Karahana, Petal

The flower petals are worked in a technique called couching: one pair, round and round. The name of this technique describes it very accurately. You take a pair of gold threads wound onto koma and you couch them as a pair, first around the outline of the shape. This is the most important round. The pair of threads must follow the outline precisely with well-formed corners. If the first round is not correct none of the subsequent rounds will be correct either.

When you have couched around the circumference of the shape you continue to couch a second round, without ending and restarting the thread, inside the first round.

And you continue in this fashion, couching round and round ...

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

... and round and round ...

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

... and round and round until you have filled the entire shape.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

The aim is to maintain an even (very narrow) gap between each pair of threads; to make definite, well formed corners and to produce an attractive pattern with the couching stitches. In this case the stitches are alternated to form a ‘brick’ effect. Depending on whether you are stitching a concave or convex curve, stitches may need to be dropped or added to maintain regular spacing. It can be difficult to determine where and when this should happen.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

One petal completed, five to go. I am fond of gold work and, when I settle into it, find couching to be very relaxing, almost meditative. However, it is very time-consuming, I estimate that the couching: round and round on this petal alone took me more than 20 hours of stitching time. The amount of work still to be done on this design is somewhat daunting!

I hope that my blog gives you some insight into the techniques employed in Japanese embroidery but please note that they are not intended to be a comprehensive tutorial. There are many more things to be learnt than can be described in a few paragraphs, and I am still learning them. If you would like to learn more about Japanese Embroidery, please visit the Japanese Embroidery Centre website for a list of certified tutors, or their on-line store for publications. Alternatively, details of the bi-annual classes held by my sensei (tutor) can be found on the Japanese Embroidery (UK) website.

Happy Stitching