A Fancy Stitched Cotton Zokin: Kasuri Dyed Cotton

early to mid twentieth century
6 3/4" x 11 3/4", 17 cm x 29.8 cm

A zokin is a traditional Japanese dust cloth or cleaning rag; it is usually made from old pieces of cloth and it is usually layered and stitched for durability.   

Along with diapers, zokin are among the traditional household textiles that represent the end of the line where the repurposing or recycling of cloth is concerned.

This example shows a sashiko stitched zokin which is a few layers thick and stitched together from indigo dyed cotton kasuri cloth. The sashiko stitching is done in the persimmon flower pattern and is very handsome in the way it is overlaid on the figured cloth-- and the fancy stitching makes this a quite good example of this kind of everyday cloth.