I don’t know about you, but with the constant bombardment of emails, news, alerts and updates – ‘news fatigue’, I like to call it – you may find it useful to focus on 5 wonderful ways creative stitching can enrich your life.
I’ve always loved to look outside the box, but right now, I’d rather be right inside it, tucked away and secure!
Everyone is experiencing a heightened level of anxiety – this is perfectly normal.
And, unsurprisingly, I have turned to art to cope. What’s going on in our heads right now can be mitigated somewhat by embracing creative art and stitching.
Creative stitching is satisfying as you are making something to share, or give, or use, or simply look at.
Looking at art – any art – not only stirs positive feelings and emotions but can have surprising effects on you in other ways.
Being good or bad at creative stitching, by hand or machine, is not what’s important. The very act of creative stitching offers ways to enrich both your life and the lives of others.
Deborah Wirsu
5 Ways Creative Stitching Can Enrich Your Life
1. Creative stitching is a form of healing.
Starting a new creative stitching project allows you to explore new techniques and imagery, while it’s also having a calming effect on both body and mind.
Every creative stitcher loves the feel of beautiful fabric, and the very act of transforming that fabric into art is relaxing and stress-reducing.
Why do you think doctors waiting rooms, dentists, hospitals, and so on, have beautiful art adorning the walls? Because pleasing art is calming. It might be Monet or abstract, but all have the effect of giving people something to look at and think about.
Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing.
Julia Cameron
2. The ‘feel-good’ effect of stitching.
Like listening to, or playing music, creating art that you can look at or touch or use makes you feel better. How?
Surrounding yourself with things you love stimulates happiness and offers a sense of comfort.
Think of the rooms in your house where you have a beautiful patchwork quilt on the bed – a quilt that brings joy and satisfaction every time you enter the room.
Or the tiny, framed embroidery you made as a child, or that someone gifted to you.
Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
Pablo Picasso
3. Stitching is a joyful process.
Having a small project on the go is a great way to connect with other people. Now, I realise that at the moment, while we are all isolating at home, being able to connect and share the stitching experience with others is more challenging.
But we can still connect. For once, social media and video calls, rather than being a bit of blight on our life, now make it easier for us to share our creativity with our friends.
We may be conversing online, but we’re still communicating with like-minded humans.
In these times, when everyone is a little on edge, communication and connection are essential.
Feeling that connection with others brings warmth and happiness to your life. Don’t let self-isolation prevent sharing some joy.
Art is something that makes you breathe with a different kind of happiness.
Anni Albers
4. Creative stitching gives you a sense of purpose.
The project you’re working on doesn’t need to be something practical or useful.
Nevertheless, I love to make things I can use!
Still, as you’ve seen above, the art itself, and the process of creating it, can serve to improve both your life and the lives of others.
Why not create a gift for a dear friend or family member. Now is the perfect time to get started!
A quilt will warm your body and comfort your soul.
Anon
5. Creative stitching teaches you how to trust your instincts.
Creative stitching is a journey of discovery.
In my journey to become a textile artist – thread sketcher, thread painter, and art quilter – the most important thing I learned was how to trust my instincts.
I’ve always liked to do things my own way. If I haven’t known how to do something, I’ve figured it out through trial and error (often a lot of error!).
As a child (and even now!) asking for help was usually way down my list of things I could do.
Instead, I learned by reading books and exploring what other people were doing. I’d buy patterns – and change them. If I was told to paint a tree green, I’d paint it red. Whenever I perceived a ‘trend’, I would do the opposite (little has changed!).
And yes, there were times when these particular personality traits slowed me down. I was stubborn, for sure!
But this stubbornness led to me becoming my own best teacher.
Along the way, I’ve learned how to really ‘see’ colours and instinctively understand how they work with each other. And through observation, rather than theory, I’ve learned about balance and composition in art.
Yes, I was trained in the correct techniques of sewing and dressmaking, yet I always yearned to break the rules!
Trusting my instincts, breaking the rules, doing my ‘own thing’, threw up challenges, for sure.
But more importantly, developing this self-trust is liberating.
There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.
Anon.
Check out my range of best selling books for textile artists.
FAQ
Engaging in creative stitching can enrich your life, and the lives of others, in so many ways. Especially in these troubled times.
- Creative stitching is a form of healing. Creative stitching has calmative and stress-reducing effects on your body and mind.
- The ‘feel-good’ effect of stitching. The comfort, joy and satisfaction of creative stitching make you feel better.
- Stitching is a joyful process. Creative stitching allows you to share the joy by connecting and communicating with others.
- Creative stitching gives you a sense of purpose. Creating something as a gift, or something you can use yourself encourages you to complete your work. It has a purpose.
- Creative stitching teaches you how to trust your instincts. Creative stitching is a journey. Learning to follow your heart and trust your instinct is liberating!
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for your inspiration for thread painting, and stitching, in different forms. Since I have had to stay home, and not socialising, I have managed sort out my dress materials, applique and fibre textiles, that I have collected over the last 30 years.
So hopefully within the next week or so I want to do some thread painting and also work out a small piece of art quilt that I have in mind.
Hope you are staying safe with the coronavirus. My husband and I are staying home, except going to do some shopping.
Regards
Pam
Hi Pam – Thanks for your message. I’m glad you’re staying home and safe. It’s the best thing to do. I’m at home, too, only going out for exercise and occasional shopping.
I would like to say I’m getting my fabric, etc, organised, but it seems to be getting in more of a mess, as I work on creating new things for Thread Sketching in Action and my courses! At least I’m not idle! Take care, Deborah
Thanks Deborah! I can’t thank you enough for your emails and uplifting messages. I’m a new quilter(2 years) and have been learning about art quilting since I joined SAQA. I also have been teaching myself free motion using YouTube videos and practice! I’m now learning beginning thread sketching with your videos. It’s amazing and with your teaching, it seems fairly easy to accomplish the basics. I’m with you my studio is a big mess right now! I’m working on a large quilt for a housewarming gift, thread sketching classes, and i stopped all that to make a baby quilt and 3 stuffed animals for a young couple! My husband works from home always, so our days are not a lot different. He is going out to get groceries ,as I’m scheduled for major surgery in a couple of weeks. Take care and stay safe.
Hi Katherine. It’s so good to hear you’re embracing art quilting and now thread sketching! Your world will open up with possibilities, all of which are exciting, with new things to try and explore. And yes, getting started is very accessible (from a difficulty point of view). Of course, it takes practice, but the more you practice, the more exciting it all gets! It certainly sounds as though you have your hands full with projects at the moment. Many thanks for your lovely message and I hope your surgery is successful. Take care! Deborah
Thank you so much for sharing. Husband and I are in a new location since Sept.; sr. living with blessed care. My mother taught me needlework and sewing as a young girl, and to this day they have been a precious gift to me. I have been making quilts since
retirement and enjoy putting all the stitching experiences over the years that artists share with us.
I agree, Adele. We are so fortunate to have the creative outlet of sewing (or any art, for that matter), especially at times like these. It can help pass the time, still the mind, and bring a little joy to these challenging times. 🙂