Kaz Madigan shares her unique relationship to the Japanese Saori weaving workshop, which values the human touch as part of Zen Buddhism

Weaving with denim is another one of my favorites. I especially love the idea of re-using the denim fabric from jeans that we can no longer wear. Denim also adds a really unique texture to weaves. It has a sturdiness to it that allows you to use it in ways that wouldn't work with yarn.

Images via Koron007 Centuries ago, fabric was a rare and precious commodity only the wealthy could afford. So people treasured old and worn-out pieces of clothing to recycle and reuse in order to make new clothes. Thus the sakiori was born. Sakiori comes from the word "saki" which means to tear up or rip and "ori" which means weave. Recycling old fabric remnants into sakiori weavings follows the Japanese indispensable concept of “mottainai” or not wasting precious cloth that can prolong the…

In her second book on takadai braids, Makiko Tada details four different flat braids of the ryuko (dragon/tiger) design, all done with 50 bobbins on the takadai braiding stand. I worked my first on…

The Japanese textile of Yomitanzan Hanaori was on a brink of extinction before it was brought back by dedicated craftspeople in Okinawa.

Crafts magazine meets Japanese artist Kazuhito Takadoi, who weaves with twigs, leaves and other elements from nature