It’s no secret Slow Stitching has really taken off in the past twelve months. There are so many fun collaborative slow stitch projects out there, such as those run by the lovely Roxy Girls, and there are many patterns, tutorials and workshops springing up to share techniques and methods for this gentle craft.
What has brought slow stitching it’s new found popularity? Perhaps it is a reaction to the hustle culture we seem to find surrounds us now. Or maybe it’s a reaction to waste and wanting to participate in a craft that has sustainability in mind?
I enjoy working on slow stitching projects for both of these reasons, and a couple more. Like EPP, Slow Stitching allows me to slow down, calm my mind and focus on creating something of beauty and joy. It keeps my hands and fingers busy, soothing my nervous system through the gentle act of stitch.
Slow Stitching allows me to create in a more fluid way than EPP. Projects evolve more organically and are not planned out like many of my EPP projects are. It can be quite liberating and exciting. I love to gather a basket full of fabrics, trims, threads, vintage textiles and treasures, ready to rummage in and create with. I start with just a loose idea on the object I want to create and then let my bits and pieces speak to me and tell me how they want to be used.
One of my favorite things about Slow Stitching is that it allows us to create with scraps, the left over bits, the stained, worn and damaged pieces that might otherwise end up in landfill. I love that we can give vintage textiles new life, that we get to honor the work of stitchers before us and treasure their creations inside of our own.
I especially love finding ways to use all of the itty bitty scraps of patchwork fabric from my EPP projects into cute new slow stitch ones, like my Snippets and Stitches Bookmarks, or in needle books, pincushions and textile vessels.
Something else I love about Slow Stitching is how tactile it is. In my EPP and quilt making I tend to just use modern and vintage cotton fabrics, but in Slow Stitching I get to play with a vast array of textiles. Fabric is obviously still a big part, but then there are wool blankets and fabrics, wool felt, different laces, crochet doilies, buttons and beads, not to mention the vast array of pretty threads you can use from wool to perle cotton, silk and stranded cotton, solid or variegated, all with the ability to create unique and varied embroidery stitches. Slow Stitching really does ignite all of the senses.
Slow Stitching methods can be used to create so many different types of projects too and through it we can even upcycle or mend and enhance found objects.
We can make bookmarks, vessels, journals, books, pouches and bags, quilts, wall hangings, 3D objects, tags, needlebooks and pincushions, book covers, cushions and more.
We can use it to embellish clothes and bags, or give things like sewing baskets and furniture, like a foot stool, a new textile cover.
One of the things I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with was making Slow Stitch Textile bowls. I have made two so far, but know I will be making more! I used the pattern Textile Pinch Pots by Bec of SewBe Curated to learn how to go about making a bowl. Once you have learned the basic principles, it’s easy to go off and make any type of bowl shape or size.
My first bowl was quite small and I stitched the fabrics down on both sides at the same time with my stitches going all the way through. For my second larger bowl I worked on the inside first and then the outside making sure that my stitches didn’t go all the way through, instead burying them in the cotton batting I had used for the bowl form.
So if you have thought about trying a Slow Stitch project then dive on in! Gather a basket of goodies, pick a project and just let the fabrics and treasures you have collected speak to you. Soon you’ll be happily stitching away, lost in your own thoughts, and before you know it hours will have passed of joyful bliss.
Below are some Instagram accounts and YouTube channels to help inspire you.
Happy Stitching,
Miss Leela x
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Watch on YouTube (also follow on Instagram)
Vintage Treasures
Oh my goodness I’ve never heard of this! I signed up and I can’t wait to try it! Thank you!