Sashiko is a Japanese stitching technique and practice used to reinforce and decorate fabric; boro refers primarily to textiles shaped by repeated use, patching and repair. The two are closely connected, but they are not the same.<\/b><\/p>\n
The cuff of a favourite shirt has begun to wear through. You would like to mend a small hole, but you are not sure how to choose the thread or a patch. At moments like this, photographs of sashiko or visible mending can be what finally gets you to pick up a needle.<\/p>\n
Treat sashiko, boro and visible mending as one and the same, however, and both the cultural background and the choice of repair method become blurred. Below, we untangle the three terms, take surviving garments from Tohoku in northern Japan as a guide, and look at the materials and steps involved in a first mend.<\/p>\n
Key points<\/b><\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n\n