Sashiko Workshop with Katrina Rodabaugh

 As I  mentioned, I had the great luck to take a sashiko workshop with Katrina Rodabaugh.  I've been interested in Katrina's work since stumbling upon her Make, Mend, Thrift project, and when I  had the opportunity to take an online two-week sustainable fashion workshop with her, I was pretty psyched.  But to take an in-class workshop was amazing.

Before we got down to work, Katrina went over some of the key points of sashiko like the history of it as a mending technique in addition to placing it within a tradition that includes the quilts of Gee's Bend.

Then we got to work on a practice square.  The stencil will disappear in the wash, and you can pick any pattern you wish.  I'm still fussing with mine.

When we felt pretty good about that, we worked on a pot holder (sorry - no photo), and then our mending.  I brought a well-worn (and already patched) pair of jeans that I mostly use to do yard work and what-not.  While my technique has some room for improvement, I'm really happy with the mending of the knee gash.  There's a patch of jean material as large as the stitched square behind the original tear.  Now the knee is reinforced, and, if I may say so myself, looking much cooler.

Lots of plusses about this - both literal and figurative.