A Faded and Abraded Sashiko Stitched Zokin: Kasuri

ca. mid twentieth century
24" x 11 1/2", 61 cm x 29 cm

This lovely, oblong cotton textile shows a heavily abraded surface as is quite evident from the photos that accompany this post.  The abrasion peels back the top-most layers of cloth on both sides to reveal glimpses of a layer underneath: the cloth is composed of three or four layers of cloth.

The cotton is a weft based egasuri or picture kasuri (ikat) and the color is a dusty, pale indigo blue.  What makes this cloth so beautiful--aside from this pale color and the sensitive distressing to the surface--is the overall sashiko stitching in a pattern of a grid overlayed by diagonals in two directions.

The cloth shows two cotton loops at one end--although it is likely that this cloth was a dustrag or zokin, it could also have been a diaper, since both types of cloth were made in a similar way using repurposed cottons.

The lower, right had corner has been torn away and is missing, as can be seen in the accompanying photos.

Really lovely.