Slow and Lovingly Made
Committing to taking things slowly is—I find—an excellent way of being at peace with the present moment. If something takes time to create or achieve, I have to be pretty certain I’m really behind the idea. There are hundreds of jobs on the list that could (often do) take priority, so shunting them out the way has to be for something nourishing, yes?
How does this slow stitching habit get to leapfrog the other things I might be doing?
Amongst my favourite reasons:
Becoming well acquainted with every fold, pleat, gather, tuck, dart, seam and hem, and what I want or need, all feels like a radical move of tending to myself. What I really want and need, not a semi-hopeless, ‘that’ll do’ solution which I get almost every time I try to fix my wardrobe problems on the high street. Lovingly bringing into being something that will keep me warm, help me feel good, express me well is a joyous thing to be able to do.
Because I don't want to be part of the problem, it feels right to decide on pulling a basic respect for my fellow humans closer to the centre. Making beautiful things well and to last takes time, and I’m happy to work on that so I can get better at being part of a fairer system. Not there yet; working it.
Slowing it all down gives me time to think. Slowing things down—as I did in the years I spent developing black and white prints in darkrooms—gives my ideas a chance to spread out a bit. To breathe. (Even writing that made me take a deep breath in!) Ideas like it when they have time to germinate.
Slow stitching helps me be patient, and I’ve come to realise that patience is a really great thing to cultivate because I’ve learnt that instant fixes don’t always serve the deeper need.
Lovingly made – connecting me to memories of the affectionate presence of my mum before she died. I was a little (tomboy) girl, and remember her arms around me, her hands on mine guiding my little hands into position to make pretty stitches. Soothingly calm and regular, quiet, sweet. Before I slipped off to climb trees again.
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I can be very sentimental about my stitching! I am sure in my heart that it’s a loving way forward for all of us. For lots of good and true reasons, it’s an irresistable counterpoint to many things I find tricky in this world.
Slow, and lovingly made. It’s a good way forward.
