Shibori is a Japanese patterning technique which involves, stitching, folding, binding or clamping of cloth prior to immersing it in a dye bath. When the cloth is undone unique patterns emerge. Each technique has its own name.

The oldest evidence of shibori in Japan goes back to the seventh and eighth centuries. The techniques were refined in the sixteenth and eighteenth century and led to a greater precision in the craft.

Shibori is a living tradition in Japan and is still well known and popular.

I carefully design the completed quilt before making the Shibori design and dying the fabric. I select the type of Shibori I will create and plan the Kanji motif(s) that I will use to complete the finished piece. Kanji symbols are the Chinese charactors used in the Japanese logographic writing system. Once the Shibori pieces have been dyed, the fabric is allowed to dry naturally before the stitch resist is removed. The dyed pieces are then cut to the planned design and sewn together with undyed fabric to make the planned quilt top. The completed top is made into a sandwich with wadding and a complementary backing fabric. The three layers are held together with hand quilting.
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