Sashiko Kimono
History:
Sashiko originated about 400 years ago as a means of keeping warm and preserving clothing. In rural, northern Japan, winters were harsh and many people were extremely poor. They relied on producing their own clothing from hemp (cotton was prohibitively expensive for everyday garments) and were restricted from wearing certain colours, so used indigo dye as it was easily grown and was thought to protect against insects.
Putting two or more layers of cloth together and sewing with running stitch creates small pockets of air in the clothing, which trap warmth. Many beautiful, geometric patterns were stitched in undyed thread to create the classic 'cream on blue' look we associate with sashiko today. As well as being beautiful, this was also very practical as women would often stitch sashiko on dark evenings and the contrast meant they could see what they were doing!
Since an item of clothing sometimes had to last for three generations, dense stitching helped preserve the fabric, as well as providing a means of repairing with patches.
Sashiko fell out of favour in the 20th century as Japanese people began to wear Western clothes and did not want to be reminded of how poor their families once were. However, recent years have seen a revival of interest as people around the world have seen sashiko on the internet and want to have a go! In Japan, sashiko has also become more popular as a craft hobby. Interestingly, people in the West tend to want their sashiko to look 'traditional' and usually choose cream thread and indigo fabric, whereas in Japan this looks a bit 'old fashioned', so different coloured fabrics and threads are becoming more popular!
Above text source: https://www.japancrafts.co.uk/sashiko.html#/
