A Sashiko Stitched Maekake: Rustic Apron
early to mid twentieth century
19" x 17", 48.25 cm x 43 cm
This sashiko stitched cotton maekake or apron is a wonderful folk textile from old Japan. Aprons were worn all the time by all classes of people, especially working people.
Women at home wore them to do housekeeping, farmers and tradesmen wore them, shopkeepers wore them--in the past, aprons or maekake were part of one's daily clothing, and, still, today, many people today in Japan wear aprons on a daily basis.
This wonderful example was clearly worn by a woman in the home. You can almost imagine it.
It is constructed of two layers of cloth. The proper front side hand pieced of a narrow, striped grey-colored cotton while the proper back is hand pieced from the same cloth with an addition of a subtle, brownish colored kasuri cotton, the same cloth as the tie is made from.
Clearly the material used to fashion this apron is re-purposed and an educated guess would tell us that the cotton was taken from a kimono.
The sashiko stitching is quite regular and it is done in a repeat pattern of diamonds: just wonderful.
A fabulous memory of old Japan, this apron conveys the authentic spirit of a bygone age.
Recommended.