Tickets $35.
Purchase tickets here.

In this virtual Zoom workshop, join artist and teacher Lisa Solomon to learn Sashiko stitching, a traditional Japanese embroidery technique used for mending. Lisa Solomon is the author of A Field Guide to Color: A Watercolor Workbook and is featured in Bedford Gallery’s exhibition A Beautiful Mess: Weavers and Knotters of the Vanguard.

Sashiko is a basic running stitch that allows you to move quickly through a project. In Japanese tradition, Sashiko is used not only as a decorative stitch but also to perform Boro – the act of mending and patching. In class, you’ll learn about traditional tools and threads and how to incorporate more contemporary ideas or use thread and needles you might have in your stash. Students will start by practicing on a scrap of fabric with a design they develop before using Sashiko to mend an item. This workshop will cover 2-3 different strategies to use for mending.

Materials to bring (not included in workshop fee):

• A pair of jeans, shirt or sweater that has a hole or needs repair
• Sashiko needles [or large eye embroidery needles]
• Sashiko thread. Pearl cotton non-pull apart crochet thread is best, but any embroidery thread will do - just not regular sewing thread as it’s too thin.
• Pins/safety pins to help hold in mending fabric
• Scissors
• Fabric scraps to test and for mending
• Water soluble quilt markers, tailor’s chalk, or any kind of fabric marking pencil that will show on the fabric you are using. In a pinch you can use a colored pencil or marker, just know those may not wash out of your fabric easily.
• Quilting ruler. A regular ruler will work too, but a quilting one is nice because you can see through it
• Thimbles - optional

Shop Local! Check out Bay Area stores: A Verb for Keeping Warm, Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics, and The Black Squirrel for supplies.