Japanese Pieced Blocks

 Sunday was a productive day in the sewing room - when I probably should have 

been out in the sun pruning the roses!

So happily in my sewing room, I made decisions about the setting of my Japanese blocks - posted last Saturday - and then got some of the pieced blocks made.

I am going to make all the alternating pieced blocks in this design so they unify the quilt. 

Here is a taster. I like the secondary pattern that is being created with these pieced 

blocks running across the quilt.

This block is also from Susan Briscoe's book and is based on traditional kasuri fabrics 

from Japan. Here are some sample pieces that I picked up in theflea markets in Kyoto, Japan.

Kasuri is the Japanese word for ikat. Kasuri is woven from threads that are specially dyed before weaving. As the threads are woven they create the pattern, so imagine the planning and measuring that has to go into the preparation before the hank of thread goes into they dye pot.  You can tell that a piece is genuine by the uneven edges as the dyes soaks intothe tied areas slightly.