The Festival of Broken Needles is celebrated in the Kanto region of Japan on the 8th of February each year (December 8th in the Kansai and Kyoto regions). A 400 year old Buddhist and Shinto celebration, which can also be called the Pin Festival or Needle Mass. It is predominantly celebrated by women in memorial and with gratitude to all of the broken sewing needles (and pins) used throughout the year. Broken needles are placed in soft tofu as women gather at local shrines or temples and thanks given for their service. No sewing takes place that day as reflection and pray for the coming sewing year occurs.
As you can imagine, this certainly is something that resonates with me and in my own gratitude and thankfulness for the past year, I thought I'd re-share one of my favourite patterns - the sewing roll. Feel free to watch the video about it below, and click HERE to buy the pattern.
