the lost art of slow stitching - Forage by Lisa Mattock

I had the pleasure yesterday to attend a slow stitching workshop run by my lovely friend Lisa Mattock. Lisa is an amazing textile artist whose philosophy is based around reusing vintage fabrics, using layers of cloth and simple stitching to create amazing artwork. Lisa draws her inspiration from the simple arts of sashika, boto and kantha.

Yesterday would have been my mum's 79th birthday. Mum was a beautiful seamstress, quilter and embroiderer. It seemed a fitting thing to do, attend a slow stitching course to commemorate my mum, so I drove down to the Summerhouse in Exeter in the southern highlands for the day. It actually worked well because I literally was driving past the lady's door, who bought the Graphite and timber sideboard so I dropped that to her on my way.

Here are some samples of Lisa's work.

We started out by choosing scrap fabric. You can see I've cut up an old shirt and included the buttons and cuff bits. Lisa's business name is Forage by Lisa Mattock and it definitely is foraging. You then use simple running stitches and cross stitch to secure the fabrics and layer them. 

Once it's all together and you are happy with the background detail it's time to start embroidering, I chose to do some cherry blossoms. the branches are formed with a running back stitch, and the blossom is just simple french knots in a variegated thread. Also I cut up little circles of pink fabric and such scrunched it up with a little stitch to form flowers. So effective.

My finished piece - well maybe it's finished as perhaps I'll add some more blossom. Not too bad for a first time embroiderer. But so easy and simple.

I'm going to sew this into a cushion backed by pink velvet for Sasha's bedroom.  I think my mum would be proud. I wish she could have come with my as she would have loved this type of sewing and she would absolutely love my friend, Lisa. If you are interested in attending a course, Lisa runs them in Sydney also. Find her on instagram under @Foragebylisamattock.

Inspirational cherry blossom right outside the studio.

The summerhouse studio run by the lovely Linda. 

Lovely slow day - so relaxing and I now have a new hobby :)  Does anybody else embroider? I'd love to see some pieces if you want to send me an email.

Fiona xx