Guest Post: Build-A-Stitch
Introducing Kara Butterworth of Quilted Corgi Designs. Kara has developed a wonderful and practical daily practice, using fabric scraps, that helps her to explore new creative avenues in just 10 minutes a day. Read on to learn more about this great practice to help bring daily creativity into your life.
Completed Stitched Page
I need to do something creative every day, but was finding that often my schedule was getting in the way of even having 10 minutes free for creative things. I had heard of different daily challenges and had wanted to try something, but nothing stuck, until I came up with Build-a-Stitch. Build-a-Stitch is my daily practice where I focus on handstitches for about 10 minutes. The idea was simple - to see how many different stitching combinations I could come up with using straight stitches. I have added French knots and lazy daisy stitches to the list of stitches I do, but pretty much everything starts with a straight stitch. It might be the backbone to add other stitches to or might be taken in a different direction by placing another stitch in the middle of a straight stitch.
I use quilting cottons with a light stabilizer and Perle cotton threads. When a piece of fabric is full enough that adding more stitching would result in different stitches touching, I start a new piece. Once I have two pieces completed, I make them into a “page” by putting a layer of batting between them and whip stitching the edges together. Multiple pages can be stitched together to make a stitch book.
I have learned more than I ever thought I would have doing this, including:
-Perle cotton moves differently than embroidery floss.
-The way the needle moves affects the way the stitch looks.
-If you think it, stitch it. I’ve come up with many really nice combinations that I almost didn’t stitch out because I was not sure.
-A lot of progress can be made in just 10 minutes a day.
If you are wanting to start a daily practice but have been having a hard time finding something that works for you, here are my tips for finding and continuing a daily practice.
1. Find something that you really want to explore. Many of my early attempts were ideas from others. It wasn’t until I found something that I really wanted to do that I was successful.
2. Make it as simple as possible. I tried mixed media, collage, stitching and collage ideas (just to name a few) but found that because I only have a small space to work in, I washaving to set up and tear down or was having to prepare a lot of materials in advancefor different creative activities which took too much time. For Build-a-Stitch, I use asquare or rectangle of quilting cotton with a light stabilizer. I use whatever Perle cottonor embroidery thread I have on hand and needles that fit the thread. I can pick it up whenever I have a few minutes available.
3. Take it one day at a time. Instead of trying to commit to 30 days or 100 days, I just committed to one day at a time. When my weekends got busy I didn’t worry about doing it. Now, I stick with weekdays and leave weekends for longer blocks of creative time.
4. Let the practice change as you come up with new ideas. I began just with straight stitches. I didn’t want to be too repetitive and do something over and over, but when I embraced the idea of combining stitches and doing all the combinations I could think of to see what they would look like, I came up with some fantastic combinations that I never would have tried if I had limited myself. I have also started doing more cohesive pieces that combine different stitches.
5. Most importantly, have fun. If you aren’t enjoying what you are doing, it is hard to keep it up.
Consider recording/streaming your practice. I livestream my practice on Facebook. The videos aren’t perfect, but it gives me some accountability. However, I don’t stress if something unavoidable comes up and I miss a day. You can learn more about my Build-A-Stitch journey on my Facebook page.
Keep on stitching!
-Kara
