I bought a cheap embroidery kit online in October 2023 and I’ll forever be glad I did. A friend of mine had shown me her latest embroidery project and I found it so awesome that I had to try it for myself.
My kit arrived on a Friday and I got started straight after work. I had watched a few videos online to learn the most basic stitches and I was excited to give it a go. The next time I looked at my phone it was 2am and I had been stitching for 7 straight hours. I had found myself in a state of flow.
I finished the embroidery the next day and I was really proud of myself. I sent it in a letter to my grandmother because I knew she was probably the only one who would match my excitement for needle work.
That particular embroidery is still hung on a wall in her house and every time I look at it, I can't help but first notice all of its little flaws but that also reminds me of how far I have come already.
I have tried a lot of creative activities over the years but none of them really stuck, at least not in the way that embroidery has. With embroidery, I come up with new ideas all the time and am always excited to start a new project. I never felt this way with painting or drawing.
Since that first kit, I have done dozens of embroideries, some tiny and some very ambitious.
My absolute favourite piece is a shirt I made last summer which took me over 100 hours to finish. The embroidery showcases a botanical scene with birds and whimsical plants which I recreated from a drawing I had once seen on Pinterest and fallen in love with.
I love adding embroidery to my clothes as even a tiny detail is enough to turn them into unique pieces. I had a couple of shirts in my closet that I wasn’t really excited about anymore and adding some embroidery details made me love them all over again. Also the pride you get when wearing things you have made yourself is honestly unmatched.
Learning embroidery has also allowed me to create customised gifts for my friends and family. I love to make little framed embroidery for my friends' babies as and creating customised merchandise for my friends launching new businesses.
I realised I had truly fallen down the rabbit hole when I got slightly too excited watching a video of someone making a Hungarian braided chain stitch for the first time. At 1am in my bed with a cup of tea in hand.
I have learned a lot within the span of a year and my embroidery skills have really gone a long way. I have even been told a few times that I should turn this passion into a business. But I know deep down that embroidery is my creative escape and turning into a business would most likely suck the joy out of it. I would start to obsess over every little detail to make sure it was perfect and stress over specific deadlines and I am worried I wouldn’t love it as much anymore.
Not every hobby has to be turned into a money making activity. I think it is also important to keep a place in our lives that we can go to just to feel joy. And this is what embroidery does for me.
Love,
