WOVEN SASHIKO – September 2025

Saturday 27 to Monday 29 September 2025

In this three-day weave project you will be led through various steps and techniques to achieve your own woven project that will result in fabrics that look as though they have been stitched rather than woven. Technical information about warps, colour and yarn will be made available prior to the course. Top tips will be given throughout!
Much of the course visually references the Japanese embroidery technique of sashiko stitching – a basic running stitch which was initially a functional stitch used to make repairs to clothing such as fishermen’s jackets and household items including mattresses, bedding etc. This basic stitch later developed into a decorative stitch which now adorns many textile items for no other reason than they are beautifully stitched marks.
Day one will be spent warping up and dressing your 8 shaft loom, using one or two beams, with your chosen yarns. On day two you will be introduced to a variety of lifts with which to generate the stitch marks. Once mastered you will then be encouraged to develop your own ‘marks’. Day three will be used to weave using the given lifts in your chosen colourways and to continue the development of your own fabrics.
After graduating from art school in 1993 James Donald established his handwoven label PickOne in 1997 and currently works from two studios spaces within the creative Coburg House Art Studios complex, based in the Shore area of Leith, Edinburgh. James has also exhibited and sold his handwoven work both nationally and internationally, exhibiting across the UK, Europe, American, China, Japan and Australia.
His current collections are based on the slow craft of sashiko stitching, a Japanese embroidery technique, where the ‘stitched marks’ are woven into the fabric as part of the structure of the cloth. His preferred yarn of choice is British merino lambswool giving a rich, comforting and heritage aesthetic to the PickOne brand of Scottish-made handwoven products.
Over the last 20 years James has developed a teaching practice which guides students through the weaving process on 4, 8 and 16 shaft looms. He has also developed an Open Access Studio space for weavers who can make use of a second 32 shaft Megado, which was in part funded by Creative Scotland and the Inches Carr Trust.

Course Costs: £360.00

Cancellation: refundable up to 3 months prior to the commencement of the course.