Slow stitch workshop

Our latest workshop at the Oriental Museum in Durham was centred around the slow stitch movement. This is not, as the title suggests, about sewing slowly, but rather sewing meditatively. The techniques centres around engaging in what is being done rather than the outcome. It is about the motion of creating the stitches and the colour and texture of the fabrics. It is a fantastic wellbeing activity and something that can be done in short amounts of time. Many of us have these projects ready for our tea breaks when we can spend 15 minutes or so taking time out of our busy lives to drink a hot drink and sew.

Slow stitching is environmentally friendly too. Scraps of fabric are all that is needed to create a piece, torn up old clothing, offcuts from other sewing projects, scraps of fabric from a charity shop. These can often become memory pieces as we can see those scraps from our past lives, a favourite shirt that wore out, a scrap of babies' clothing, hand-dyed fabric using plants from a walk or the garden. These can then be embellished using scraps of lace, ribbon, beads and buttons.

For this workshop however, participants were limited to my scraps of fabric from the patchwork quilts I have been making.

• Step 1 is to select the fabrics and "audition them". This means to place the fabrics side by side to see how they work together.
• Step 2 is to arrange the fabrics on the background.
• Step 3 is to stitch all of the fabrics down.
• Step 4 is to embellish with beads, lace or other ephemera.
• Step 5 is to use the stitch to create something further, a picture, book cover or sleeve for a mobile phone or tablet.

The workshop was relaxed, music was played, and plenty of stitching and chat ensued. Although slow stitch is usually a solitary, relaxing activity, it can be done as a community as demonstrated by today's workshop.