Poking around YouTube today, I found these videos featuring sashiko. Each one is only a few minutes long, and helpful if you are just starting out, or want to see how others hold needle, thread and cloth. Despite finding very particular directions in every Japanese and English how-to book on sashiko, I’ve found that each person has their own personal style of stitching.

First, a sample of the items KimonoBoy carries in his online shop. If you are a collector of Japanese country textiles, you are probably familiar with KimonoBoy. I am rather fond of a farmer’s jacket I purchased from him several years ago. He specializes in vintage textiles including boro (rags) and clothing such as the vest pictured in this video.

This video is in Japanese, but worth a look to see how some of the stitches are done, as well as seeing some vintage examples.

The very talented Susan Brisco chimes in with this one:

Lazy Monk doing rows of shippou tsunagi…

And meet Miho Takeuchi of Aikio Designs. She is Japanese, but her instructions are in English. Hooray!