A Holiday to Mark on the Calendar

Happy Harikuyo! February 8 in Japan marks Harikuyo or The Festival of Broken Needles. This ceremony, a blend of Shinto and Buddhist beliefs, is thought be over 1500 years old. Harikuyo is observed at temples all over the country as kimono makers, seamstresses, and needle wielders of both sexes lay their broken or bent pointy-headed little friends to rest in huge cakes of tofu.

Reasons for the ceremony are rooted in ancient beliefs that inanimate objects, such as needles, have souls too. To simply trash a bent or broken needle, a tool that has worked for you and given you its all, dishonors the tool and might invite that needle's anger. Can anyone say 'pricked fingers'? As they leave their old needles in the tofu, festival attendees also say prayers for a successful coming year of sewing.

Sashiko ('little stab') the hand-sewing embroidery/darning/quilting stitch from Japan is getting a lot of attention from modern sewers. Everyone likes the classic sashiko style, a clean geometric pattern in even white stitches against an indigo background. The woman on the right, laying her old needles to rest at last year's harikuyo in Tokyo, wears a jacket with what looks like a sashiko-stitched tortoise shell pattern.

But sashiko is being done in interesting new color combinations in addition to the historic blue and white. At a recent CNA (Craft and Hobby Association) trade show in Anaheim, California, the folks from Colonial Needle exhibited a market bag, one of their new leather accessories from their Lee's Needle Arts division, that displayed a sashiko embroidered insert. I stitched the sashiko insert in the asinoha (hemp leaf pattern) on traditional indigo fabric and used four different colors of perle cotton.

Presencia USA  sells the #8 perle cotton in an amazing color range. The colors used in the bag insert are Medium Blue Delft, Kelly Green, Medium Golden Brown, and Dark Topaz. While the indigo fabric is imported from Japan, both the bag and the sashiko needles can be found at the Colonial Needle site.

Who says people with ADD can't do needlework?

Needle Me Now

This blog begins a new year for the Colonial Needle Company and for me. I love hand sewing. In my case, it means piecing, quilting, sashiko, and embroidery. I first got to know Terry and Jim Collingham, the owners of the Colonial Needle Company, from meeting them in their booth at trade shows. Their enthusiasm for needlecraft and their products is contagious. They handed out samples of needles and encouraged people to try their needles and report back to them. How could I refuse?

Years ago I visited the Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch, England and enjoyed myself immensely. You know you're a nerd when an afternoon spent looking at tiny tools like needles is the high point of your visit overseas. The gift shop at the Needle Museum had the world's best selection of needles...until I encountered the Collinghams and realized all those wonderful needles were available here in the US!

This blog celebrates all the different work we do with needles and I encourage (request, beg, etc) that readers and commentators send me lovely clear close-up photos of their hand needlework. Who am I? I'm Pepper Cory and you can send pictures to me at this address: pepcory@gmail.com.
To define 'hand needlework': quilting, embroidery, huck weaving, heirloom sewing (think gorgeous christening gowns), knitting (Colonial sells knitting needles and tools too), and anything else that a creative person wielding a needle can do. You can add your comments at the bottom of this blog, visit us on Facebook, or go to the Colonial Needle website . We hope to hear from you!