Wabi Sabi Patches
Salvaged Textiles Robe
Wabi sabi, the Japanese ideal of beauty, incorporates simple truths about life and living: life is in a state of ongoing imperfection. So relax and enjoy everything as it is; cancer and all… and be grateful.
The first time I saw a Japanese garment created from old textile fragments, boro noragi, I was in awe that such beauty could come from mere rags (see the real thing… http://www.kimonoboy.com/ and here http://srithreads.com/index.php). Boro noragi is the epitome of wabi sabi – beautiful imperfection.
Textile fragments - boro noragi
Equipped with reclaimed and recycled calico textiles from Mother’s fabric larder, I machine stitched a very wabi sabi version of my own happi coat pattern and hand embroidered a few daisy-chain flowers for westernized embellishment.
Happi Patches
Hand-piecing fabrics together to create a simple and functional garment was a very satisfying way to spend a needful, therapeutic creative session, as well as a green way to recycle unused textiles. Though my life and business frequently feels in rags while cancer visits us, I’m salvaging every piece possible, in a beautiful way.
Recycled calicos
How to cultivate a wabi-sabi attitude?
- Acknowledge nothing lasts forever… so retire, repair or accept the gradual and fascinating decline of household objects and appreciate them as they are. This includes people.
- Allow that nothing is ever totally finished… and everything and everyone is in a constant state of maintenance even if deemed a completed project. Allow for the metamorphosis of item, place and people.
- Recognize nothing is perfect… or faultless or flawless. Enjoy items and people as they are… and be grateful… even for cancer.
