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.