Hello friends!
This week's blog post sat in my DRAFTS folder for quite a while. I was so excited to share the information, but found so much information ( and sometimes conflicting information!) that I just didn't feel like I had enough of a handle on the topic to share about it properly. But I finally decided just to share what I found and let you delve into the topic further and become more of an expert yourself if it interests you. If there is misinformation in this post I do apologize and don't hesitate to contact me and let me know. I will make changes as necessary. Alright, are you ready? Here we go:
( image source: https://sweetsweetlife.typepad.com/sweet_sweet_life/2009/10/a-different-kind-of-art.html)
Are you familiar with Boro Quilts? I had seen some photos of them and was interested in their history so did some research and this is what I found:
Boro (ぼろ) are a class of Japanese textiles that have been mended or patched together. The term is derived from the Japanese term "boroboro", meaning something tattered or repaired. ( source: Google)
Boro got its start in Japan, where the poor peasants of Northern Japan would patch clothing and other household items by stitching small pieces of cloth over the worn sections, using a simple running ( or Sashiko) stitch. Usually these patches were made of hemp, as cotton was scarce and only allowed to be used by certain classes of people. You will notice that most traditional Boro clothing is Indigo colored. Dying cloth in Indigo made it stronger and aside from that, the peasants were forbidden to wear colorful clothing.
These clothing pieces would be passed down from generation to generation as nothing was wasted. Today we would see this as a point of pride, but to the Japanese people having a piece of Boro clothing was seen as an embarrassment and it has only become appreciated as an art form in the last number of years.
