Slow Stitching the Modern Japanese Rice Bag
I thought I'd share with you some images of the Japanese Rice Bag I made earlier in the year. This project was one of the most soothing I've worked on as it was such a simple make with beautiful results.
I carefully chose my favourite colours and prints, hand stitched in the garden over the summer and let my mind wander as I stitched freely, waiting to see what came next.
The pattern is The Modern Japanese Rice Bag by Karen Stevens and you can buy the pattern on Etsy here or you can buy a Kit in my shop to make your own. I pieced most of the fabric together and then added a few patches of red that were scraps from a dress I'd made. I basted my fabric piece onto some cotton batting as I like the texture you get with the stitches and the bag is sturdy and squishy.
The pattern is easy to follow and it's a really quick make. I keep my current crochet project in it at the moment, I'm going to make another for some embroidery that I have on the go.
I lined mine with a fuchsia pink heavy satin that I have metres of, it's good to use some of it up!
There are some stitches on the bottom too, I like to add little details that are unexpected.
I know you'll enjoy making this, it's a slow project and you can add all your favourite stitches. Work with the prints on the fabric and echo their shapes, or simply ignore them and do endless rows of running stitch over the top, either seems to work perfectly.
Choose your favourite colours and then hunt through your scraps for some patches that will coordinate.
For the stitching I used a variety of threads - linen, silk and some DMC to add different textures to the stitches. Enjoy picking out your fabrics and colours and then the slow process of adding some stitches and details to make your bag personal.
Take a look at my tutorial Stitch to Add Texture for some tips on stitching into this and making it your own.
Choose your favourite colour pouch kit here, ready with three linen threads, and get ready to make your own version. If you need the lining and cord, they can be found here.
Happy stitching.
First published 24th September 2019