mending clothes, mending leaves

Lately I have been taking part in Slow Fashion Style: an online workshop run by Katrina Rodabaugh. I had high hopes as I've taken online classes with Katrina before and loved them.

 I haven't been disappointed - it's been thought provoking and encouraging and packed full of creative ideas.  My fellow participants have been equally as inspiring and there has been a great sense of community filled with like-minded people.

The first part of the workshop involved visible mending.  I used sashiko stitching to patch a hole in some old jeans.  I have also begun an ongoing mend of a holey cardigan by crocheting with grey yarn - I can see that I will keep coming back to it and fill more areas as it gets more worn.  

 In art, I am often drawn to the imperfect and decayed - I have written here before about mending natural objects and my ongoing project of collecting damaged and broken leaves that I then try to mend with crochet.  Thinking about the mending of functional items has been an interesting accompaniment to this.

ideas that don't have use-by dates

I found a page in my sketchbook from last year where I had written down a list of ideas I had for things I wanted to make, to do, to create.  I haven't done any of them - I had forgotten about some of the things I listed and moved on to other ideas and other lists.  For a reason I can't recall I'd stuck a picture of a bird at the bottom of the list.  Inspiration?  Perhaps.  It doesn't really matter now.

But the ideas are still valid!  The list still makes sense to me - in fact, I can improve on the original ideas.  I can still do those things.  But of course, I might forget again.  It might be another year until I re-find the list.  But I know I will see the list again.  And the bird.

slow stitches

looking for blues

This week I have been pondering over choices of thread colour.  I love this part of the making process - I could [and sometimes do] sit and think about colours for hours.  

There are colours that I am drawn to constantly.  Colours that I feel comfortable with and familiar around.

And there are colours that I never seem to use that much.  Blue, for instance.

 

But today I find myself stitching in blues, lots of blue.  A wall of blue.  And I like the challenge.

stitching rain

It has been raining for weeks; it feels like it will never end.

I think about the repetition of the rain on the roof, on the windows, on the ground. I am reminded of the repetition of stitches across fabric. And I think about the view from the window and the rain falling in lines, from here it does just look like lines. And I wonder how long it would take to sew every raindrop [line]. 

 And of course, it would take a very long time.