A couple of months ago I saw a Facebook group "Slow Stitching For The Soul" that intrigued me. So, of course, I had to do a little research.
The group which was started by Bev Ramsbotham - Textile Artist, based in Retford intrigued me because it was a group of no judgement on right or wrong ways to sew something - just creativity. The idea was to relax and spend time hand stitching in different media to achieve a hand made piece of textile art.
According to Bev, it was meant for members to "soothe their soul or just have some fun and not worry about 'perfection' or criticism from others, and be pleasantly surprised at what they create."
Given how much I love history and research I decided to find out a little more about "Slow Stitching."
According to "The Craft of Oz" Slow Stitching is: "Slow stitching is a relatively new concept that incorporates old hand stitching traditions. It's a craft where ancient practices and creativity collide. Unlike stitching that is used to mend or make a garment, slow stitching is the act of using needle and thread to create art; just as you would paint, draw or sculpt out of clay. I like to think of it as hand stitching with a creative purpose."
Given my curiosity I wondered when this movement started and who started it. Well, according to my Google search it was started in 2015 by Mark Lipinksi, an internationally known quilting artist.
So, I thought to myself, "where have I been for the last eight years...." LOL
Living and being extremely busy was the only thing I could think of and decided that this might be a perfect time to slow down and explore this intriguing craft.
I'm always been a crafter and have dabbled in all sorts of crafts including cross-stitch, creative embroidery, applique, collage and mixed media wall art pictures. All of those can involve hand sewing but this was creating something that was totally hand sewn. I had to try it.
One thing I haven't had a lot of time to do lately is crafting but, I really wanted to try "Slow Stitching." However, slow stitching does involves a lot of different fabrics and embellishments and I knew that I wouldn't have time to browse through the local Joann's and other local fabric stores for different fabrics to blend. I also knew I wouldn't have time to shop around the local arts & crafts stores for embellishments either.
So, I decided to look into "Slow Stitching" kits and found several I wanted to try on Etsy. As usual, I didn't buy them in moderation so I ended up with quite a few "Slow Stitching" kits.
I was particularly interested in ocean and summer themed kits and found several that I liked. I should clarify that to I found "many that I liked.....LOL
One of the kits I bought was a "Slow Stitch Kit, Into the Sea Fabric Pack" from the YardsofJoy shop on Etsy.
I was pleasantly surprised that the slow stitching kit was amply filled with more than enough fabrics and embellishments to create one large 12" by15" picture or several smaller ones. I opted for several smaller ones.
Included in the kit were the following:
- 12” x 15” inch muslin backing
- 12” x 17” piece of Heat n Bond Lite
- 25+ generous cuts of fabric, notions, laces, ribbons, buttons,
printed fabric sentiments and more.
- 3 yards of embroidery thread
- Fabric words. "Take Me To The Ocean"
Also included was a minimal explanation sheet of what products were included in the kit with a few suggestions on what to do with some of them.
Since there is no right or wrong way to do "Slow Stitching" there was no picture of what the designer who put this kit together thought the final textile art collage should look like. You had to design your own - which, of course, I did.
After looking at the fabrics and blue fabrics I decided to utilize some of the images in the various fabrics to create an ocean scene.
One of the fabrics that was included in the kit had a teal blue octopus on it so I decided to make the octopus a center focal point of my ocean picture. I found a sea turtle image on some other fabric from one of the many slow stitching kits I had bought and decided to utilize that here as well...LOL
While there were plenty of embellishments included with this kit I decided to add several mixed media embellishments from my own supply stash as well as a few fabrics of my own as I had a particular color scheme and picture sequence in mind.
If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog you know that several years ago I fell in love with mixed media and, in particular, creating mixed media wall art with paper embellishments and sponge painted backgrounds on art boards. So, in thinking about that I decided that instead of using paper embellishments for my mixed media wall art I could create a hand sewn mixed media slow stitching applique collage art board wall art picture instead.
For the area of the wall I wanted to hang the picture on I decided to use a 4" by 12" canvas art board to which I would mount my hand sewn collage picture.
It was close to Mother's Day when I was making this so I thought it would be nice to make my ocean themed picture in honor of my beloved mother who loved the ocean and the color blue. There was more than enough fabric to make what I had in mind so I decided to surprise my sister with a 4" x 12" picture as well.
I don't like to leave the back of my art board pictures unfinished so I decided to finish the sides and back of my pictures with fabrics - all of which I hand sewed.
As there is no right or wrong in slow stitching you are free to create and finish your project as you see fit. Some crafters like to use iron on fusible double-sided adhesive paper. It is used for bonding your fabric without the need for a stretcher frame or pinning. It definitely enhances your ability to create smooth appliqued collages.
Other crafters like the natural look of creating a fabric collage without using fusing backing and stretching of their fabrics. Some combine their hand sewn fabrics without fusing backing but opt to use a stretcher frame to enhance their hand sewing.
Since I was going to hang my picture on a wall I decided to use the fusible bonding and a stretcher frame. I also decided to apply the fusible backing to the back of the whole fabric pieces that were included in the kit instead of just applying it to the individual fabric sections and images I was going to use for this picture.
Plus, for me, applying the bonding to the entire fabric piece was a win-win for future projects as I could save the sections I didn't use and not have to take the time to apply it when I started that project.
At times it was hard pushing the needle through several layers of overlapping fabrics that had a fusible backing but I managed to do so with minimal cuts to my fingers. Sometimes the bandage on my fingers got in the way...LOL
As is my usual zealousness in over buying I decided to use the various kits I had bought to experiment with various sewing and embroidery stitches and decided that I would finish the first couple of pictures I would be creating with straight stitched or blind hem stitching along the seams or edges of my fabric images. Creative embroidery stitches could wait for future projects.
I also decided to stitch some of the various fiber trims from my enormous stash along some of the overlapping fabric edges and along the side edge of the art boards. Of course, this would cover up my hand sewn stitches along the edges, but I had no problem with that as I felt the embellishments really added to the picture.
After looking at my finished art board picture I was pleased with the result. Given that I have been sewing since I was ten years old I thought I knew everything there was to know about hand sewing but hand sewing an entire picture was a challenge even for me. You definitely had to do it slowly in order to get your stitches the way you wanted them. I couldn't help but laugh at that as slowing down and relaxing, just enjoying creating was the whole point of "Slow Stitching."
I thoroughly enjoyed making my hand sewn mixed media "Slow Stitching" applique collage wall art picture and hope you like it too.
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