A Boro Fragment from a Futon Cover: Unintended Art

early to mid twentieth century
52" x 27", 132 cm x 68.5 cm

This fairly large piece of repaired, patched cotton is a section taken from a futon cover--as can be seen on the photos here this piece still has the original ties that were used on the cover.

This boro cloth seems to be made of commercially loomed cotton as the width noted above is the actual width of the fabric, twice that of hand loomed cloth. 

The repairs on this piece are eccentric and interesting to see, especially note the central, long, narrow repair to the bottom half the cloth--not to mention the "cloud"-like shaped repair in the center of the section. The placement of the dark colored patches against the pale grey tone of the body of the cloth is, of course, artful.

A great piece to collect, to display or to transform into some kind of functional textile.

Just lovely.