100 days of bojagi

It's been 100 days since Quiltcon 2020 in Austin. 100 days since we hugged new and old friends, stood in lines (close together!), ate tacos in crowded restaurants, chatted with vendors with no masks and thought nothing of it. 100 days since I sat in a classroom at the convention center with new and old friends and learned to do Korean Bojagi from Daisy Aschehoug.

Daisy is a warm, kind, bubbly human who currently lives in Norway (yes, she flew across the ocean to teach us, another thing people could do way back in February). She's an awesome teacher. By the end of the evening, I was totally in love with this new hand sewing technique.

For the record, I used several colors of Kona cotton for my bojagi project and a spool of 12 weight, Wonderfil Spagetti thread that I bought at Quiltcon. Size 24 chenille needles worked perfectly. I also highly recommend a clover needle threader that I never knew about before quilt con and now cannot live without. It's so sturdy, and perfect for large eyed needles and thicker thread.

 This is how far I had gotten that first night. My stitches were a bit uneven and way too tiny and tight, but the more I stitched, the better they got. I casually said to Daisy "I really want to get good at this...." and she suggested I make it a 100 day project. Well, I had always wanted to do a 100 day project but had not found something I wanted to commit to for that long! This was it. I started counting that very day and stitched on my bojagi project for the next 100 days. Some days I added one small piece. Other days I put together a whole section, or joined larger sections together. You can see my progress pictures here, at #ellynlearnsbojagi.

Today, May 31, 2020, is day 100. Here is my final piece....

While it is not perfectly square, it measures approximately 28"x28", and, if I'm counting right, it has 145 pieces, varying in size. If you look closely, you can see how my stitches relaxed, got larger, and more even as I learned, which was exactly my goal.

One of the cool things about bojagi is that the back is finished (no raw edges) as is the front. kind of hand sewn flat felled seams if you will. Here is the back of mine...

My plan is to hand hem the edges (Daisy taught us how) and keep this as a sample/art piece. I'm so happy with it, and very happy that I stuck with it and did the work for 100 days! Now if we could just get back to hugging people again, I'd be even more pleased. Be well...

learning something new

I've always been that girl who tries every new hobby she comes across. Some of them stick for life (quilting, weaving, embroidery) others are a fail for me (painting, knitting) but hey, I tried! Quiltcon classes are an excellent opportunity for me to learn something new. This year's adventure? Korean Bojagi. What's that, you ask? Great question. I'll be honest, when I signed up for the class with Daisy Aschehoug I didn't have a clue. I only knew that it was being held in the hand sewing room so it had to be good, right?

my first attempts at Bojagi

It was better than good! It was awesome. The cool thing about Bojagi is that it is finished on both sides. The Korean's often use the finished pieces as gift wrapping. I have seen pictures of them hung in windows (so beautiful when the light shines through), incorporated into clothing, bags, etc. So many possibilities! I am working with Kona cottons for mine.

Daisy suggested making this a 100 day project, adding pieces every day for 100 days and watching my progress. I decided to do exactly that. Here's where I stand at day 15 of Bojagi...

My stitches are getting neater and neater! Do you want to follow along? I'm using the hashtag #ellynlearnsbojagi on Instagram. I also plan to teach this technique to others as I improve. 

What new thing have you learned lately?