Kasia’s Weekly Threads - Issue 79
Happy Friday my friends! 🧵🪡💙
Last weekend as I was scrolling mindlessly through Instagram, I came across a question someone posed and the answer that automatically came into my mind really surprised me.
The question was: “Out of all the items you’ve ever lost in your life what would you like to get back?”
You know what came up for me instantly…?
A cardboard book made for me by my classmates when I was in hospital aged seven.
Whaaaat?? 😳
I don’t think about this book. I can’t say I’ve ever reminisced about it or missed it particularly. It’s certainly not ever been on a list of valuables I wish I could get back.
👢👢
Unlike that pair of leather boots I bought in a fancy London boutique in 1991 for 150 Pounds. Not long after that I caught an overnight train from Paris to Warsaw.
Took off my boots to go to sleep and a lady in the same compartment as me also had a pair of black boots, that she also took off to go to sleep. Cheap vinyl I might add! I woke up in Warsaw at 4am and half asleep put on the wrong boots!!!
She was still asleep and I didn’t want to put on the light so as not to wake her up. I left the train and caught a bus home 300km away. Then at my dads house the next day I looked at the boots and a cold sweat ran over my body.
If you scored a free pair of swanky boots on a train in 1991 and you’re a shoe size 39, I hope they brought you joy and please know that I still think about them.
😭
I digress, there is clearly still some boot trauma left in me.
Back to the cardboard book…
I got very sick when I was seven and ended up in hospital for a few weeks. I have two memories from that time:
Another kid in the hospital telling me that if you clench your butt cheeks real hard the nurses won’t be able to give you an injection. I tried. It was terrible advice.🤦♀️
My teacher coming to visit and bringing me a book of drawings and paper cut outs glued into a book. Each classmate made one page with a picture on it and she glued all the pages together to make a book and gave it to me. I don’t recall the individual pictures but to this day I remember the joy it gave me.
In fact… if I close my eyes and focus, I can feel the texture of the pages.
Why am I sharing this?
Because it’s a story and stories are fun! 📖
But also because it gave me an idea…
🤔💡😀
I know that I loved that book because each page was a little bit of my friends heart reaching out to me.
None of the pages were “designed” nothing on them was corrected or required to look a certain way.
Each little drawing, paper cut out, painted flower was there just to bring joy. Which is what children’s art is all about isn’t it? It exists for the sake of the making and the moment of looking at it and smiling. Nothing more.
As grown ups we lose so much of that, which is unfortunate.
So here’s my idea.
I dug this linen top out of a pile that was destined for the “I’ll decide if I want to keep this later” group of clothes.
It’s going to be my canvas for exploring, having fun, testing, demonstrating and creating stitches. I’ve decided to use all eleven of my signature colours, simply because I always have those on hand.
There will be no particular design. I’m just going to start somewhere and do a bit each week.
And here’s where you come in…
Each week in the “Close Up” section I will be stitching something onto this top. I’ll demonstrate a stitch, a new technique, a small motif. It’ll be different every week, but simple enough for you to follow along.
I invite you to find something at home and join me in stitching something small each week.
You can use a piece of clothing, a pillowcase, a linen scarf, a table runner.
But it can’t be a scrap of fabric. It has to be a usable item.
I will be wearing my top regularly and never calling it unfinished. The embroidery will simply grow with time.
Your table runner can go on the table any time.
Your pillowcase can be slept on.
Your linen scarf can be worn anyday.
The idea is to not get bogged down in a “design” or in making it “look right” or worrying about something not matching or being ‘unfinished’.
Call this your freedom piece.
It might just release you from self imposed limitations or inner criticism.
Ready? 😎🪡
Close up
Here’s the very first motif on my pink linen top. I’ve also made a video that you can follow along with. There will be a video every week so we can stitch together!
This will be a relaxed weekly project that should take no more than 15-30 minutes.
Remember the rules:
It must be a usable item. If it’s a scrap of fabric it will be a WIP for ever.
Use it often, don’t wait until it’s “finished” because it will actually be “finished” every week.
There’s no wrong way to stitch the weekly motifs.
Use any colours you want.
Follow my stitches or change to ones you prefer.
Maker Of The Week
- MARYANNE DOCKER -
Maryanne has been a student and friend for a few years and it never ceases to amaze me how she manages to hand make as much as she does.
When thinking about this weeks “Maker Of The Week” this dress that she’s been working on popped into my head as I remembered the first time I saw it as a WIP. I loved how the colours looked on the navy blue and I admired her patience for all those colourful circles! There are a lot. I will check in with her next week and see how the dress is coming along and if there is an update I’ll share it here.
From The Tribe
It’s now or never baby!
🗓️
Well not really… I mean it’s now or not anymore this year 😬
The current intake for The Wednesday Tribe is closing in the next 24 hours. That’s midday Saturday 3rd October Sydney, Australian time.
We’re starting the October pattern next Wednesday and it’s a doozy!
Expect to learn a lot, be delighted with the content and end up with gorgeous embroidery patterns that you’ll understand and use many times over.
🪡🧵🌸🥰
Click the button below to find out all the details and to choose your membership.
Till Next Week!
OK, I could have ironed it before putting it on with that round hoop crease right over my boob 😂 😂 😂 😂 But you know what, it’s midday, Johnny just got home and it’s our coffee and banana bread time and a game of Rummy. Which, just so you know, I’ve been winning every day for the last seven days in a row. 😎 hehehe.
Catch you again next Friday my cherubs! Let me know if you start on a project, what you’ll be stitching.
And… I’m also curious… out of all the items you’ve ever lost in your life what would YOU like to get back?
xxx
Kasia 💕
