I’ve been catching up on stitching work this week, gathering up the tiny piles of half finished jobs, and reflecting on the stitches I’ve made over the first half of this year. One of my first mending commissions of the year was a repair to a beautiful coat, needed after it had been fairly demolished by a canine friend. It seems that coats may well hold the same appear as shoes, slippers, welly boots…. The coat in question came to me with a great chunk out of the lining, and a request from the client to create something beautiful as I visibly repaired it. As is often the case, the perfect materials arrived in a flowery flourish of serendipity, and I was able to turn what had been a difficult experience for this lovely garment into something positive - a way to tell the story of the dog and its fondness for fabric and the determination of my client to ensure that the garment was not just thrown away, but reimagined and mended with a little bit of flowery flare.
I’ve put the finishing stitches to a piece based on the Sycamore Gap tree, which is as we speak still awaiting my ironing attentions, so I’ll share that with you next week. It’s been very much a slow stitched piece, providing a little meditation time in the evenings before bed, which in turn has offered a mental space to figure out some illustration work I’ve been plotting and planning. Trees have been on my mind a lot these last few months, in their healing power and their strength. More on that soon.
I’ve also been slowly stitching a couple of very special embroideries for two lovely women who have been going through some difficult times lately, and while I’m not sure I will share the images just yet, and certainly not without their permission, what I can share is that spending a little time each evening focusing my thoughts on them while I stitch has felt important - sometimes when people are going through challenging times, it’s hard to know how to help, but positive, intentioned, focused thought has power. We have felt this power so keenly, at times when I felt like the world might end, so deep and dark was our path. Feeling that healing, bright energy directed at us has always helped uplift us and carry us through.
My most recent mend was completed at approximately 2am yesterday morning - my Eldest had a performance with one of her choirs, and needed to wear her most comfortable black trousers, which we discovered just before midnight were very much in need of mending. My fabric stores have been packed away while we progress with our room reorganising efforts, so there commenced a bit of a frantic search for the right bit of black fabric to make an invisible mend, and then the right weight of black thread to stitch all the broken bits back together. And that is where the power of mending is carried, in all the pieces we gather up and slowly stitch back together. What have you been mending this week?
If you’re new here, go get a cuppa and have a read of (or listen to me reading) these three essays I’ve written about the importance of mending, and join the conversation. It’s an important one…
Mending Clothes as an Act of Rebellion
My sale is still running over in my Payhip store where you can find hand spun yarn, original artwork, hand stitched beauties and more, all waiting for new homes. Everything is on Pay As You Feel with minimum prices to help those who struggle to pick a price of their own. All sales support this very grateful solo mama and her children to keep a roof over our heads and food in the pantry.
I love that visible mended coat. So many people would have thrown it away but you've made it wearable and, you could argue, better than the original. I hadn't done any mending for a while, preferring to keep that task for the colder months, but on a rainy day last week I mended a couple of tops plus a dress that now has been mended again and again - possibly ten or more times now! Looking forward to getting my wool socks, the order is on it's way, they'll be great for cold nights, mending by the fire.