Kamosage Knot

A Kamosage Knot is a basic knot used in Shibori. There are many different kinds of knots and techniques but this is a common one.

(this first image is not mine, found on flickr, all credit goes to Susan Barrett Price. The rest of the images are mine though!)

You will need:

Scissors

Fabric, you can use any amount you want, the more you use the more knotting you will have to do. Also you should have natural light fabrics, 100% cotton is best, and wash it before you dye.

Thread: Strong thread, quilting strength works well, or you can use dental floss.

bunch a little bit of your fabric, into a little mountain.

you can make bundles in any pattern that you want and in any size that you want. It will effect the look after you dye.

Leave a little bit of a tail and hold it against your bundle.

Grip the rest of the thread tightly in your other hand, use three fingers but keep the pointer and thumb free.

wrap the thread around the outside of your thumb while holding the thread taught from your three fingers.

Loop the thread from your thumb around the outside of your pointer finger.

using the end of the thread held against your fabric you make a triangle, keep the tension tight.

slip the fabric bundle into the middle of the triangle you made

hold onto the tail and keep the thread tight, the tension is important.

free your pointer and thumb but continue to hold the thread in your three fingers.

while holding onto the bundle and the tail pull the thread and make the knot tight. repeat the steps to double up the knot, this will secure the knot.

if you can't pull it tight enough with just your fingers, wrap the thread around a pencil or something similar and pull tight.

It needs to be tight so that dye can't seep through and that is how the patterning is created.

cut the long thread to leave a little tail, now you should have two tails from the knot

You can then tie the tails together to keep the kamosage knot tight.

Repeat for as many knots as you want or your pattern requires.

And that's it!

My dye was a little weak and my fabric was more resistant to dye but this is the look that you get using just Kamosage knots!

Little sand dollars! with the right planning you can easily have a very cool designed fabric.

I also need to add that this also works with the bleaching of dark fabrics so if that's what you want to do you can still use the Kamosage knot