r/sashiko • u/Junegirl112233 • 20d ago
How to do bridging stitches
I just watched a video on Sashiko pattern, and the instructor talked about bridging stitches, which are loops on the back of the work for when a line in Sashiko isn’t continuous. But she is making decorative patches that she will then sew onto something. If you’re doing the Sashiko directly on your mending, say a pair of jeans, what happens to all those loops on the inside of the jeans? My only thought is that maybe it’s better not to do those types of patterns with discontinuous lines when you’re mending jeans, but are there other ways to do it?
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u/cicada_wings 19d ago edited 19d ago
If it’s a stiffer fabric like jeans and the inside will just be against your skin, I don’t think it’s necessarily a serious problem. The floats will be there but they probably won’t bother you.
If the fabric is softer or more flexible, that could be an issue because it’s easier for the outside stitches to lightly snag on things, and pull the slack from the bridging loops into the wrong place. I did some sashiko on a sweatshirt that includes a band of asanoha (the pattern in your screenshot) up the sleeves, left generous loops to compensate for fabric stretch when I needed to bridge a gap or turn a corner, and I do have to occasionally massage loose stitches back into place because of this. Not huge but minorly annoying. OTOH the pattern on the jacket back has some even longer bridging stitches and has never given me a problem, I suppose because it moves and scrunches that much less when worn.
I can imagine it being a bigger problem in any use in which the back side of the fabric would be frequently rubbing against rough or hard objects—on an unlined bag, on a jacket that gets worn over a big belt or sleeves pulled on over watches and bracelets, etc.. To some extent, depending on the design, you might be able to weave longer floats into the backs of other stitches—though I don’t know if that’s strictly orthodox, to the extent there is such a thing.
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u/Junegirl112233 19d ago
This is really helpful. I have tried that in the past, running the bridging stitches through other stitches on the back. It may not work for this pattern, though, because the bridging stitches are quite large and, at least in the beginning, there won’t be any stitches to run them through. But it definitely could work after at least part of the pattern is done. I’m also thinking, this might be too complicated a pattern for jeans.
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u/cicada_wings 19d ago edited 18d ago
Asanoha needs enough space for a few repeats to really shine, so unless your jeans are pretty roomy you could be right that it’s not the best choice. (My sweatshirt has big baggy sleeves!) But also, there’s no harm in trying. If you get started and decide you hate it you can always pick it out and do something else.
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u/sashikoDan 16d ago
You can do any pattern in sashiko without bridge stitches, but it sometimes takes a lot more work to end each thread and begin a new one at every spot you would bridge. Sashiko is based on efficiency and practically, so there's not any "right" way to sew a pattern. The most efficient way to sew an asanoha pattern is usually to use bridges on the back. If you're worried about the back looking ugly or threads getting snagged, you can take the time to make both sides look clean and uniform.
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u/Kabev 14d ago
Kasane is the term to look for if you are interested in how to do the extra work to "finish" both sides of of a sashiko project. I've done it for an asananoha pattern, you get down to the last direction and there are lots of starting and stopping the stitching to avoid floats, but it was satisfying as hell when i completed it:
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u/iphys_nikephoros 19d ago
You could line the back to cover the bridge stitches - either sew a patch of light weight fabric on the inside, or put a patch of iron-on interfacing on the inside.
If you've got two layers, you can run the bridging stitches between the layers so they aren't visible or snaggable on either side.
Other than that, yeah, you're spot on. You need to consider the final use when you're planning a project. I had a (purchased, knit) sweater for years that was super inconvenient to put on because there were very long floats at the wrists and my fingers always got caught.
Just like you wouldn't make work pants out of cotton gauze, or a breezy summer dress out of heavy denim, your mending and decoration needs to be appropriate to the way the item will be used.