Starting Stitches

Some of the team from Inspirations HQ were invited to attend the recent opening of an exhibition by the members of The Embroiderers’ Guild of South Australia. Held biennially, the exhibition has been two years in the making and it was an incredible celebration of all things needle and thread.

In total, there were 234 pieces in the exhibition, with everything from the smallest of biscornus right through to ‘Brian’, an incredibly innovative three-dimensional goldwork and stumpwork fish created by Melissa Walker who was awarded the coveted Peg Sadler Award for her original design.

The inspiration for this year’s exhibition was simply ‘It Starts with a Stitch.’

Since reflecting on the work on display, we came to realise that never a truer word was spoken. No matter the experience of the stitcher, the size of the piece, the complexity of the technique or the intricacy of the subject matter, each and every piece within the exhibition started with a single stitch.

And so it is with everything we create with needle and thread. Each piece begins with but a stitch. Sometimes the stitches that are laid thereon flow quickly and easily, whilst others feel laboured and difficult to place. Then there are those that don’t last the distance as they need to be ‘frogged’ and laid once more – sometimes over and over and over again!

No matter, though, the number of stitches, their complexity or the length of time it takes us to lay them all, it will serve us well to always remember the only way we’ll ever complete a project is to take a chance on laying that first stitch.

What first stitch will you lay today? We can’t wait to see where it takes you.