handiwork

I love to sew things by hand. I feel so much more connected to my work than when I am using a machine. I am a little bit afraid of my sewing machine just as I am a little bit afraid of my car and my Cuisanart.

Another craft blogger was telling me that she felt as if her hands were 5 times bigger when she works with small things (which made me think of Gael Garcia Bernal's character doing the cut and paste work in The Science of Sleep). I, in turn, feel like I'm drowning in fabric every time I try to tackle something larger than a tote bag. I'm a big and clumsy person, but I feel capable and in control when I'm stitching up tiny things.

Plus, it fits right in with my slow life movement.

whoops.

Comments

[shari]

love these photos. such a sweet little mushroom. yay for feeling connected to your work! always so nice to visit here. xo shari

[hannah]

i have a hard time with any sort of hoop work since my hands are hard pressed to make more than a four or five inch span. come on. love those photos, the bangles, the stripes, the mushroom, everything. i am so afraid of my sewing machine. maybe that is why i make such awful faces while i am sewing? i doubt it.

[james]

i hear you. metal is my medium, and it's sometimes difficult to make my long, skinny fingers and large hands work with tiny pieces of solder and copper and silver to create something beautiful.

but the end result is so pleasing, so fantastic, so "I made this!" glorious, that it's sooo worth it ... even when I drop solder bits no bigger than a pencil tip onto the floor for the umpteenth time and have to get down on my hands and knees to find them; even when the copper strips bump slightly during the heating process and have to be tweaked with tweezers while juggling a torch with the other hand; even when I'm sawing out pieces of silver so small I don't think anyone else will even notice they're gone from the whole.

crafting, art, creativity ... I could not live without them. :)

[Caterine]

I am maybe as tall as you (or maybe taller) well 1m80 -hem- and I prefer also to work on small sized project. Sewing a skirt looks frightenning to me. Brrrr!

[Alicia A.]

These are true hand-stitched beauties! I'm hoping a few will eventually find their way to your etsy shop.

[Di]

The mushroom is just delightful. You've made me stop and think about trying something using hand sewing. I love my machine but maybe it's time to try something new?

[lisa]

i am looking forward to some hand sewing coming up for my next series. i wish you were nearby so you could give me some soft sculpture type tips. hmph. i wish you were nearby so i could come by for dinner. and so i could see miles in one of his costumes. and so mia could hang on me like she likes to do.

[ArtsyMama]

Oh my do I love this!!! I'm very into toadstools lately, too. Your work is so inspiring!!!

[tracy]

fantastic mushroom. and photos. and from one big and clumsy to another i know exactly what you mean...

[meg]

i love these photos. very nice. (love the mushroom, too).

[Amy]

Awesome. There's something so lovely about stitching by hand, isn't there?

I remember thinking when I was seven, that I would do a lot of sewing by hand in my little fortress (the bottom bunk with a sheet draped over). Because I just thought that that's what eight-year-olds did.

Twenty-some-odd years later, I finally started doing it. Now I need a little fortress.

[tut-tut]

An elegant wrist you have! We're slated to make a version of your granola tomorrow. Thank you for posting it.

[tiffany]

i'm wretched at hand sewing, but like you i am on the path towards a slower life so i should incorporate all aspects and develop skills that i have neglected due to impatience. i am really looking forward to seeing what you produce for the show. everything you make is absolutely lovely. xo

[Shula]

Love that mushroom.

[Christina]

I love that mushroom!

[daria]

just wonderful.

[sonia]

your fairyland handmades are absolutely MAGNIFICENT! thank you so much for sharing.

[Nicole]

Unbearably charming!

[Morgan]

You really shouldn't fear the cuisinart- it's sheer magic, that thing!! Darling little 'shroom!

[bugheart]

i feel that way
about
knitting.

[jenny]

amen to the slow life movement, you do it so well stephanie. (and it's not easy being "big" sometimes...our family knows the tall & skinny of it, grin)

[amisha]

i love the way you put this-- a little bit afriad of the car and cuisinart-- i feel the same way! i like to use them, they're really fast, but they make me a little nervous :) i appreciate machine-sewing for its sturdiness and speed, but i do love the slowness, the control, and the process of hand-sewing. it is a much more intimate relationship between myself and the colors, textures, and line of the fabric.

[beth maher]

It's always comforting for me to hear the insecurities of artists whose work I respect. It makes me feel a whoooole lot better about my own neuroses. So thank you so much for sharing this!
And your little stuffed woodland curiousitys are simply adorable! They are such a unique juxtaposition of the natural and the man made - proof that the two can live together silmutaneously. Inspiring!

[alexisallen]

I feel precisely the same way, and am happiest when I am hand-embroidering (though I'm never entirely happy with the result) and hand-piecing.

I am really gah-gah about this series. Breathtaking!

[scribblesnbits]

Love that mushroom!!!!! And I am also a bit scared of my sewing machine.