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Explore Itajime Shibori with Ana Lisa Hedstrom

Itajime folding and clamping is one of the easiest and direct shibori techniques. Deceptively simple, the process invites inventive play to make bold graphic designs which are perfect for fashion, quilts, and art textiles.

Ana Lisa starts from the traditional Japanese techniques of Itajime, also called Sekka (snowflake). She expands the possibilities with instruction of carved clamps, silk scouring, and playing with different folds and shaped blocks. These techniques are great for both beginners and experienced dyers.

Our workshop begins with simple Itajime Square Folds and moves on to Traditional Japanese Sekka (snowflake and star pattern) which is created on 14” width cotton Kimono cloth. 4-6 layers of accordion folds are ironed into long lengths of fabric. Fabric is folded back and forth into a small bundle that will be clamped with wooden blocks cut into square, rectangular, or triangular shapes. These bundles and the blocks can be placed perpendicular or diagonally across the bundle.

Ana Lisa provides instruction on 4, 6, 8, and 12 star patterns, and shares multiple ways to modify these basic geometric designs to create more complex Itajime patterns.

Today we love the bold contemporary patterns of Itajime….perfect for modular quilts, home decoration, wall hangings and wearable art. Small square fabrics are wonderful when used as Quilting Squares. Different weaves ( sheer or heavy) and fibers (silk, wool, cotton, linen) invite for different dye applications and treatments. Ana Lisa uses Itajime folding on silk organza before resist scouring to remove the stiff sericin on the exposed cloth. Wonderful bold areas of opaque and sheer areas are created. This can be enhanced by dyeing, and is particularly effective with the application of thickened fiber reactive dye (Proceon MX Dye). The dye will be deeper and a different hue on the areas with sericin that were resisted by the blocks.

Another exciting possibility is found in the Japanese and Chinese traditions of Kyokechi and Chinese Carved Clamps (Jiaxie). The boards are carved with matching designs, often pictorial images of flowers, figures, and birds. The dye flows into the carved maze. Ana Lisa shows traditional examples and shares contemporary alternatives, especially using CNC routers (Computer numerically controlled) to make precisely carved channels which will match on both blocks.