Itomaki

Motif

This obi showcases three objects that share the commonality of being wrapped with silk threads. As a sewing enthusiast,you can imagine I thoroughly enjoyed coming across these motifs! Have you seen them before?

The bigger objects represents wooden thread spools, itomaki, that were used by Japanese weavers. Some of them who carry on the traditional way of weaving still use them nowadays. On the motif they are covered with floral designs as a reference to the textiles they will be woven into.

The square shapes that seem to fly around are hand stitching threads bobbins. If you ever tried the art of sashiko, you might have seen similar bobines before. Historically, they would be made by wrapping the thread around pieces of cardboard covered with scrap papers.