Bojagi

While cruising through an issue of Selvedge magazine I came across an ad for a company that sells Korean wrapping cloths or Bojagi (also spelled Pojagi). Korean wrapping cloths are like Japanese wrapping cloths except that instead of being made from whole pieces of fabric, they are generally made of patched fabrics. The tradition appears to be that by wrapping something you kept the good luck confined however there are also specific uses, like covering an altar or used as a money belt..

I am in love with these textiles.

Many examples on the web seem to be used as almost trasparent window coverings so that the you can see that geometry of the piecing. They are not quite like Gee's Bend quilts because the individual pieces are so small, the fabric is not quilted and the geometry is so precise but they have the same 'make do with what you've got' mentality to make something useful and beautiful from bits of fabric as the Gee's Bend quilts.

An excellent overview can be seen here for an exhibit of them last year at the Univeristy of Nebraska and this YouTube video is inspiring. For an idea of all the uses of Bojagi see this article.

Although Bojagi are traditionally hand pieced it appears that machine piecing is acceptable and the use of a modern flat fell seam instead of a hand stitched rolled seam would give great results.

Now I know what to do with the pile of linen pieces I have here!

That ad I saw in Selvedge? Well, it lead me to this site which sells modern wrapping scarfs .. not at all like the traditional Bojagi I have seen but still a lot of fun.