2019 Louisa Lawson
Louisa Lawson, Memories of Japan - by Barbara
Shirley Quilters were pleased to welcome Louisa Lawson who kindly agreed to speak to us at short notice about her trip to Japan. Louisa apologised for not being a professional speaker, that didn’t matter at all, her talk was lively, interesting and informative.
Louisa has twenty years of quilting experience and a particular interest in applique. She also teaches quilting to groups of people with mental health problems focusing on hand sewing. Louisa’s acknowledgement that she has a stash of approximately 450 metres of fabric left me open mouthed, I understand why she is making charity quilts to reduce it.
Japanese quilting is quite different from western work. A Guild system controls the superb quality of the work which is predominantly hand sewn and sewers take immense pride in their work. It takes 60,000 hours to become a master. Too late for me to start on that I’m afraid! Louisa’s party on her trip consisted of people from the USA, Australia and New Zealand as well as the UK. She described the trip as hard work but interesting, particularly the Tokyo Quilt Festival which was their first stop. Held in an indoor baseball stadium 250,000 people visit the festival across 6 days. There were noticeable differences from other festivals that Louisa has attended, cash only payments – not what we are used to in the west, all the traders were Japanese none of the manufacturers we know attend. Colours are quite different too, apparently sludge is big in Japan, and there were numerous bag stalls selling a variety of items in tones of sludge that we would never see in the west. Louisa’s plan for the festival was to buy Japanese woven fabrics in shades of taupe and she passed round examples of fabric and threads that she had bought. The cash only transactions policy didn’t seem to have limited her purchases. Louisa also spoke particularly about Yoko Saito and her colour theory; we were able to look at some of her fascinating books at the end of the evening.
After two days in Tokyo which Louisa described as an incredibly dense urban environment the party moved on to Kyoto, a far more attractive place, where they saw various sides of Japanese life. Louisa described some of the things, she made in workshops that she attended and we were shown examples of these. A pretty scarf that Louisa had expected to come out with strong and vibrant colours was soft and subtle and some indigo dying where the fabric is dunked into the dye out into the air for 30 seconds at a time until you achieve the desired effect. Finally, we saw some Washi paper, built up from layers of plant material. Louisa spoke about seeing people, often Chinese, working in almost Dickensian conditions where large amounts of fabric dying are taking place. The workshops are open to the elements and the work is hard physical labour. Louisa explained how the Japanese government is actively supporting crafts in an attempt to keep the rural economy alive and stop the exodus to the Tech industries in the cities.
As Japanese homes are small often there is no room for a sewing machine and so much of the craft work is hand sewn, small items such as bags that presumably are given as gifts.
Louisa also described seeing people working on the tying work that is undertaken before dying to produce the Shibori fabrics. A 14 metre length of fabric for a kimono is tied until it measures only 1 metre. Each individual has their own style that can be identified in the fabric. It can take 2-4 weeks to tie a kimono.
Louisa concluded her talk by showing us some of her own beautiful quilts, one still a work in progress. She acknowledged that she has realised that she cannot design and over years has worked on quilts from a number of designers and she recommended some names to look out for. Kim Mclean, Erin Russek, and Esther Aliu in particular.
Questions were asked, and a well-deserved, appreciative, round of applause was given for a talk that was very much enjoyed by members in spite of it being a hot sticky evening. Notices were given and tea and coffee were very welcome whilst we spent time looking at Louisa’s collection of fabric and books relating to her trip, and her beautiful quilts. As someone who finds applique quite tricky, I was speechless with admiration. A most interesting evening.