This past month, I scrolled around online refilling my creative well. I found several references to a 'new' (or mayhaps the name is just new-to-me) thing called slow stitching.
It piqued my curiosity. So, I followed that rabbit hole for a while and found several articles about it. This trend seems only two or three years old... it seemed to me like a relatively new term for the timeless art of embroidery.
The premise of slow stitching is to slow down, take your time, and make beautiful pieces of art. Enjoying the process of using needles and threads to create ... at times perhaps adding in scraps of fabric along the way... and letting your mind and hands ponder while remaining in the present moment. A sort of process where ancient art and creativity meld into something thoughtful and contemplative. Slow stitching seems more about the meditative process than the finished product.
A bit of freehand...
Nevertheless, I enjoy creating things beautiful and useful and thoughtful, so whatever I call it... slow stitching or embroidery... it puts a smile on my face.
I recently finished this piece that has taken many months...
I had found this great patchwork denim bucket hat and recalled all the embroidery I did in my youth on old dungarees and jeans and jackets.
A bit of variegated thread...
When I bought the hat, I decided to do some embroidery again. I got out various threads and started considering the patches of cloth and how I could fill them.
I removed part of the lining first so that I could stitch unencumbered. In a few places, I penciled in a rough sketch of what I wanted. In other places, I just freehand stitched. I added a few beads and even found some flowers and leaves my mother had crocheted from thread. Working a dab here and a dash there and taking my time.
A bit of whimsy...
My eyes aren't what they once were, nonetheless, I embroidered for a while, then, when my eyes got tired, I turned to other handcrafts that were less visually taxing.
After all these months, I finally stitched the lining back together.
And a bit of texture.
Though it has taken me a while to finish... if I had not started, I would not have finished.
I'm pretty jazzed about the completed product. Grin, I may even decide to add more in the future. And I have already enjoyed wearing it!