a trivial pursuit
slow, quiet note no.24
A happy family-filled weekend took me away from my daily stitching project and that meant a fair bit of catching up on my return home this morning. In a bid to self-sooth after listening to yet further deterioration in global affairs on my way down the M6, I grabbed a cup of strong tea, found my shoebox of supplies and got straight down to it.
As is my usual routine, I estimated and wound just the right amount of thread for the first circle. I split the six strands into three, threaded the needle, drew a couple of circles on the reverse of the fabric and stitched back and forth. It worked, as I’d hoped, and as my Nan would have said ‘it hit the spot’.
I also seem to have started a new series of small, in-the-round embroideries this week. These are worked in some of the stitches I’m teaching at the moment and I’m filling a small, red, thrifted hoop maybe ten centimetres in diameter. I can test dense accumulations of tiny stitches this way and I’m starting to use DIY variegated threads. For my third attempt, I divided the circle into six and started to fill each wedge, immediately being taken back to THE boardgame of the eighties, one ‘Trivial Pursuit’.
Indeed my own ‘trivial pursuits’ of stitching and making in between beyond-terrible news bulletins can sometimes feel self-indulgent, inconsequential and pretty pointless. I see similar sentiments in posts by other artists, makers and writers on Substack and elsewhere. The conclusion often reached seems to be a simple one: that creativity, practiced in whatever form and however seriously can be a kind of sustenance, a space for some personal peace as well as simple pleasure and distraction in these uncertain times. That’s a very big claim for a few bits of thread being pulled through a wrinkly bit of fabric but, for me, today, it worked.
So, in an effort to offer some creativity-boosting strategies for whatever you might need at the moment, I’m returning again to Julia Cameron, cherry-picking the best bits of her 'Artists’ Way’ advice and adapting it for anyone with a particular interest in textile making and stitching.
As I understand it, the idea of an ‘artist date’ is to take yourself off (preferably solo), at least a little way from your usual routine and environment. Once there, the aim is to try and absorb and experience wherever you have chosen through the lens of your own practice be that stitching, drawing, writing or printmaking.
If you need to get out more to seek creative inspiration and you’re interested in some of the things I am, here are 16 suggestions for an hour/morning/afternoon/day long textile artist’s date:
get yourself to your nearest haberdashery and have a browse or a spend (that’s up to you and your personal finance conscience)
take a trip to your nearest Scrapstore, use this list for location and contact details. Scrapstores are a creative recycler’s dream, receiving donations of all sorts of useful stuff from local businesses and manufacturers
mooch about the charity shops in your local (or not so local) area for supplies, fabric, clothes you can alter/mend/upcycle and vintage craft books
get up early on the weekend and do a boot sale crawl/haul
visit your nearest National Trust property or historic home/garden (often great for quilts and wall-hangings)
look for the opening times for your local county archive for any textile related history
tap into local textile groups, guilds and clubs for notifications about exhibitions, talks and workshops
seek out the textile collections in local and national museums
take your stitching out of the house - to a cafe, the library, the woods, a field
if you don’t want to stitch take your phone (or sketchbook) out for a walk, bus or train ride and record where you end up or the journey itself
visit your town or village allotments for innovative and inspiring DIY constructions and grow-your-own creativity
dig our your library card and borrow some textile inspiration or look at the reference section for maps and magazines
visit antique dealers and auction houses to handle linen, samplers and vintage accessories
explore DIY and hardware stores for textile-transferrable paints and materials
change it up - if you quilt, visit Potfest for ceramic inspiration or if you're a knitter, book a print workshop
head to textile shows to find exhibitors and suppliers under one roof
Although you could put a serious dent in your wallet with some of these activities, most of them can be adapted to suit any budget. There may be entrance fees or travel costs but look out for discounts on tickets or free sessions. A browse can be as inspiring as a buy.
I’ve missed this week’s deadline by about an hour, so late in a long day this time. Thank you again for taking the time to read my weekly note. Your subscribes, shares and comments are very much appreciated.
J x
Thank you😊