A Little Intro to Boro Cloth

Hi!  I'm glad you could join me here.  I've been wanting to start a blog for so long, and now that I've done it, its hard to know where to begin!

      A few days ago, I started Jude Hill's (http://spiritcloth.typepad.com/) class Contemporary Woven Boro along with dozens of other people.  I've been following Jude's blog for a year now - my anniversary I guess!  I've learned a lot from Jude in the last year - from her blog, and from her classes: Cloth to Cloth, Spirit Cloth, and The Beast class.  It's been an amazing year in terms of learning. Since the topic is boro, I'd like to share some pics I took of authentic Japanese boro cloth owned by Becky Scellato of the Shibori Dragon store in Lakewood, WA (www.shiboridragon.com/).  Her shop has the most amazing collection of Japanese threads and patterns for sashiko and all things Japanese.  She shared some of her collection with us last fall at the Portland, OR Quilt Expo in a sashiko class that my mom, Sally Jo, and I took.

Boro, translated as rag, is fabric that has been worn, patched up, and used again. Out of necessity and thrift, the fabric items used daily by the common person needed to be repaired as they wore out; so patches of fabric were stitched over thread bare areas.  Over time, a piece of cloth would acquire more and more patches with tiny stitches to secure them in place.  This was done on clothing, jackets, shoulder pads, bed coverings and even household rags.

Boro was originally used as a way to repair cloth by those without funds for new items. It was not displayed or collected, as it is now.  Fabric lovers from around the world have now come to appreciate the hand made nature of boro, the skill with which items were repaired, and the time it took to repair them. 

                                     

Above:
This is a jacket, with top folded forward and sleeves going to the left and right of the top of the picture.

This jacket was thick to keep the wearer warm in the cold Japanese winters.

For more information about boro or to start your own collection, you can visit: Sri Threads: http://srithreads.com/index.php.

Thanks for visiting and see you next time!