Kind · By making

Patchwork wrapping cloth

조각보jogakbo

Jogakbo is patchwork bojagi pieced from leftover fabric scraps, now the best-known and most imitated form.

Meaning: 'pieces cloth' (조각 piece or scrap + 보)
Made of: 모시, 명주/silk, 삼베, 무명 (one fabric type per piece)
Era: late Joseon-20th c.

Pieced from leftover scraps of clothing and bedding fabric. Makers usually joined like with like: thin fabric to thin, thick to thick. Summer pieces are ramie 홑보; winter pieces are lined or quilted silk. The genre appears in the late Joseon period and grew out of frugality. Its abstract compositions have been compared to Mondrian and Klee.

In museum collections

History & tradition

Late Joseon to mid-20th century households

Jogakbo was a way to use up every scrap left from making clothes and bedding, sewn by women whose lives centred on household textile work. Pieces were joined with a strong triple-stitched seam (깨끼), giving a 'window pane' effect when light shows through. Makers left their stitches in view, and a popular account says each stitch was thought to add a blessing. Jogakbo were made for daily use, not display, until collectors began to treat them as art in the late 1960s.

Jogakbo is the best-known form of bojagi today; designers such as Chunghie Lee and Lie Sang-bong use it, and it is widely taught and exhibited abroad.

The 'blessing in each stitch' idea comes from Wikipedia and popular writing, not a historical text.

Sources

Sources for this entry

NextEmbroidered wrapping cloth

수보繡褓subo