The Stitchwitch Directive 3

Throughout time, both men and women have participated in the art of sewing. But, as usual, when a man sews it's a professional job, something worth paying for. He is a Tailor. The sewing that women carry out has never had the same status. Making clothes for the family came under the heading of domestic duties. A woman who sewed things for others was a jobbing seamstress, earning a bit of pin money. Tapestries, samplers and embroideries dating back centuries were never recognised as an art, despite arguably requiring more skill and talent than some internationally renowned artworks produced by men. Intricate quilts were just blankets, made to use up fabric scraps. Things have changed a little...but not enough and maybe that's because we can just buy anything we want cheap as we like, instead of having to make it - not because of any great strides in feminism.

More women are reclaiming the traditional activities that we like to keep alive as a form of witchcraft. Making kitchen remedies, creating a herb garden, learning how to give spiritual guidance - can now come under this heading. We are standing in solidarity with those women who were unappreciated at levels ranging from ignored to murdered and calling ourselves "Witch".


Directive 3:

The Spiritual Sewing Basket 

The sewing basket is your portable altar. Use tools that have been handed down generations and been carefully looked after. Use them mindfully, thinking of ancestral hands that held them. It is a receptacle of connection and escape from a too-busy mind. Which tools align with which elements?

Air

The sewing needle is your wand, passing through air and then fibre to create

Fire

The scissors cut the textile, cut the cotton strands. It is the beginning and the end.

Water

The fabric ripples and flows under the needle to become something that changes a life.

Earth

The cotton plant grows from the earth, natural fibre threads and textiles are the grounding.

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