"Honguke", a Japanese sewing stitch. How interesting and wonderful !

Hi!😁
This time I introduce a Japanese sewing stitch, "Honguke".
This wonderful stitch is invisible in appearance and plays an important role in making a kimono and obi.
"Kukeru" is a verb in Japanese, meaning sewing as the stitches are invisible or hardly visible. Honguke is just one way of them.

Honguke (Both mountain folds are indicated in orange and light green.

1. Two fabrics are ready
2. Make a margin to sew up by folding them
3. Sew one margin after the other.
Finally both margins are superposed and stitches are invisible in appearance.

To show the movement of a needle clearly, I prepare a picture.

An illustration of "Honguke"

Dotted lines indicate a stitch which is originally invisible because it is on the reverse side.

According to the sectional view, the thread does not go through the outside part of the pale-blue fabrics.

Originally the pale-orange fabric is also folded and the stitch should be on the margin.
But in regards to this illustration only a pale-blue has the margin to sew because it is easy to understand the movement of a needle and thread.

So the real sectional view of Honguke is this (See the left picture).

Process of Honguke (sewing alternately)

In western countries they enjoy clothes whose stitches are decorative. On the other hand, Japanese people enjoy Kimonos, which hide stitches as possible.
You can see the difference of the sense of beauty between them. It is very interesting to me😃


💡This sewing stitch is also used when you make a Tsukuri obi.
Next time I will resume explanation of how to make it.

Thank you for your reading!!