Courses and workshops at InStitches are all about building up people’s confidence in their abilities and one of the things that many people are often really underconfident about is the D-word!

People can’t draw: or at least that’s what they think.

But actually, we can all draw. We can all make marks on paper (did you have a go at the mark-making challenge in #institchescreative2020 week one?). As children we made marks on paper without thinking about what they looked like or whether they were realistic, and without listening to that inner critic. When did we lose that? 

This week we are carrying on working with a straight stitch.

Still? I hear you say,

Oh yes, I reply, keep reading!

​We are going to stack it, curve it, mix it up and generally become playful with it...have you realised yet how versatile this simplest of stitches can be?

Musicians do it; mindfulness practitioners do it; we all do it in so many aspects of our lives (our morning routine, walking the dog, taking the kids to school) – so a daily art or stitch practice is not such an odd concept.
Many people find that at times of high stress or extremely busy periods their creative juices dry up – usually just at the time when we need them most! Daily practice is a simple, non-threatening way of getting back into creativity again.

I don't know about you, but this last week I haven't been able to focus my mind or concentrate on any task for more than a few minutes at a time.  So I'm resorting to lists; many, many lists!   Breaking tasks down into small, achievable steps is how I cope.  It's SO satisfying to tick them off:

​Job done. 

One more step towards a normal life again.

It won't come as a  surprise to you then, that I've created a list for this stitch blog!  So now at least I know where we are going;  all you need to do is show up each week and we can go together.  For 10 or 20 minutes, maybe longer,  but at least we can do it together and we'll even be socially distant compliant!

Before I show you the stitches for this week, did you see our Monday Instagram post/story?  It was all about using an uneven running stitch to create fantastic ripples on a quilted surface.
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Last week Hazel was concentrating on one stitch and pushing the possibilities of it. So here in the paper blog this week we are going to do the same thing – but with a mark. This is one of the creative warmups we use with students on our year-long courses; these are a great kick-start if you want to do something creative but don’t know where to start or are out of ideas. Once you get doing something, anything, you’ll find the ideas start to flow. You might even decide to start a daily practice… (more on this next week).

Whether you are an experienced stitcher or  picking up a needle for the very first time, welcome to the beginning of our Cloth Project blog.  
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Go put the kettle on and brew your favourite drink (or if it's after 6pm, mine's a G&T please!), gather your supplies and join us as we embrace a slower pace of life, discover the joy of creating,  and hopefully in these troubled times, find some inner peace and fulfilment as well as a creative voice.  

Welcome to the first #institchescreative2020 - it's great to have you along!

Those of you who know us at InStitches will know that we love everything about hand-made books, so when we were planning this series this was an obvious place to start! These simple little books are easy to make and very versatile. You can make them any size, and if you make several the same size they can be linked together (more later) to form a much bigger volume. They are a great place to keep all your paper-based explorations and a useful small book to take with you on a (solitary) walk to record what you see in words and scribbles. They also make great little gifts to include with a card.

We set up InStitches because we wanted to share our passion and to inspire as many people as possible to get stitching and creating.  We know that for many of you it isn't just 'messing about' with paper, paint, cloth and thread.  It's about friendship, community, inner peace, fulfilment, the joy of creating, developing a creative voice and so, so much more.  We know, we get it; we are with you on that.  

Our gift to you over these next days, weeks and even months to come is a spark of creative joy.  Take this moment to stop, slow down and make time to appreciate the smaller pleasures in life.