Love the story behind these handmade bags from the Japanese brand, Beyond the Reef. We’ll summarize the story with excerpts from their website:
“After her dear husband passed away and her two sons left the nest, my mother-in-law, a typical housewife, started to absorb herself in knitting, one of her most favorite things, as if to make up for her loneliness. Even though she had more than enough time, she had nothing to do… “No one needs me†– it could be one of the most cruel, unbearable realizations for a person to face. I started to think about what I could do for her, and came up with an idea; I could do something using the power of knitting, my mother-in-law’s favorite thing to do. That’s how Beyond the reef was born.â€
“I saw my mother-in-law knitting diligently and happily, I realized that there might be the other elderly women who would probably in the same situation too. If only I could help by giving them a chance to work as a knitter and join society again, their life would become more meaningful. Then, I started looking for some elderly knitters, and luckily I happened to find them .â€
“With their own purposes, women in different circumstances joined Beyond the Reef. Mothers learn how to knit from the skilled elderly knitters and young people order the products. It is fun to see their interaction across the generations, and I truly hope our bags can work as a link to connect many people.â€
You can follow the group on their website, Facebook, and Instagram.
Images: Courtesy of Beyond the Reef.
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Found these great linen bags with embroidery on both sides in the Japanese handmade market site, Creema. These are sold under the brand name, Shukugawa Sakura Sagyosyo. The Japanese embroidery method is sashiko which means “little stabsâ€. The running stitch was traditionally used to reinforce or repair worn fabrics but today it is primarily used for decorative purposes. Purl Soho has an abridged description of the craft on their tutorial page.
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