I’m not using the ‘C’ Word…
We have an unofficial rule in our house that we do not mention ‘Christmas’ until after my son’s birthday on November 20th. Which means I have not been allowed to put up the tree…It’s totally going up Saturday though!
This doesn’t mean I can’t flex my festive muscles – and at the same time work on one of the tasks on my Kettle List. I have treated myself to a cross stitch kit.
Don’t get too excited – I am starting small; it’s a very basic children’s one. This is because I have seriously struggled with cross-stitch before and I have decided to ease myself in, before moving on to a more complicated piece.
With night drawing in and everywhere closed, what better time to try out a new hobby, than now?
Cross stitch
Despite having been at home for months, I have been putting off the one item on my 2020 focus list that I could have actually completed this year.
I am not sure why I have been having so much trouble with it – although it would have been helpful if the kit I had bought had provided at least the most basic of instructions!
So what is Cross-stitch anyway, and why do I want to complete one?
Firstly, it is considered the oldest form of embroidery. While the most famous example is the Bayeux tapestry, which dates from the 11th century, it is believed that the craft was popular in ancient China during the 7th-10th centuries. It is entirely possible that it came to the west via trade routes.
There are many examples to be found in folk museums around the world, with the stiches appearing on both clothes and within samplers.
Samplers
I remember – back in the eighties – having to produce a kind of sampler as a school project. It was a piece of bright orange fabric, about 3×8 inches, and we had to demonstrate all of the stiches we were taught: running stitch, back stitch, ones that looked like spider webs. In the end it became a book mark, which I gave to my Dad for Christmas.
In the old, old days, when girls were expected to sew – and do little else, let’s be honest!- the sampler was a great way to demonstrate skills, and a useful way to decorate plain clothes.
Modern Stitching
Nowadays, rather than wordy prose and elaborate borders, sewing is helping push more empowering messages. Through the ‘craftivism’ movement traditional crafts are now being used to promote, among other things, women’s rights.
More people are now using their craft skills to promote their ideas and beliefs, particularly within the feminist movement, where women are subverting what was once considered the only task available to ‘delicate ladies’ into highly skilled art pieces.
The Kettle List Task
Despite having tried loads of crafts over the past 30 years or so, cross stitch has always alluded me. The best I have managed to do are very basic kids kits, but that has been my limit.
I was given a beautiful kit which depicts the four seasons, that I would love to have up in my room, once I eventually get a bedroom (one of my 2021 goals!) but I want it to look good, so I need to practice rather than just let myself loose.
That means starting simple.
Even if I finish this sausage dog cross stitch I’m not going to count it towards my task, it is a step towards my greater goal – a cross stitch I can put on the wall.