This is a lovely book about slow sewing and creative processes. Written by textile artist Claire Wellesley-Smith, it explores and discusses "slow living" from a textile perspective. Living slowly and consciously, doing things with intention and "mindfulness" is a movement we can observe in many different fields.
The book discusses the topic in a textile-historical context and what such a practice in sewing can do for our well-being, how hand-sewing performed with a focus on process rather than result can give us something that a society always busy and going somewhere else cannot.
"The speed at which we do something - anything - changes our experience of it"
quote from the introduction to the book taken from The Tyranny of Email, John Freeman
The book is beautifully bound with a matte, soft cover, which invites tranquility and is full of large pictures of natural materials, often dyed with plants and full of hand-stitching.
The book explores slow stitching from an environmental perspective and from a "mindfulness" perspective. It references the work of various textile artists as a reference point for the discussion, and provides concrete examples of projects you can do yourself to use hand-sewing as a medium for exploring one's own mind and life.
There are examples of plant dyeing, a section on material use, where to find materials, etc., and it also discusses sewing practices across cultures.
If you find hand-sewing rewarding and want to explore it more and delve into why and how it can have a calming effect, I can recommend this book. It is also good for those who already sew a little but can't quite settle into hand-sewing or break out of the thought that everything should go as fast as possible, but would like to. The book can provide a new approach and new perspective.
My own impression of the book, and slow stitching as a practice, is that it's a bit like a stone standing firm in a wild stream. The stream is everything else that happens in life rushing by, while a practice in slow stitching, with guidance and inspiration from this book, becomes a bit like the large stone the water has to find a way around. A bit like a shield against stress perhaps? In any case, you are transported to a very different world, a much calmer one.
Published: 2015
Number of pages: 128