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Three Favorite Shibori Books

Three great Shibori Books

These are my three most favorite Shibori books. I have many more, but these three, by far, have the most knowledge, most clearly shared, of them all.

The top book is kind of hard to find and I really lucked out to buy it for only $80. It’s on Amazon right now for about $120. It’s in Japanese – which I don’t read – but the pictures are so clear, it’s easy for me to follow. The translation I found said that it’s titled Technique of Traditional Japanese Iris but didn’t translate the author’s name. I don’t feel so sure about the Iris but, whatever. This book rocks!

The second book is Stitched Shibori by Jane Callender. It’s clear and very detailed.

The bottom book is the classic Shibori by Yoshiko Wada. It’s the first Shibori book that I found – lucky me again. At first I found it a little short on instruction. After getting more familiar with Shibori concepts, though, I feel now like it’s chock full of them. I just needed to catch up to them.

What are your favorite Shibori books?  I’m always on the hunt to learn more. Also, please correct me on the title and author name of the first book and I’ll update this post. Thanks!

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On A Tear

indigo dyed bagI made a little sandwich bag and then, by mistake, I made three more. It’s just such a sweet and simple pattern and the bag is so gorgeous in indigo. I played a little with the sizes and shapes.

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The pattern is from the book “Linen, Wool, Cotton” by Akiko Mano. It’s an older book full of really cute patterns that are easy enough for a beginner. That said, I totally cut the pattern wrong but they are adorable anyway.

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Willow Pattern

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I had an super awesome fun time making something pretty.  What could be better? First, random circles then…

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…messy pleating.  The messy part is not required but it’s just my way.

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Grab a short length of rope and…

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Wrap string around the rope and pleated piece of fabric.

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Till it looks like a cocoon.

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You don’t have to have a hole in your glove that turns your hand blue but it could happen.

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Dip it in the indigo lots of times so it really gets dark.

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Unwrap it, it’s an adventure!  Use a seam ripper or little embroidery scissors and BOOM you’ve made the willow pattern, my current favorite Shibori pattern.

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It’s awesome. Oops.

First, the results of the avocado dyed pieces.

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On the right, a dish towel that was in the dye bath for 24 hours.  On the left. a cotton napkin that was in for 48 hours.  The color  on the napkin is darker but also very uneven and I am not thrilled with it.  You can kind of see the darker part along the top.  And the silk scarf, up above them both, was in until the water got nasty – maybe three days-ish.  It’s “meh”.  But it was when I bought it, too.  I just wanted to play with silk.  I have a pile of avocado skins and pits growing in my freezer because, although it’s very light, the pink is really lovely on the 24 hour piece.  I want to do more!

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In the meantime, this quilt needs a backing.  I decided to go all linen for this quilt.  I’ve never done that before but I can just imagine how delightful it would feel to be wrapped up in it.  I  thought it would be fun to piece the back, too.  Another first.  Big beige pieces, though, because I want the blue side to be the star.

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I really screwed up on this one.  Because crazy piecing fabric together is one of my favorite things to do, it’s neither made of large pieces nor less interesting than the blue side.

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It’s awesome.  Oops.

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I had to force myself to keep these big and plain.

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It goes way faster but is it worth it?  The next challenge will be to find a way to enjoy sewing them all up and not going overboard.