The Japanese quilters 3 : Masako Wakayama

Masako Wakayama is a quilter whose books and projects are published in France by Les Editions de Saxe. We often found one or two of her projects in the magazine Quilt Country. Her quilt company is called Crib Quilt.





Because her shop is not very far from Tokyo, I wanted to visit it. But unfortunately it was impossible to organize this visit while I was in Tokyo as I had so many things to see in five days.... and I didn't want to impose another quilt shop visit to my wife as I had already planned two.

But sometimes, the planets seem to align perfectly and guess what? A few weeks before leaving for Japan I discovered that Masako Wakayama had an exhibition in a luxurious department store in Osaka and it was the weekend I was in Osaka at the beginning of my trip! I couldn't miss that opportunity and so I went there!







 Masako Wakayama creates quilts that are different from the ones of Yoko Saito and Reiko Kato. She doesn't use taupe fabrics. Her fabric color palette is blue, white and red. Yet, her quilts have the Japanese style I like so much : attention to details, tiny pieced pieces, embroidery, beautiful hand quilting and her fabrics are both printed and textured.














Many quilts, quilted bags, pouches or decorative objects were displayed. I got the chance to see all the projects I had admired in her books and magazines. I also discovered her new fabric collection and bought the new collection box which included a fat eighth of all the fabrics as well as the printed panel used to create several projects.



Below are details of the quilt Masako Wakayama is holding in the first photo! It represents a book with the spine on the left. Look at the bottom right hand corner (4th photo below)! She has created the folded pages!










I spent some time talking to Masako about her work and projects. It was the first time I saw her in person and she has been very very nice and so enthusiastic about quilting. She showed me a project she was working on! She was piecing tiny hexagons which were 5 mm!!! Instead of paper lining, she uses the appliqué paper used with Apliquick. In fact she uses the Apliquick method to prepare the hexagons and pieced them together afterwards. The paper becomes very soft with manipulation and it is as if it is not there. So very easy!! I will definitely give it a try ;-)

















Among the notions, I noticed her threads which are really fine, even finer than the Aurifil 80wt and yet very strong. She also used extremely fine needles. She has a special technique to avoid the thread from sliding through the needle eye while stitching!







That was another great moment for me during this trip.

Japanese quilters are fascinating! And Japan has been fascinating as well! I have been back for more than a month and there are still images and thoughts that come back regularly. It is a country you wish to discover even more after such a beautiful trip!




Until later,

PSPlease let me know if you are having trouble commenting. There are new laws in Europe about Privacy and I do not know whether I should change anything or not in the settings so your feedback about comments is really appreciated so that I can make the necessary changes if it is needed. Thanks a lot 



Comments

  1. Merci de partager avec nous toutes ces merveilles.

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    1. Avec grand plaisir! Et merci à toi car il y avait pas mal de commentaires en attente!!! Maintenant il va falloir que je reprenne les aiguilles si je veux avoir de quoi montrer sur mon blog ;-) Heureusement les vacances d'été ne sont plus si loin ;-)

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  2. Thank you so much for sharing these photos and the information on these quilters. What a great trip!

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    1. It was indeed a great trip and meeting these quilters was the icing on the cake!

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  3. Your trip to Japan has been wonderful to follow. It has been lovely seeing the different quilters.

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    1. Very happy that you enjoyed following along ;-)

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  4. Merci beaucoup David pour ces trop beaux reportages....tu nous donnes vraiment envie
    d'y aller!!!!!!!

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    1. N'hésite pas à passer si tu veux voir ce que j'ai ramené de près ;-)

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    2. Avec grand grand plaisir...je t'appelle.merci

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  5. Thank you so much David for sharing your visit to Japan with us. It’s a wonderful experience.

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    1. I have enjoyed several posts about Japan so much in the past that I thought there might others who would enjoy my posts as well ;-)

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  6. Merci pour cette visite. Des moments inoubliables !

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    1. C'est vrai! Inoubliable! Merci d'être passée par là et d'avoir commenté ;-)

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  7. Merci pour ce partage. Que de merveilles, tu as du te régaler !

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    1. Je me suis tellement régalé que j'ai toujours du mal à réaliser!!

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  8. J'espere que vous avez pu faire un peu de tourisme aussi: pays tellement different de la France ou des Etats-Unis ou je vis. Toujours le bienvenu a Dallas!

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    1. J'ai surtout fait du tourisme pendant 18 jours mais il est vrai que sur mon blog je ne parle que des quilteuses japonaises que j'ai rencontré. Côté tourisme, j'ai visité Osaka, Koyasan, Hiroshima, Itsukushima, Kyoto, Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Talayama, Hakone et Tokyo... un joli aperçu du pays dans lequel je retournerai et me poserai plus longtemps dans deux ou trois endroits. cela fait longtemps que je ne suis pas venu aux USA mais NYC est dans mes projets et je veux aussi aller voir des amis à Portland, Oregon. Si un jour je passe au Texas, pourquoi pas? Merci.

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    2. Takayama... désolé pour la faute de frappe.

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  9. I have enjoyed your journey! So much inspiration. Thank you very much!

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  10. merci pour ce reportage, c'est vrai qu'elle détonne un peu par rapport aux autres créatrices japonaises mais j'aime beaucoup ce qu'elle fait

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    1. Ce qui change, c'est la palette de couleurs. Par contre le style, les matières sont similaires et c'est pour cela que j'aime beaucoup.

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  11. How lucky you were to see Masako Wakayama’s Osaka exhibit and meet her in person! Your photographs and story were filled with your enthusiasm and had good information. Congratulations to MariePierre for keeping you company while you pursue your passion! She’s terrific!

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    1. Terrific, indeed!!! We were both very lucky to go to Japan and we measure what all this means after what we've been through ;-)

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  12. This is a new quilter for me so thank you for posting so many pictures and telling me/us about her. Her work is lovely, like you said very detailed and thank you also for sharing that technique, I do not know if I can make it work myself but I will definitely give it a try. The threads look beautiful as do the needles in that case, as a notions addict I would have bought that too, you will get much pleasure out of using these. Thank you for taking us on your trip with you and sharing so much. It is such a pleasure, to read, see and learn new things through your blog posts.

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    1. Thank you very much. I am happy you liked the posts :-)

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  14. Takk for en reise i disse vakre bildene du viser. Jeg er stor fan av de japanske bøkene og stoffene :)

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    1. Happy that you have enjoyed reading about my favorite Japanese quilters ;-)

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  15. Thank you for sharing your trip wi

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  16. Thank you for sharing your trip with us, I have enjoyed seeing all the wonderful quilts

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  17. I see your blog daily, it is crispy to study.
    Your blog is very useful for me & i like so much...
    Thanks for sharing the good information!
    ดูหนัง

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  18. de bien jolies photos et plein de détails ;-) Merci

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  19. Do you know where her patterns can be purchased? I saw one of her quilts that was USA flags and basket blocks, unfinished, but since seeing it I have not been able to locate where to purchase her patterns. Thanks for any help. I too love the Japanese quilters and their fabrics!

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  20. I love your blog. I fell in love with the wildflower quilt. Is there a pattern for it? Her work is lovely

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