The Beauty Of Sashiko Stitching

Buttons, threads, embroidery… beyond an intentional hole or some light distressing, there are so many beautiful ways to make your clothes truly your own.

Autumn is such a gorgeous time for fashion. The cool weather invites us to express ourselves through layers, colors, and best of all, texture. Go ahead, mix silk with velvet, linen with wool – this is the perfect time to experiment and have fun with the clothes on your back and in your closet. That’s what autumn is all about.

Today I’m sharing a simple, yet age-old method for repairing and adding texture to clothing: the sashiko stitch. Translated to “little stabs” in Japanese, this basic stitch (essentially a running stitch, also used in quilting) is easy to learn but surprisingly elegant in its simplicity. With just some embroidery thread, a little patience (ok, maybe a lot), and a few simple stitches, you can add pattern, line, and texture to your wardrobe.

Clothing Texture

Materials:

Embroidery thread

Scissors

Embroidery needle

Clothing

Tailor’s chalk (or white chalk)

Clothing Texture

Before you begin sewing, mark off the pattern that you intend to follow with the white chalk. This allows you to plan out multiple patterns and will ensure that your stitches stay straight. Because this stitching is delicate, it’s best to do this on a garment that you don’t mind hand washing.

Clothing Texture

Select the first color that you plan to work with, tie a knot in the end of the thread, and begin stitching. The sashiko stitch is a basic running stitch, also used in quilting – use this stitch to follow the patterns drawn with the chalk.

Clothing Texture

Repeat with the other colors of thread until you’ve completed your design.

Clothing Texture

Once you become comfortable with a running stitch, you can begin experimenting with other embroidery patterns and techniques. The sashiko stitch is a beautiful way to repair and revitalize torn or shredded clothing!

More DIY posts from the BLDG 25 blog.

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9 years ago

I love hand embroidery projects. Textiles and clothes change completely when you add those little special touches – dyeing, beading, embroidering, painting, etc etc. I actually have an old tshirt with a pocket that I think I’ll do a little embroidery on today!

<3 dani
http://blog.shopdisowned.com

“A Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is the environmental property rights to 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity produced by a renewable generator. Holding a kite control bar especially designed for snowkiting, the rider allows himself to be pulled by the kite as it is blown by the wind. The second half of the evening brought us the two candidates for the position of Travis County Judge, replacing the retiring Sam Biscoe.

9 years ago

I also really love sewing by hand. I love the natural hand made look of it, perfectly imperfect made by human hands not a machine. I feel inspired to do some stitching!!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

The Weaver Of Words…………give me 15 words and I’ll tell you a tale….
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9 years ago

SO fun, I love this! Definitely a great update for a pair of old jeans

http://juliettelaura.blogspot.com

Zoe
9 years ago

I love hand stitching, my degree was in textile design. I love how wvwn a simple running stitch can add character to a garment. Love it!

Zoe
http://www.bohomixology.com

9 years ago

So very pretty! I love the stitching in the pocket, unexpected and the white is great with the contrast on the dark color! Would love to experiment with this.

Warm Regards,
Alexandra
http://www.littlewildheart.com

9 years ago

I gotta do this! This stitch would look so great on a pillow cover!

xo

Michaela

http://michaelajeanblog.com

9 years ago
Meg
9 years ago

Saw this post on Pinterest and had to click through! I’m so in love with sashiko/boro/visible mending right now. Just finished my first project ( http://instagram.com/p/tR0xVIP9Dr/ ) and can’t wait to do more!

Aman
9 years ago

another project to add to the list!
http://lifturbum.blogspot.ca

9 years ago

This is so cute! Love the brown on the pocket <3
I'm totally gonna try this on a pair of shorts I have

http://nikkicrown.com

9 years ago

Nice patterns!

Roxanne
8 years ago

Embroidery is such a meditating craft, I once made a wall tapestry with little thoughts embroidered on it. It was long and slow and repetitive and made me feel calm.

7 years ago

Lovely feature and some stunning ideas

Rosemary Lambert
7 years ago

A peaceful hobby and great way to express self! Thanks for the ideas!

Anonymous
6 years ago

Why would you do that and ruin your pants

6 years ago

Hand embroidery on clothes is not very simple. it require the concentration on the every step. But It is also not very hard a normal person can learn this but the focus is very necessary. The garments companies make the hand embroidery clothes and if you will see the design of this work then you would surprised by this amazing Hand embroidery stitches.

So amazing Sashiko Stitching. If you have a desire about for buy embroidered clothes then I think Sashiko Stitching clothes are the best option. It is really a fantastic glimpse of embroidered clothes.

Aimee Aimee
6 years ago

Thank you for a great explanation. I was looking online for a similar idea and really appreciate it
Embroidery Digitizing

6 years ago

Subscribe me by email please.

5 years ago

I love that cross stitch at the zipper side, it make the whole jean look so cool.