Aichaku and placemats
When my grandmother, the wife of a career naval officer, died I was deeply moved to inherit the dragon vase. Her children said that because they were always on the move, the only constants in their home were a much-loved leather-topped coffee table and the dragon vase, which was purchased in the 1920s when my grandfather was stationed in Japan. Whether they lived in Hawaii, Virginia, California or Louisiana, the dragon vase and the coffee table identified their living quarters as home. The dragon vase has what the Japanese call aichaku. Aichaku is a word made up of two characters: one meaning “love” and the other meaning “to adhere to.” It is my single favorite concept relating to the things that surround us.
Aichaku is the emotional patina that we develop with objects that we use. I once read a quote by a woman waxing poetic about her favorite jeans, “Every bit of fun I’ve had for the last ten years I had with these jeans on.” Those jeans have aichaku. Aichaku suggests that we have a relationship with the things we use that deepens over time.
At our home the nightly home-cooked dinner is a cherished ritual. So when my husband and I married we made each other a placemat out of scraps of fabric and a cloth napkin out of a random fat quarter. We eat dinner most nights off of those placemats and they have developed their own layers of aichaku. When our daughter was three, we suggested that she could choose some scraps and we would help her make a placemat and napkin (using the improvisational piecing technique in the Unfinished Business chapter of the Modern Quilt Workshop.) The quilting is really important on placemats so quilt densely to withstand the frequent washings. Pull them out of the dryer before they are totally dry and place them on a flat surface so they’ll dry flat (and you won’t have to iron them).
Placemats are an excellent project to make with kids and to use up our endless supply of scraps. The indigo placemats shown are made of scraps from the first quilt I ever made in 1987.
The pink/ green and blue placemats were from fabrics selected by our 4-year-old daughter. We did no editing and she takes tremendous pride in having made her own choices about the color.
The multicolored ones Bill and I made for each other right after we married ten years ago. Ten years of washings and look how great they still look! And if you’ve never had the habit of using cloth napkins, give them a try. We’re talking totally fun napkins made out of quilting fabric that can be folded straight out of the dryer and can withstand the messiest of eaters. Curious George napkins can make even the lousiest day a little cheerier. Cheaper than paper napkins over the long run, better for the environment, and long on aichaku.
Explore posts in the same categories: sewing+quilting+fabric
April 20th, 2006 at 11:19 am
I love this!!!
I’ve made cloth napkins from various scraps / fat quarters and I would never go back to paper napkins, ever.
I’ll be sitting at my sewing machine this weekend…
Thanks for the inspiration!
April 20th, 2006 at 11:38 am
There is not one single word of this post that I don’t appreciate and find very moving. I’m not big on commenting, but wanted to shout *thank you* for your sentiments so wonderfully expressed. I try to find fun, seasonal placemats for our family, but I don’t know why it never occurred to me to make them myself. I have a three year old that would relish creating her own place setting, and ones for her baby sister and parents as well. I have a feeling everything will be pink…
April 20th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Ooh love your story and such a wonderful idea. Just gorgeous.
April 20th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Thank you for that thoughtful post. Beautiful placemats. It’s interesting to think about the fact that in English we don’t have a comparable word–”sentimental value” perhaps, but not the same.
April 20th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
THAT’s everyday creativity!
April 20th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
You know, sometimes I wonder how can I be so attached to certain objects, specially clothes and accessories… I really feel stupid, like when I’m cleaning up the closet and find stuff that I haven’t used for a long time, and yet can’t even immagine to get rid of it! But then again, why should it be so bad? It’s just a tiny piece of us that is in that sweater, why not keeping it? I’m glad I found a name for this feeling in your blog: aichaku! It just hit me as I was reading each of your lines… AICHAKU! That’s it! That’s what makes an object so dear to us, that’s what makes it ours, and ourselves!
Thank you,
sara
April 20th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
This is really moving.
Living far away from home, always trying to create a new “home”, having a three year old daughter… these placemats seem to be just the right thing for us - a great inspiration, thank you!
April 20th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
This post is a gift. I’m gratful. Thank you!
April 20th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
Oh, I LOVE these placemats! How did you bind them? It’s hard to see from the pictures how the edges are done. Can you give us a mini-tutorial?
April 20th, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Thank you for enlightening me to that wonderful word — a concept I understand, but had no idea there was a word for. Leave it to the perceptive, sensitive Japanese, who have also identified and named the 6th taste as well!
April 20th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
this is was a great post. inspiring. and beautiful! thanks for it! what a great way to start my day, and soon to be weekend(full of creativity i hope!)
April 20th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
This is a fabulous idea for those of us drawn to the *idea* of quilting, but just don’t want to make it our main craft. Small, satisfying, useful. Love it!
April 20th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
That you for that beautiful post. I was JUST about to go tomorrow to buy some fabric to make my own quilted placemats. I had not considered how important dense quilting would be until you talked about it, so I am glad I read this before I made my own. I am sure now that they will be more attactive and longer lasting.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Wonderful story. The Pictures make me want to make some placemats. Htnaks for the story and the beautiful pictures.
April 20th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
Such a nice idea! I am certainly going to do this. Thank you for sharing.
April 21st, 2006 at 12:11 am
thank you for your lovely post and for introducing me to the term ‘aichaku,’ which is something i’ve never quite had a word for…til now.
April 21st, 2006 at 12:34 am
Aichaku Fast Forward…
An excerpt from a brilliant post on whip up: Aichaku is a [Japanese] word made up of two characters: one meaning “love” and the other meaning “to adhere to.” It is my single favorite concept relating to the things that……
April 21st, 2006 at 12:58 am
My boyfriend and I use bamboo placemats and napkins that I made every evening at dinner - it’s nice a know there’s a word to what I feel for those simple things. Any way to learn how exactly you made those? I would love to give it a shot with some material scraps.
April 21st, 2006 at 1:46 am
Aichaku
Your post is making me all homesick and sad that I can’t bring home with me..But then I realize how much aichaku I have in my home.
Thank you for reminding me.
Mahalo.
April 21st, 2006 at 2:20 am
Hello my dear Weeks ! Once again you made my day with all your fabulous ideas and this story is soooooooooo cute ! Thank you so much ! Smooches from Belgium :)
April 21st, 2006 at 2:55 am
How lovely !
Thank you for the inspiration.
April 21st, 2006 at 3:24 am
I’m really enjoying your posts, Weeks. Lovely on many levels.
April 21st, 2006 at 6:46 am
excellent post, thank you! so nice to be able to put a name to that familiar attachment to objects around us. And you placements are gorgeous!
April 21st, 2006 at 7:04 am
This is the most significant thing I have read on the internet in a very long time. Thank you for sharing this.
April 21st, 2006 at 7:19 am
AAAAAAAAAAH! I love it when there’s a word that I really needed - Weeks, thank you! I loved every word of this post and I’m off to use up my superfavourite-quilting-special-sacred-fabric scraps to make a placemat or three - slapping myself on the forehead that I didn’t think of that!
April 21st, 2006 at 5:17 pm
I was reminded of the same sort of constant object I remember from the Little House books - Laura’s mother had a china figurine that travelled with them.
Thanks for the lovely new word to add to my vocabulary.
I’ve always been a devotee of cloth table napkins - not just more durable and environmental than paper, but more satisfying to use.
One of the best quilts I’ve ever made was with children, who loved it so much they chewed off the binding, over time, so it needed rebinding after only a couple of years . Would never win a single prize, but held love and memories worth more than any prizes, many times over. The fabrics were ones they could relate to, and they did the layout.
Thanks for a great, inspiring post - it’s so good to be inspired about the (achievable) everyday things.
April 21st, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Aichaku. Thankyou for this word and it’s meaning. The next ime I put daffodills in the green vase that my Nanna gave to my Mum and she gave to me ( when I move to Oz) I will imbue it with thoughts of aichaku.
April 21st, 2006 at 10:05 pm
sugoi! (*cool* in japanese!)
this is going into my japanese notebook, i’m going to impress my teacher with it next week.
arigato!
April 22nd, 2006 at 5:37 am
What a lovely post….a great way to start the day.
April 22nd, 2006 at 5:51 am
Thank you for this beautiful, authentic and moving post. I’m looking forward to sharing this project with my daughters.
April 24th, 2006 at 4:20 am
I was thrilled to read this post. I am currently working on a set of placemats now for my family (my goal is a set of 6) using scraps from my stash. I “accidently” made the first placemat by doing a sample block to try out a new quilting technique and to test the duaribility of the fabrics I would use. After washing and drying my quilt block, it ended up in my kitchen…and my kids started arguing who got to use the placemat at mealtimes. I loved seeing the samples posted here…oh the possibilities! How fun to discover that others are having fun working on the same projects that I am working on now.
April 25th, 2006 at 4:25 am
What a story of love. Thank you.
April 25th, 2006 at 7:14 am
I have been using cloth napkins for years but I have never thought of making placemats. Yours are so beautiful and how wonderful to have children help out. Thank you explaining Aichaku , now I know what to call the things I treasure most , things of no great value to anyone but me, the things that have aquired much Aichaku before they became mine and I am now adding more before they become my childrens.
May 15th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
[...] For two of the best mothers I know: a kitten for the mister’s mum and quilted placemats (inspired by this fantastic post) for my mum. And a happy belated Mother’s Day to all the other mums out there! [...]
August 21st, 2006 at 11:39 am
[...] aichaku and placemats (i don’t quilt but i this has inspired me to dabble) [...]
February 3rd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Have just come across your beautiful placemats. truly inspiring I have brought out the sewing machine.