May all your ups and downs in life be with a needle and thread. –Anonymous
It's been so long since I've written a blog post that I had to look back through my photos and my previous posts to figure out where I left off. A lot has happened, and yet not very much has happened, as it often is with life. I suppose it's just best to start writing and see what comes out...
Life got very busy this month with my work life. I technically work two jobs, and what I imagined was going to be a quiet month turned out to be twice as busy as the previous months so far this year. I find that's often what happens when I try to anticipate things too far in advance: apparently life has other plans. I found myself just keeping my head above water when I thought I'd be kicking back and relaxing.
Meanwhile, I kept my sanity by continuing to create with my hands. I find it's the best way to find my way back to myself. I had a few things to work on and I wanted to be sure I was fully present for them.
After finishing with my pair of embroidered sneakers, I found the courage to start on the pair for my friend's wedding in July. I was a little nervous, but once I got started I felt glad that I had decided to do the practice pair ahead of time. The pair I did for myself were Vans, but my friend's sneakers were Converse sneakers, and the material was much easier to embroider. Consequently, I finished the first shoe in about a week:
I was on track to finish the second shoe the following week, but then I got sick with a stomach flu. I hadn't had any kind of illness in almost three years, so this one hit me hard. It didn't last long, but I figured it wasn't a good time to be trying to negotiate anything with little sharp needles. I slept for most of the first day and night, and when I woke the next day, I negotiated with my stomach about trying out some more water and a little toast. Then as the following week progressed, I slowly made my way to a fully functioning digestive system while I stitched my way through the second shoe. And when that Friday arrived, I snipped the last stitch and breathed a sigh of relief. I gave them a clean, and then I sat back and marvelled at them:
I learned a lot while working on these. Doing stitches near the toe is really tough, even when you take out the shoelaces. I thought about doing them with a curved needle, but it's really hard to be precise with them, especially when you're as inexperienced as I am.
I also learned that trying to put bulky stitches on a shoe requires some thought about the structure of the surface you're trying to work on. The lip at the upper opening by the heel was a little flimsy for those kinds of stitches, and I had to rip out a lot of attempts before realizing I needed to find a way to reinforce the area. I dug through my stash and found some milner's buckram that I'd bought on a whim a few months ago. It's the stuff that hatmakers use to stiffen ladies' hats - don't ask me why I thought I'd need it. I cut out a little circle for the flower I was planning to add, and I used some glue to stick it to the shoe:
And that was enough to stiffen the area for me to add a rosette near the heel:
I wish I could say that I designed all of this thoroughly in adance, but honestly, every single element was added after several minutes of me sitting with my head cocked liked a confused puppy while I stared at each shoe, wondering what should happen next:
In all, I was very, very pleased with the end result, and so was my friend. She was happy for me to show these on the blog, even though the wedding isn't until July. "They're more your shoes right now than they are mine," she said. I don't think that's necessarily true, but I will say that I know a pair of Converse sneakers better than your average folk, that's for sure. I can't say I'll be jumping to do these again in the near future, but I do feel good knowing that I am better at embroidery than I thought I was. Perhaps having the challenge of an actual project really helped to boost both my confidence and competence.
I have more to share, but I think I'll pause here and save more of the updates for the next post. In the meantime, thanks for hanging around! Have a great week!
Comments