Slow Sewing Can Save Your Sanity!

Ever heard of the Slow Sew Movement?

It’s an initiative that’s gaining momentum around the world for a number of reasons.

It’s about reminding ourselves what goes into the making of something, through the patience and skillfulness of our own hands.

It’s about approaching the act of creativity in a mindful manner, stitch by stitch, as one meanders across a piece of fabric to make something inspired and beautiful.

It’s about leaving behind rigid rules and instead embracing a more fluid rhythm in your artistic practice and in your daily life.

One of the most interesting things about the Slow Sew Movement is the impact it seems to have on our sense of well-being. When we engage in the process of slowing down and being mindful to the present moment, our breathing regulates, our heart beat slows down and time fills with the task at hand. When it is fueled by a creative intent, magic happens. We fall into the state of artistic flow – akin to a kind of meditation.  We carve out moments of time to be creative, to allow the rhythmic repetition of hand-stitching to take priority over the chatter of the mind. It is about calming our adrenals as we allow the creative impulse of ‘play’ to guide our work. We sit, breathe, create and connect with others – and it makes for a potent and transforming artistic practice.

When we enter into the realm of creativity, consciously, with focus and intention, there’s something of ourselves that we weave into our work.  And when we abandon any strict or rigid expectations, we allow the creative process to seep into our experience. Self-awareness comes gently trickling into our consciousness and flows on into our work.  It becomes a Journey into Self.  There emerges an incredible spirit of child-like play.  It’s an alchemical process, deeply transformative, like a medicine.

The act of sitting in shared creativity with others is powerful. Men’s sheds, Knitting Circles, Community Gardens are all impulses that are growing in response to our innate need to create collectively together. When we sit in an act of artistic endeavour with others, we become present to a powerful space of shared experience.  This act of creating together consciously is a powerful one.

Slow Sewing is one aspect of this growing cultural expansiveness. As part of our five-week exhibition “Common Threads – Woven Through Community“, we are holding a variety of Slow Stitching workshops with a focus on delving into the space of mindful creativity.

Join Melissa Min this Saturday, 19th May for an evening full of beginner’s soulful stitching and make a Funky, Over the Shoulder Bag followed by a nourishing meal.

On Sunday 20th May, Anne Williams invites us to think of our souls as threefold. We are thinkers, we feel and we act in the world. We can investigate these qualities through art, even one as seemingly humble and simple as a needle pulling thread. Join as as she seeks to explore the central role of the soul in Sew The Soul.

And if you are looking to brush up on your basic sewing skills, join Morgan Kay in our free Mending Boot Camp series on May 24th, 29th and June 4th.

Step across the threshold, dive in and be part of this immersive and enriching experience at The Sound Temple. We’d love you to join us.

 

Featured image courtesy of Manvi Clothing, India