A Pieced Panel of Over Dyed Tenugui: Traditional Hand Towels

early twentieth century
71 1/2" x 24", 181.5 cm x 61 cm

This is an unusual, generously-sized cotton cloth that is a fragment taken from a futon cover: it is hand stitched from traditional, decorative cotton hand towels called tenugui.

This cloth is made from four, complete tenugui with a sliver of another one added to the top. To mitigate what would have been their white background and its imprinted design the cloth was dyed in a purplish color, one that was popular for lining material in the early twentieth century.

It is fun to look closely at this cloth to see the designs on the tenugui: the muted, overall tone of the cloth--at first--seems subtle and over time the images from the original tenugui reveal themselves.

Highly original and highly unusual, this cloth illustrates the Japanese motto, mottainai, which is a call not to waste anything at all.

Recommended--and fun!