A Length of Tsutsugaki Boro: Butterflies and Peonies

ca. early twentieth century
74 1/2" x 13 1/4", 189 cm x 33.5 cm

This layered length of boro cloth is notable for the lighthearted, tsutsugaki resist dyed images of peonies and butterflies that adorn the cloth up its length.

The butterflies are drawn in a fairly large scale and the peonies are drawn with a fair amount of detail: in each case, the renderings are rich and descriptive, and they add a welcome levity to this patched panel from a futon.

This panel is composed of about two to three layers and is cobbled together from several different cotton textiles.  Rows of sashiko stitching run up the entire length of the cloth and the side of the boro panel which is highlighted here shows some good patches and some tight sashiko stitching within the patches.

There are some holes and some surface abrasion (and a bit of surface loss) to this cloth, but this is to be expected of old, boro textiles such as this one.

The lucky person to acquire this textile will find the reverse, not shown, to be equally interesting to this side, but extremely different as it was hand stitched from several striped cottons.

A gorgeous thing.