This sashiko cotton fabric from Olympus Thread Mfg. Co.  is boldly printed with the traditional shippō (seven treasures pattern) 5mm long gold dashes on tetsu kon iro (iron blue), an ultra dark blue that is almost but not quite black, superimposed on a diagonal grid printed in silver. Cicles measure approx. 3in (7.6cm) across. Both sets of lines wash out, so you can stitch them together, separately or play around with the pattern by stitching shippō in some parts of your work and the diagonal grid in others. All you have to do is stitch.
 
The fabric is smooth and strong, not textured like Azumino or Kofu Tsumgui, or thin like the soft, absorbent sarashi cotton used for the sashiko sampler hanafukin (flower cloth) series, so it is suitable for all kinds of projects where extra durability is wanted, such as home dec, like cushions and placemats, or hard wearing bags and wearables. The colour is a darker blue than the 5mm 'just dots' grid fabric in dark blue, although the weave is the same.
 
110cm wide (the printed design covers approx. 103cm of the total width, with a plain band along the selvedge on both sides).

Any sashiko thread would look wonderful for stitching this design. The slightly longer 5mm stitch length means that thick or medium sashiko threads would be a great choice. It would also suit being stitched with a doubled sashiko thread for an extra bold, traditional look, and I would definitely use any fine sashiko thread doubled (or even two threads doubled) for maximum impact. The marks on my sashiko panels and most of the sashiko sampler panels are more like 3mm long, so this is definitely a bigger, bolder version of sashiko stitching.
 
100% cotton
 
Made in Japan by Olympus Thread Mfg. Co.

NB - sold in half metre (50cm) lengths, so please order '2' for one metre, '3' for 1 1/2m etc.  Fabric will be sent as one continous length.  Maximum length on bolt is 5 metres.