Flower Stitch (Hanazashi)
Meaning
Hanazashi means "flower stitch." Four soft petals fan out from each point of the grid, with closed curves of running stitch that read as a stylized bloom rather than abstract geometry.
The name covers more than one flower-stitch construction. This chart uses curved five-line petals radiating diagonally across a checkerboard grid, worked as a continuous-line pattern.
History
Hanazashi sits within sashiko's broader Edo-period Tohoku context: reinforcing and insulating cloth for cold-climate workwear. The exact chart varies by teacher and sampler, so I use Hanazashi here as a flower-stitch family name rather than one fixed historical design.
Stitching notes
Hanazashi is built on a checkerboard grid, with a four-petal bloom fanning out from each grid point. Each petal is a five-line curved fan: a straight center line, two soft inner curves, and two deeper outer curves.
The petals reach diagonally toward their neighbors, so the diamond-shaped grid does most of the layout work. Once the centers are placed accurately, the blooms begin to lock together.
Worked in three colors: gold for the straight center lines, and two shades of rose for the curved petal edges.
The center lines are the forgiving part: plain running stitch along the grid’s diagonals. The curved petal passes ask more of the hand. Each fan has to hold its shape from bloom to bloom so the diamond layout reads cleanly.
For this pattern: This pattern is worked in three thread colors, not one: a gold for the straight center lines and two shades of rose for the curved petal edges, so pick up all three before you start rather than a single spool.
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Jūjizashi, Dan Tsunagi, and Komezashi, with a plain how-to for all three.
