A Pair of Very Stitched and Mended Tattsuke: Cotton Work Pants

early to mid twentieth century
as shown: 34" x 21", 86.5 cm x 53 cm

This is a pair of work trousers called tattsuke; this type of pants were worn in the city as well as the country and were favored by women.

The cloth is a nice, hand woven, indigo dyed cotton with narrow stripes.  By looking carefully at this cloth, it appears that it was once a kimono that had been deconstructed and re-made into a pair of tattsuke.

Its appeal is in its many areas of densely stitched patches, and the question is whether the proper outside (shown in most of these photos here) is more interesting than the proper inside, where the applied patches are more obvious.  Each of the sides is equally interesting to the eye.

The patches are applied by dense blocks of tight sashiko stitching which give these trousers a good deal of texture and visual interest.  This detail of these work trousers is amply illustrated in the accompanying photographs.

Still very wearable, these balloon-like, very gusseted pants are quite durable and with so much intense mending, they should last for quite some time.

Really lovely.