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Sarashi: the quiet workhorse of Japanese textiles.
This soft, lightweight bleached cotton has been part of everyday life in Japan for generations. Kitchen cloths, tenugui, baby wraps, bandages, undergarments... if it needed to be absorbent, breathable, and ready to work hard, sarashi showed up.
Made the slow way, in a town built for it
Our sarashi comes from Kadono Sarashi Some, a fourth-generation family company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, where cotton has been bleached for more than 400 years. They use wa-sarashi, the traditional method: raw woven cotton is slowly boiled in large kettles over several days instead of being rushed through high-speed modern processing. That patience removes the cotton’s natural oils and impurities while keeping the fibers soft and lofty. The result is cloth that’s gentle on skin, built to last, and gets softer and more absorbent with every wash.
A stitcher’s dream
The open weave lets your sashiko needle glide right through without a fight, which is exactly why sarashi is the traditional foundation for sashiko fukin. One yard makes about one classic double-layer fukin, with a little left over for a stitch sampler.
Ways to use it:
Sashiko fukin (the classic: two layers of sarashi, stitched together)
Sashiko practice samplers and stitch swatches
Boro foundation and backing layers
Patches and backing for visible mending
Dish cloths and kitchen towels
Hand-sewn handkerchiefs with rolled hems
Shibori and indigo dyeing
Block printing and stamping
Fabric painting and watercolor on cloth
The details:
100% cotton, 13.75" (35 cm) wide
Made by Kadono Sarashi Some in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Price is per yard. Choose your quantity to set your length.
Multiple yards are cut as one continuous piece.
Limited stock, cut fresh from the bolt
Pair it with: our Sashiko Starter Kit and our book Stitching Sashiko for everything you need to start your first fukin.
Just make something... that’s all.
Sarashi: the quiet workhorse of Japanese textiles.
This soft, lightweight bleached cotton has been part of everyday life in Japan for generations. Kitchen cloths, tenugui, baby wraps, bandages, undergarments... if it needed to be absorbent, breathable, and ready to work hard, sarashi showed up.
Made the slow way, in a town built for it
Our sarashi comes from Kadono Sarashi Some, a fourth-generation family company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, where cotton has been bleached for more than 400 years. They use wa-sarashi, the traditional method: raw woven cotton is slowly boiled in large kettles over several days instead of being rushed through high-speed modern processing. That patience removes the cotton’s natural oils and impurities while keeping the fibers soft and lofty. The result is cloth that’s gentle on skin, built to last, and gets softer and more absorbent with every wash.
A stitcher’s dream
The open weave lets your sashiko needle glide right through without a fight, which is exactly why sarashi is the traditional foundation for sashiko fukin. One yard makes about one classic double-layer fukin, with a little left over for a stitch sampler.
Ways to use it:
Sashiko fukin (the classic: two layers of sarashi, stitched together)
Sashiko practice samplers and stitch swatches
Boro foundation and backing layers
Patches and backing for visible mending
Dish cloths and kitchen towels
Hand-sewn handkerchiefs with rolled hems
Shibori and indigo dyeing
Block printing and stamping
Fabric painting and watercolor on cloth
The details:
100% cotton, 13.75" (35 cm) wide
Made by Kadono Sarashi Some in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Price is per yard. Choose your quantity to set your length.
Multiple yards are cut as one continuous piece.
Limited stock, cut fresh from the bolt
Pair it with: our Sashiko Starter Kit and our book Stitching Sashiko for everything you need to start your first fukin.
Just make something... that’s all.
