Page 153 - IELTS Preparation band 5.0-6.5

2 I've got two brothers. The youngest one rs strll at school, - because the dye was thought to strengthen the fibres -
he's got two more years there And my oldest brother rs and they solved the problem of warmth by strtchrng together
a urn, I don't know the word 1n English - he's a doctor many layers of thts cloth In thrs way, they produced clothes
who looks after anrmals. that were warm but not too bulky It was done, er, wrth a whrte,
heavy thread. urn, so there were many shades of blue cloth
3 I've got qurte a few hobbres. I guess. I like playrng the
- light and dark - and whrte strtchmg, and so a typrcal 'look'
gurtar and srngrng - though I'm not very good at erther
or rmage was created hke thrs They used desrgns based
Urn, I also like drawmg, but I don't draw typical thrngs -
on tradrtiOnal Japanese patterns that had therr own names,
you know. like the scenery or people my prctures are
such as 'sea wave' perhaps to reflect the wavy effect of the
well, they're not thmgs you recognrse from real life!
desrgn Here's another example
4 I often go to vrsrt the park 1n my crty because rt's very
Now, each garment that was made at thrs trme was planned for
beautrful and, er .. let me see er. rt makes me feel,
a specrfic purpose. So, for example, warstcoats were heavily
er - what's the word? Well, like I don't have any problems,
strtched on the back and shoulders tf they were going to be
whrch rs good for my health'
worn whrle carrymg heavy baskets And rt wasn't only country
CD2 Track 12 people who relied on sash1ko clothrng. In Japanese towns,
firemen dressed for duty rn sash1ko-strtched garments -
1 When I was younger. I hated gorng to see them - yeah -
Jackets, trousers, hoods and gloves - whrch were soaked wrth
I thought rt was so bonng
water to protect them
2 My srster's very hard-workrng She knows what she So the p01nt here rs that sash1ko clothmg was essentral for
wants. whereas I'm still tryrng to make some decrsrons survrval at one trme And even though rnakrng thrngs rn thrs
about that. way took up many hours for people who also had to work,
do household tasks and so on, tt was a vrtal skrll The wrfe of
CD2 Track 13
someone like a farmer, for rnstance, had to spend time makrng
1 Bemg an only child has rts advantages - I mean, I get all clothes, and she would do the strtchrng wrthout a frame or
my parents' attentron structural support. And the garments, once you put them on,
were fiexrble and moulded themselves to the wearer If you
2 Before I left home and came here to study, I used to vrsrt
look at a genume sasluko garment today, then you can see the
rny grandparents about twrce a week, but now rt's much
evrdence of wear and get a feel for the shape of the wearer's
more dtfficult
body, whrch rs faSCinatrng
3 My gran, who lives on her own, rs always so pleased to
Then, rn 1895, tradttiOnal life changed, and sash1ko was no
see me.
longer necessary because rail travel reached northern Japan,
4 Both my parents are archrtects, but my mum gets more and warm textiles could then be rmported However, srnce the
work than my dad! 1970s, sash1ko has been revrved 1n Japan and has also been
taken up by qurlters and embrorderers 1n the USA and the UK.
Unit 8 Nowadays, the desrgns are a little dtfferent. There are vertrcal
and honzontal stnpes, for example, or the strtches can be
CD2 Track 14 arranged to produce a dtamond effect here we are Srmrlar
Good mornrng, everyone as you know, we're contrnurng fabncs to those used tradrtronally can be found 1n modern
wrth the part of the textrle course where we look at some furnrshrng or dressmaktng departments or from suppliers so
drfferent types of strtchrng - or strtchrng technrques - and that the tradrtronal appearance of a sash1ko item has been
today we're lookrng at one that comes from Japan It's called matntarned
sash1ko Now, there are exhrbttrons of ancrent sash1ko rtems, but the
Now, what does that word mean? Well. rt translates as 'little drsapp01ntrng thrng rs thrs Whrle old pots and ceramrcs are
strtches' and rn rts modern form, urn, you can see from these consrdered to be treasures and preserved. even wrth cracks,
prctures. rt produces a very. er, very beautrful, decoratrve ancrent garments made by poor vrllage women have not
desrgn on thrngs like cushrons, curtams and qurlted covers - all been grven such a htgh value and. sadly, many of them
produced by hand, of course - and many sold rn shops these have been thrown away, rather than getttng the attentron of
days But sash1ko began long ago. and rts Japanese ongrns collectors Thts rs a prty because they say a great deal about
were much more functiOnal than thrs how people once ltved and about thetr techntcal skill and
tt's no cornctdence that sash1ko has now become a pastrme on
It started among farmrng communltres, rn mountarn villages, rn
an tnternatronallevel.
the north of Japan's main rsland Centunes ago, transport was
dtfficult rn these places, and the brtter climate made rt hard to
grow fibre plants for spinnrng and weavrng rnto warm cloth.
Also. there ~ere no sheep rn Japan at thrs trme, so, er. no
wool erther, and thrs meant that people were left wrth a locally
produced rnatenal, called asa, that was hard-weanng but not
very warm So, what they dtd was to dye thrs local fabnc blue

Recording script @