I have been slow stitching my way into 2020 nursing a January cold and general ennui! But the snowdrops are beginning to appear, February is here, and the evenings are noticeably lighter. It’s time to shake off the slough of despond created by politicians, trolls and the media and focus on our own mental health, the wellbeing of our nearest and dearest and those in the wider world in need of support.

I have struggled to get myself into gear after Christmas, but thought one way was to join in with the 100 Day Project. Giving myself a daily challenge to do something, however small, to engage myself with creativity. And so enters the favourite shirt!

I have had this shirt a long long time!

It’s spent some time languishing in a cupboard because I ‘grew’ out of it, but Slimming World has helped out with that aspect and I’ve been wearing again over the last few months. It’s soft worn linen and cotton, it’s blue and white stripes. I love blue and white stripes! You’ll find any number of permutations in my wardrobe, including all my pyjamas.

But there were a few places where the enthusiastic serving of bolognese sauce has left small stains, where catching the door handle on passing has created a little tear, a lost button, a worn out elbow. In this day of recycling the obvious answer was a patch or two, a darn.

And so my slow stitch 100 Day Project was born. I signed up and pledged to do my thing: every day for 100 days I will stitch my shirt. I will embroider a bit, applique a bit, find loved scraps to stitch into place, and see just how far I can take my soft striped shirt into another existence. It will be an incentive to carry on losing weight as all those stitches are going to slightly shrink it in the process, but that can only be a good thing.

A while ago I spent a day with the lovely Hiroko Aeno-Billson learning about the Japanese art of Boro mending, visible mending of treasured clothes and textiles. This, and a borrowed book Slow Stitch by Claire Wellesley-Smith are keeping me inspired. The project started on 22nd January so I’m a bit late sharing this but I have to keep going until 30th April…phew!

I shall be sharing this journey on Instagram as much as possible as well as on the blog so if you interested come and find me there. I’d love to know if you are joining in with your own project, or if you are slowly stitching and mending too.

Have a lovely week, I’ll be back soon…x