I tried something  a little new this week. I had a pattern that I wanted to try to embroider on some dark fabric, but unfortunately, my water soluble marker didn’t show up on the dark fabric.  I had to adapt and come up with some new ways to make this work.  I also really didn’t want to spend any more money on this as that is currently pretty hard to come by.  I was talking to a friend who has had success with straight up sewing through some paper.  That’s what I ended up doing, and honestly, it was super frustrating.  I traced the pattern onto the paper, and then loosely sewed the paper onto the fabric.  The actual act of sewing through the paper is not what was frustrating for me; it was honestly not that different, especially once the paper was firmly attached to the fabric.  I decided to just do the outline of the pattern with the paper still attached because I didn’t want to have to get rid of the paper once it was all filled in–it was difficult enough with just the outline!

I finished tracing the pattern, and so began the process of removing the paper.  This definitely did not have a positive effect on my mental health–it was so frustrating!  It probably took twice as long to remove the paper as it did to originally outline the pattern. Ultimately, I was able to get it done but I don’t think I’ll be using that strategy again.

I made this piece of embroidery with the intention of giving it as a thank you present at the end of November. While the process might have been frustrating, my motivation for doing it really benefitted my mental health. Each time, I left my embroidery in a better mood than I came to it.

I’ve also begun to find that embroidery is a really good way for me to prepare for sleep. It allows my brain to shut down, and makes my eyes nice and tired so that by the time I want to go to sleep, I am both mentally and physically ready.  This is not an outcome I expected from picking up this hobby,  it I have to say I’m not mad about it.