Sustainability and Sashiko
“Sashiko Workshop”: Invisible Repair, Don’t Replace
Sashiko, with its “repair what matters” ethos, offered a different way of understanding value longbefore the modern sustainability movement. This traditional Japanese stitching practice transforms mending into both craft and philosophy, celebrating resourcefulness, durability, and deep respect for materials.
In this workshop with Portland‑based visual artist mai ide, participants will learn how to create two classic Sashiko patterns and explore how to do the art of invisible repair on your garment.
Along the way, we’ll look at what this centuries‑old tradition reveals about Japanese life,consumption, resilience, and the power of repair in a throwaway world.
This workshop explores the cultural significance of Sashiko stitching. Participants will learn foundational techniques while creating two Sashiko designs and we can work on your own garment to repair!
Take-Home kit is included with the cost of your class ($23 value)
You will receive:
Japanese rough plain fabric including Kimono fabric
Cotton Sashiko skein thread
Sashiko template
Sashiko needle set
*Please bring your own garments to mend.
4 hour workshop 10am- 2pm
Saturday, October 10th
The workshop is open to everyone. Beginners will learn the foundations, and those with sewing or Sashiko experience can deepen their practice. Even participants with many years of Sashiko experience often discover new insights when we explore the history, philosophy, and cultural meaning behind the stitches.
About the Artist
mai ide is a Japanese-American artist from Tokyo, now based in Portland, OR. Her multidisciplinary approach investigates her own cultural intersectionality and deep ambivalence of race and gender as a non-immigrant, mother, and woman. As a non-native speaker of English, ide’s practice is expressing discomfort of being classified or perceived by society as an “other” or “forever foreigner” in the U.S. ide's use of salvaged fabric and Sashiko stitches conveys their simultaneous vulnerability, fragility, and ferocity under a constrained, violent, and volatile society. ide holds a BFA in Art Practice from Portland State University (OR) and an MFA in Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, as well as degrees in sewing, pattern making, and textile design in Japan, where she worked for twelve years as a material designer. Their previous exhibitions and performances include the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Kyoto in Japan, and Jordan Schnitzer Museum in Oregon.