A Zokin: Refashioned Jacket Fragment

ca. early to mid twentieth century
10 1/4" x 9 1/4", 26 cm x 23.5 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 particular zokin is something of a prize: looking carefully you can this zokin is part of a Western-styled jacket: the applied pocket is machine stitched and the three button holes are hand sewn.  Really lovely--as is the quickly done sashiko stitched and the reverse of the zokin which is something of a collage of cottons.

A fabulous little utilitarian textile.