My name is Tanaka and I am an apprentice craftsman.
It has been six months since I started my training as an umbrella maker at Komiya Shoten, and this is my first time writing a blog.
For my training, I basically go to Komiya Shoten's own workshop in Higashi-Nihonbashi every day, but I also have the opportunity to visit the homes of veteran craftsmen in the downtown area a few times a month, and today I headed to Sugasawa-san's home.
I am mainly learning how to sew (the process of sewing cut fabric together with a sewing machine) from Sugasawa.
Today I'm borrowing my master's sewing machine and will be sewing away.
My master is always smiling, cheerful and kind, but when it comes to talking about umbrellas, especially about inner stitching, his tone becomes passionate.
"The middle stitch is especially important, so make sure you practice a lot!"
This phrase is said all the time.
At first I didn't really understand why this was so important, but recently I've started making my own umbrella molds and it's starting to make sense.
The mold is a curved, triangular wooden form, and the fabric is cut to fit it, so it must be adjusted to the millimeter.
After many tries, I finally come up with a shape that I'm happy with, but during the middle stitching process where I sew together the fabric that has been cut to fit it, if the place where I drop the needle is off by just one millimeter, it will affect the silhouette when the garment is opened.
When the cut pieces are sewn together, they are connected all the way around, so there is no way for distortion to escape.
If all the links are not sewn evenly and as intended, wrinkles will form and there will be strange excess fabric.
I finally understood this and thought, "Ah, I see!" and it was a deep understanding, but it didn't make it easy to sew smoothly.
"Just sew as many as you can!"
This is also a favorite saying of my master.
"I'll sew at least 300 by March," she said, so when I asked her if that meant 300 "pieces," she replied, "300 "pieces"!"
In other words, if there are 8 bones, that would be 2,400 pieces.
Oh, a lot...
It seems like there's still a long way to go before I can become a full-fledged professional.
I'll do my best.
