"I Really Needed That" - How an Embroidery Workshop Can Help you Stitch Away A Bad Day
January 20, 2023
It's a cold and wet Manchester weekday evening as I head across the city centre to host back-to-back embroidery workshops in one of the city's newest residential buildings.
Now, I love running workshops, but the trams aren't running properly, I've too much stuff to hold an umbrella, and the handle on my trusty suitcase has broken. So even though I'm spending the evening doing what I love (and getting paid for it), by the time I get there, I'm flustered, clammy, and just not feeling my best - and when some of the residents come down, I can tell one or two of them are feeling very similar.
If this workshop wasn't on their doorstep, they might not have bothered to come down. The pull of the sofa and wallowing in that lousy day feeling might have been too strong, but it's only downstairs, so why not at least pop down and see what it's about? If they really don't like it, they can always come up with an excuse to leave.
When you pay attention, it's not hard to see if someone might be having a bad day. You can see it in how they hold themselves, how they say hello, and where they choose to sit in the workshop space.
This particular night, there are more 'bad days' in the room than usual, and when I spot this, I know I have to shake whatever leftover public transport nightmare clamminess off and get on with it.
And so I get to work. I teach back stitch and stem stitch, and long and short stitch. I help untangle knots in the thread and reassure people that they are doing things right. I cut ribbons, explain how to back hoops and answer questions.
And throughout the evening, I can see that the grip of the bad day is beginning to loosen on everyone, me included, and at the end of the class, one resident comes up to me and says, 'I really needed that.'
That is my favourite thing to hear after a workshop because it reminds me why I started embroidery.
It wasn't because I felt confident in making art. It wasn't because I wanted to grow an Instagram following or start a new business. It was because I needed something that would take my mind off everything.
Embroidery was that thing when my regular outlets just didn't do the trick.
Whenever you learn something new, your brain has to concentrate, and with embroidery and the delicate, sometimes tiny nature of it, that focus and concentration stays even when you've been stitching for years. There's a repetition to stitching that means you can enter that state of flow, paying attention to what you're doing without having to overthink it. You just repeat the same steps over and over until you reach the end of your thread.
And crucially for me, with embroidery, you can't also be holding your phone because your hands are full.
When I started embroidery, I would lose hours to the hoop. No more doom scrolling. No more mind wandering into anxious territories. No more endless news cycle despair.
This is why I wanted to teach workshops and to share this anxiety-busting thing that I'd found with the world (well, maybe not the world, but definitely Manchester).
I don't expect everyone that comes to a workshop to catch the embroidery bug as I did. They might not click with it quite the same, and that's ok; people have different tastes, creative strengths, and interests. My biggest aim when running a session is that people leave feeling a little better than they did when they started and are encouraged to go and find something that can do to their brain what embroidery did to mine.
Fancy finding out if embroidery is your *thing* or just need to carve out an hour or two just for yourself? I run regular public workshops across Manchester, which you can buy tickets to here, or if you'd like to organise a private group session, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Or if you can't make it to one of my in-person sessions, my DIY embroidery kits, are a workshop in a box, delivered straight to you!
If you’re looking to try something new creatively…
It's no secret that I love Instagram and that I spend waaaaaay too much time on it. But sometimes it feels like Instagram doesn't love me back. And when that happens it can be hard not to relive my years of teenage angst, going out of my way to be someone I'm not just to seek some sort of approval or validation.
That's when I start to question everything I make and say and do. This is an open and honest space, I think we can all admit that we've been preoccupied with likes and follows.
A few weeks ago I was feeling really really really unloved by Instagram. And I was somewhere between, dramatically breaking up with it, or changing every single thing about myself my account/art.
That's when I took a break and checked in with myself, on why I start stitching and why I wanted to share my stitching online. And I realised I don't need Instagram to love me. I don't need hundreds of thousands of followers. Much like I came to learn in my late teens, I don't need the popular guy, and everyone at school to like me. I just need to find the right bunch of people for me. And in real life, and on Instagram, I count myself lucky enough to have that.
And so I stopped thinking about what content could I make for Instagram as a whole, and instead what could I make for the right bunch? That's when I quickly knocked up this little content planning system.
THAT sounds very Instagram doesn't it? Don't worry I'm not about to start offering coaching services, I just thought some of you might like this too. So here now, is how I come up with content for my Instagram. And super importantly, how I come up with content for my Instagram that supports my art, and who I am, not content that dictates it.
STEP 1
Either download this pdf I knocked up (which you can use on good notes on your iPad or print out) and then skip ahead to STEP 3OR more simple... grab a piece of paper and draw out a table with five columns and five rows
STEP 2
Along the first row, enter the following headings... one in each column 'Subjects that interest my ideal audience,' 'Posts,' 'Stories,' 'Reels,' 'Other'
STEP 3
Under column 1 'Subjects that my ideal audience are interested in' write out one subject in each box. The key here is to think about that IDEAL audience or your "bunch of people". Boxes one and two are probably going to be really obvious, but to keep it specific to you, don't just write down one big word, quantify it a little. So for example my first box was obviously, Embroidery, but there's a whole world of embroidery out there so I then put in brackets "modern, architectural, mixed media" just to keep it specific to me. Three and four might be something that a smaller proportion of your audience are interested in, but an important proportion, so for me box three was Manchester, or it might be something that is really important to who you are as a person. My box four was 'mental health and well being.'
STEP 4
Ok, this step is probably pretty obvious, but this is there to help you on those days, where you're either not sure what to post, or you feel like your publishing everything and anything. You're going to go along each column and come up with ideas for each bit of Instagram that relates to your four subjects.
Again your first line is probably going to be really obvious - nearly everything I post is embroidery related somehow, but it really helped me to think about the different ways I could communicate the different aspects of my embroidery. So I'm obviously sharing a lot of finished pieces, but my ideal bunch of people would also be interested in how that hoop was made, the different stitches I used, where I got the inspiration for the design.
I also found it really interesting to think about where were the cross overs in subjects. So obviously, a lot of my embroidery is inspired by Manchester, but I've never really shared how I decide on which buildings to do, or shown the behind the scenes of when I go to take my 'in the street' photos.
I know this technique is far from groundbreaking BUT it really helped me re-focus on what I wanted to share and why and it allowed me to let go of that 'but do people really want to see this fear?' Because I was clear on why I was sharing things, and know that no, not ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE will care about how I designed something, or what my favourite cafe to work in is... but the right people will.
Download the content planner here
I hope this helps! And let me know over on Instagram if you have any more questions! Stephie x
ps. If you found this super useful and wanted to leave me a tip or buy me a coffee to say thanks, you can do so by donating to my Ko-Fi page!