A Sashiko Stitched Hand Spun Cotton Bag: Former Paper Lining

late nineteenth century
17 1/2" x 8", 44.5 cm x 20.25 cm

This unassuming, fairly narrow, hand stitched bag is more interesting than it might appear at first glance.

It is made of thick, hand spun cotton yarns that are, of course, hand woven. 

The cloth itself has a nice body and is soft to the touch. Interesting is that the bag was once lined with washi or Japanese paper and there are very few remnants of it clinging to the inside of the bag, mainly caught in the seams as is indicated in the accompanying detail photos. There is a good-sized piece of paper at the bottom of the bag.

The paper lining was probably meant to be a buffer for the lacquer bowls or cups that were once stacked and stored in this bag. The front of the bag is sashiko stitched with three hiragana syllables--under the stitching one can see that someone drew the syllables onto the bag as a guide for stitching.

More than likely this bag is quite old, probably dating to the late nineteenth century.

A very interesting textile artifact with a lovely folk art quality.