Have Your Say

Whys and Hows – Part 2

In our final Have Your Say for 2023, we’re bringing it home with some more fabulous stories about ‘why it is you stitch’ and ‘how your journey with needle and thread began’.

Up first is a lovely email we received from Flora. She learned to embroider from both her mother and grandmother. ‘Grammy Anna patiently showed me how to thread a needle and would have a little basket of thread tails and fabric bits for me to sew when I would come visit.

Mother also gave me my own basket of DMC threads, ostensibly to keep me out of hers! I remember the joy I felt when I was allowed to pick out my own colours and a book of patterns.

My Grammy taught me the basic stitches, and mother encouraged exploration into other crafts and techniques with books. I also got a few years’ worth of classes, at the art institute school of art for children, where I learned many things from silkscreen to Chinese indigo dying.

The best days were when we were allowed to wander a gallery to sketch and examine the art before the museum opened. I have many skills from that early introduction into art, and have picked up many hobbies along the way, but I keep coming back to a needle and thread.’

We heard from Alma who says, ‘I’ve been sewing since I was 16, because I didn’t have a mother. I make all kinds of handicrafts by hand, and I enjoy it. Women are very inspiring people.’

Marjan was three or four when she started stitching. She graduated to cross stitch courtesy of a very patient grandmother.

Marjan on the right

‘I stopped for a few years but started again in my early 20s. Slowly stitching bigger and bigger pieces looking for a challenge, and was finally persuaded away from counted work, although it is still my happy place.

Stitching keeps me sane. The rhythm in my needle soothes my soul. I'm convinced that while we are plying our needle, our subconscious has time to sort our world out.

The internet works so wonderfully with embroidery. I have stitching friends around the world and delight in hosting them in the UK and going to visit them.  All thanks to a needle and thread.’

Also learning to stitch at a young age, Paula was about three years old when she started working with a needle*. ‘The local dime store had little cross stitch kits called Stitch A Story. They were pre-stamped with a nursery rhyme picture and framed in colourful plastic. They were about ten cents each, which was exactly the amount of my allowance. Cross stitching of this type was easy to do. I didn’t always get them right, but they were fun.*

My mum did a lot of embroidery, so I enjoyed emulating her. She made most of my clothes when I was little and always stitched flowers or something on them. When I was a little older, I would use remnants to ‘make’ doll clothes. I remember one time I laid a complicated little skating dress, onto two pieces of fabric, pinned it down and cut around it. Then I sewed the two pieces together. It didn’t look a thing like the ones my mum made, but it really didn’t bother me.

When I was seven, she taught me to knit. I was pretty sure I would be able to make an Afghan with the little squares I made, and it would look just like the one my Gramma had made for us. A little girl’s goals and the attention span required to achieve that goal, sadly were not even closely related.

Stitching, no matter what the project, was a way to connect with my mum. Our relationship was not a great one. Growing up, it mostly felt like we didn’t really like each other very much. It was a feeling that was never resolved. But I can look back at those times with a needle and thread, or set of knitting needles, and have fond and happy memories of those times.’

From Jane we received a passage about her childhood in Wyoming, USA. ‘I watched as my mum made so many wonderful things from those needlepoint kits by Bucilla, Sunset, Dimensions or Columbia-minerva. She also watched a 15-minute television show in the 1970s starring Erica Wilson, known as the Julia Child of Needlework.

Mum’s passionate approach to sewing, knitting, crocheting, candle wicking, and embroidery of all kinds from crewel kits to those needlepoint Christmas stockings rubbed off on me. Little by little she taught me new sewing and stitching techniques so that I could make the things she was making and surprise her with my cross stitch and knitted gifts.

Now I’m a grandma making needlepoint Christmas ornaments and knitted stockings for my grandchildren. As I sit and stitch each day I’m reminded of my mum’s love, and how she taught me to value working with my hands to create beautiful, fun, and lasting treasures for family and friends. What a gift she gave to me!’

‘This is a photo of a little kit she made with needlepoint and some embroidery stitches. It was in a little wooden frame and backed with cardboard.

I took it apart and realised the cardboard and the wood were damaging the canvas. So, I backed it with fabric, stuffed it, and made it into a little door hanger. This way I can enjoy seeing my mom’s work each day!’

Helen stitches because it calms her mind. Like many she learnt to embroider as a child. ‘I was probably around 8 years old. Basic flowers at first with transfer and then more crewelwork with kits. My embroidery waned when I got married and had children, but I still sewed, knitted and made toys for the children in the evening.

About 8 years ago, I really embraced embroidery again. I think it ties in with promotions at work that have led to a more and more stressful working life. I also have a terrible habit of chewing my fingers when I’m stressed or anxious.

Embroidery calms my mind, it makes me focus on the detail, it keeps my hands busy, and it gives me something tangible, a real thing with visible progress, to show for my efforts that my job in university management doesn’t always give me.

I stitch virtually every day. I have several projects on the go – easy stitching projects for when I am really tired so that I can’t mess up while I watch TV. Also, more complex projects where I might have to sit at a table or frame to managing beading etc. The few evenings I don’t stitch, normally due to exhaustion, I struggle to sleep. So even when I’m really tired, I try to do something, even if it’s just sorting threads out.’

If you have a why or how stitching story you would like to share, we would love to hear from you! As we take a break for the festive season, we hope to have a full inbox of everyone’s stitching stories to return to.

We hope everyone can enjoy the break and find some time for their stitching joy; we’ll be back in Jan ’24 to start the new year with a stitching bang!