Hello, I'm back in the airport again, this time at Seoul's Gimpo airport, awaiting my flight back to Japan. I've had two weeks in South Korea, and it's been good. Sorry but I can't post any photos with this post until I get home, because I moved them off my phone onto an SD card for backup (I also back up to Amazon Prime). This was my first visit to Korea, I can see some similarities to Japan but also a lot of differences. I had three days in Seoul then joined an 8 night tour that went to the DMZ (border with North Korea), then up to Sukcho in the north east, then to the historic hanok village near Andong, then down to the second largest city Busan in the south, then back to Seoul. On my own, I had one night down in the historic hanok village at Jeonju. So just a taster tour, it had a good mix of the modern and new, the traditional, the coast, mountains etc. I've enjoyed getting to know a new country a little - apart from the food which I've really struggled with. There is a fairly low awareness of allergens here, and a lot of Korean cooking uses some basic spice mixtures or soy sauce, all of which have gluten in them. I tried various local dishes in the early days of the tour with the group, but ended up having to eat a lot of meals on my own so I could choose salads or international foods like sushi or curry to avoid stomach upsets. The tour leader was helpful but neither he nor I knew what the ingredients were of various dishes. I only pulled out my allergen card once, which predictably freaked out the restaurant manager and staff and I ended up with plain bean sprouts, plain rice, and plain grilled pork belly. It was just easier to find somewhere like a Subway and order a salad. Luckily I'm not a foodie, nor a coeliac. But apart from that, it's been good.
On the craft side, there are a lot of traditional Korean handicrafts on sale everywhere such as ceramics, textiles, traditional hanbok costume, knotted work, embroidery etc. I bought some little embroidered charms and also an embroidered pin cushion and a traditional embroidered thread holder. I made it to the Insta-famous Banol knit cafe, a very designer space selling knit and crochet yarns from Korea and elsewhere. The emphasis seemed to be on getting beginners started and there were various knitted samples that you could then buy the pattern and yarn for. Also a lot of small crocheted handbags and totes, crocheted in sturdy plasticky rope yarns which must be murder to work with but produce very functional bags. Here I found some metal sew-on 'handmade' tags to use on bags, and some cute zip pulls. I knit on my shawl for a while in the cafe upstairs and tried out one of the button-shaped rice cakes with honey. Another day I went to the enormous Dongdaemon market building that has floor after floor across multiple buildings of fabric stalls, haberdashery of all kinds, trims, ribbons, hanok tailors and hanok fabric, everything you could possibly want. Most of the fabric sellers are aimed at wholesalers and have tables of samples to order from rather than bolts, but on the 5th floor are several smaller retailers with bolts including Happy Quilt. Here I was able to buy some Korean themed fabric and a panel printed with traditional Korean scenes - they had samples of the panel used in handbags which were cute. It was amazing to wander the literally hundreds of stalls, and of course most things are quite reasonably priced because the won is weak to the British pound - the fabric was £3.50-£7 a yard at Happy Quilt I think. It would be a great place to come if you had specific bag projects in mind, say, and wanted to get all the hardware etc. (and had room in your case)
One thing I haven't seen much of is the famous Korean bojagi or wrapping cloths, so popular in the quilting world. Maybe they aren't used in daily life so much now? (in contrast to Japan where furoshiki are widely available and still commonly used as gift wrap, cover ups etc). Many souvenir shops have cheap bags or pouches with a small panel of pieced striped work, and I've seen a few wall hangings with panels of striped work in the (probably synthetic) silk organza used for the traditional hanbok clothing. But no actual cloths. At the Seoul Museum of Craft Art, there was a wonderful exhibition of vintage bojagi in solid, embroidered, and pieced varieties. The pieced cloths were displayed so the light could shine through them, highlighting the seams like stained glass. I've ordered a book on how to sew bojagi which will be waiting when I get home. The actual silk organza feels like it would be stiff to work with, it's very crisp and a bit plasticky, but lets the light through beautifully. I also saw some bojagi in other museums such as the National museum, mostly being displayed with the item that was wrapped up in them, for example a royal book or tablet.
I also haven't seen much patchwork or quilting although I haven't actively looked for it. There are quilted bags in some bag stores, and in Jeonju I saw two artisan shops with examples of Japanese-style Sunbonnet Sue wall quilts and small bags etc.
I've really loved all the traditional hanok buildings with their elegantly curved clay tile roofs, and vividly painted ceilings. There are enclaves of these traditional buildings in Seoul, and a whole village of them near Andong where we got to stay overnight in one of them which was fun.
And now I'm heading back to Japan for three more weeks then back to the UK. I'm really hoping it doesn't get too hot in Japan, Korea has for the most part been lovely sitting around 20C or below which suits me very well. Sorry this update is a bit garbled, it's hard to remember what I've been doing at this point, lol. I am missing my sewing room and look forward to getting back to work on my various projectts. I have knit a little shawl with my hand dyed yarn I bought in Iceland which I just finished a few days ago, so I am going to swap that out for the sock project I bought in Tokyo when I get into my other suitcase (currently in storage). I've hardly done any embroidery, I probably didn't need to bring it at all.
