Slow Stitching Sunday

The Slow Stitching Movement has been steadily gaining ground recently and is a reaction against the tendency to rush the creative process; to produce something, anything, rather than enjoy the process itself. Formally launched by Mark Lipinski and modelled after the Slow Food Movement they believe that;

” … speed can kill creativity and the enjoyment of our creative pursuits.  Maybe what we really need to do is slow down, enjoy the process, and create fiber art that we’re really proud of.”

They are not the only advocates slow stitching, there are many others with a quiet passion for this way of working.  At the moment Kathy is hosting a link up for Slow Sunday Stitching which you can find  here. Why not grab her button like I did and join in.

My contribution at the moment is a grandmother’s flower garden. Started before I heard of The Slow Stitching Movement or Kathy’s’ blog, it is good to know that there is a growing appreciation, once again, for hand-stitched work. That doesn’t mean that machined quilts, chain piecing and easy blocks don’t have a place any more -they do, and I enjoy these too but in a different way.

The sewing machine ties us to the workbench, the noise inhibits conversation and drowns out music from the radio. Slow stitching is more sociable. I can sit and stitch with my other half while he relaxes watching a film,  or I can join a group to stitch in park, pub or home.

Slowness is the important part here, not that it is by hand as Lucie Dutton writes in her piece as a guest blogger for slowstitching.com. I recommend this as a cautionary tale about losing sight of what the movement means and what happens when you don’t slow down