, showing how I stitched the black version (also available).
This modern Halloween panel is fun to stitch in different colours, I used thread from the 20m sashiko thread range to stitch the black version. For the white version, replace the white thread with #20 black, but the #28 grey, #96 shaded grey, #22 orange, #04 persimmon and #07 green could stay the same. Stitching suggestions for the white version -
- Stitch the ghost with a single grey thread
- Use single black thread for the cat outline
- Outline the 'Trick or Treat' banner in black
- Stitch the 'Halloween' letters in black
- Try shaded grey rather than black for the ghost's hat
Other combinations of Halloween colours would look great!
Halloween is marked by people in Japan, especially the dressing up part, although it isn't a traditional festival.
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!
Finished size approx 13in (33cm) square.
Marks wash out. NB - the marks have less contrast than my pre printed sashiko panels.
Designed and made by Olympus Thread Mfg. Co. in Japan.
100% cotton.
