An Itajime Shibori Diaper: Kikko and Sekka

ca. mid twentieth century
27 1/4" x 12 1/4", 69 cm x 31 cm

This gauze weight cotton cloth measures, as shown as 27 1/4" or 69 cm in length, when in reality as it is twice that since this is a length of cotton that has been stitched as a "tube," short end to short end.

It is a diaper and is dyed in the itajime shibori or clamp dyed method.  The cotton would have been folded in a series of triangular folds, then clamped, and then the edges would have been dyed.  The result is this field of blue on white, six pointed "flowers" which are arranged at the points of a hexagon, creating a repeat.

The hexagon form is important to note as it is the tortoiseshell motif, which is a symbol meaning long life, a conveyance that anyone would wish for the baby wearing this diaper.

A very, very faint pink, coin sized stain, almost entirely unnoticeable and a small, hole, half the size of a lentil, or smaller.

Really lovely.