What is Slow Stitching? Mindful Stitch Project Ideas

Slow stitching is the practice of hand sewing as part of a regular creative practice. Some people make the time to stitch daily. The sewing can be mending, working on a garment or quilt, or creating a piece of art.

Hand sewing provides time to away from our fast-paced world and keep our hands busy, while our minds can wander in a meditative way. It is sometimes referred to as Meditative Stitching, Mindful Stitching, and Slow Stitching.

The slow stitch movement isn’t new. Our mothers, grandmothers, and their mothers (and fathers) all participated in handiwork similar to slow stitching. From Japanese Boro and Sashiko to traditional embroidery and tapestries, to making a piece of furniture and finishing with fine sanding, these are all projects that allow our minds to be calm and focus on the moment.

What is slow stitching?

Start with fabric, needle, and thread, and either make a mark on your fabric with the thread or sew two pieces of fabric together. It can be utilitarian like a mending or Boro project, or simply creating an embroidery or textile art project.

As you stitch, your mind wanders. You take the time to listen to your heart. You let your thoughts extend through your fingers to your stitches and fabrics. There are no patterns to follow. It’s not about perfection. It’s about taking the time to be quiet and listen to your mind and heart.

I find when I’ve been thinking about something, it’s time to pick up my needle and thread and begin some mindful stitching to help work through it all. You can use your sewing machine to attach the fabrics.

What is the difference between embroidery and slow stitching?

Slow stitching can be hand embroidery, and hand embroidery can be slow stitching. Embroidery is generally creating a design with stitching. You can do the hand embroidery in a meditative and relaxed way. And, you can use traditional embroidery stitches in your mindful stitching. The simple running stitch is used often in slow stitching.

Why slow stitching?

Our world is moving faster and faster. We used to have to wait for a letter to arrive in our mailboxes and now we send texts and email. Our libraries were where we went to do research, instead of turning on our computer and ‘Googling’ it. We have our mobile phones with us 24/7.

This type of stitching is accessible to anyone. All you need is some fabric, thread and a needle to get started. It’s a great way to cut up old clothes and repurpose them for something else. Use fabric scraps from a project. Gather small pieces of fabric and start stitching!

What thread is used for slow stitching?

Any type of thread works for a mindful stitching project. I use Perle cotton, six-strand embroidery floss, regular sewing thread, thicker wool threads – anything goes!

What fabrics are best for slow stitching?

When selecting fabrics for your stitching projects, make sure they are easy to sew through. Good choices are quilting cotton and lightweight silk.

I’ve worked with some upholstery fabrics that are easy to stitch through to give my piece some great texture, and some upholstery fabrics are a bear to stitch through. If it is difficult to stitch, it’s not fun. Always test your needle and thread on a corner before committing to a piece of fabric.

How to start slow stitching

Materials needed for mindful stitching

• Small pieces of fabric
• If you’d like, you can have a larger piece of fabric for the foundation of your stitching like a piece of muslin
• Thread, embroidery floss, yarn – any of these work!
• OPTIONAL: Small pieces of trim, beads, buttons

Tools needed for mindful stitching

• Needle suitable for the thread, floss or yarn you are using
• Small scissors and/or rotary cutter
• OPTIONAL: Sewing machine
• OPTIONAL: Glue stick and/or pins to hold pieces in place
• OPTIONAL: Embroidery hoop

Preparing for your slow stitching project

If you are just getting started with meditative stitching, start small.

Gather some small pieces of fabric, a variety of threads, floss, or yarn. Find needles that work for your thread choices. And, have a small pair of sharp scissors to cut your fabrics and threads.

I like to put these pieces of fabric and threads in a pretty bowl or basket. That keeps them wrangled and is easy to carry to where ever I want to do some stitching.

Cut a piece of fabric about 6-inches or so. This will be your foundation or base. It doesn’t need to be any specific size. It can be square or rectangular.

Beginning your slow stitching project

Take your base or foundation fabric. Pick one or two small pieces of fabric from your basket and place them on your base. Thread a needle and stitch.

There are so many different ways to approach the process. You can use little bits, or cut pieces or strips from larger pieces of fabric. Above I was using some small vintage silk pieces.

Have fun playing with the different fabrics and threads. Try them out in different layouts. What colors are you drawn to? Think about why you might have picked that color today.

You can either just sew the first piece down, or use a bit of glue stick or pins to hold it in place while you stitch. You can stitch by hand or use your sewing machine to stitch fabrics together to create a textile collage.

When one piece is sewn down. Pick another small piece of fabric. Where does it want to be? Listen to your heart and the fabric. Find the embroidery threads that work for the piece. Stitch it down.

Stitching the fabrics together

As you are just getting started, use the basic running stitch. The running stitch is just taking your needle and thread up and down through the fabric layers. Try making your stitches smaller. Try them longer. Try them in different directions. There is so much you can do with the running stitch. When you are ready, try other stitches.

You can use hand stitches to hold the pieces together, or to embellish on top of machine stitching. Stitch in straight lines, curvy lines or all over with the seed stitch.

In just a couple of minutes a day, you can try different techniques and make a mini piece of textile art. There are no rules. The slow stitching movement is about giving yourself a creative outlet.

What can you do with slow-stitching pieces?

You can finish each piece off as a small piece of art, or combine them on a common background for a finished piece. Here is a piece with nine small mindful stitch pieces mounted on a black background that was quilted with black and white thread.

What are slow stitching kits?

Slow stitching kits can be purchased or make your own! A slow stitching kit provides a few bits of fabric, coordinating threads, maybe some buttons, beads or a bit of some trims. They make it easy to get started on a mindful stitching project.