Creative Goals for July

My monthly creative reset and inspirations

Hello, and welcome back to the studio.

I’m wishing you a great month full of sweet summer fruits, day naps and dips in the sea.

We’ve received a new batch of subscribers over the past couple days, so I’d like to give them a very warm welcome—I’m so glad to have you come along my creative journey and do hope you’ll stick around.

I suppose it’s also a good time to give a little update about the format of my letters. There truly is no road map of how to or how often to write about our creative processes, so for the past two years I’ve been trying different approaches and seeing what sticks. Lately I’ve been testing out a new layout, and I can’t say that it will be right forever, but it is right for now.

As of now I will be sending out one letter every Sunday of the month—the first Sunday will be my creative goals for the month, the second will be an embroidery related essay, the third will be studio updates for paid subscribers and the last Sunday will always be an end of month update showcasing everything I made that particular month.

On Inspiration

Whereas June was booming with energy, July has been feeling much slower and relaxed. I’m setting my goals for the month with that energy in mind, being sure not to over extend myself creatively and burnout.

Seeking inspiration from my surroundings and the season we’re in is core to my creative process, so I’m sure you’ll be able to recognize a general nature-based theme shine through whatever my hands touch.

The phrase touch the earth is a reminder that comes to mind often, especially if I’m not feeling my best, and I would like to think that my work could potentially inspire people to want to get out and touch the earth for themselves.

While I am an advocate for tree hugging, to me, touching the earth is anything that engages you with the natural world or its materials. It could be as simple as a walk in the park or as engaging as foraging plant life for an herbal tea. The point is to slow down, tune into your surroundings(and self) and be fully present where you are, creating space for reconnecting to the land we live of and on.

One simple way I’ve woven this into my life is, shocker, through embroidery and hand crafts. Unless I’m working with materials someone gave me, I always choose natural fibers like cotton, linen or wool, and the combination of these land based materials with the relaxing nature of embroidery makes an interesting breeding ground for thoughts and experiences related to interconectedness and being.

But that’s a topic for another day… Here are my creative goals for this month.

Creative Goals For July

• Felt laptop sleeve

Hand stitched felt kindle sleeve by amei_garments on Depop

I’d been looking to buy a sleeve for my laptop but hadn’t been able to find anything I really liked, when I came across this photo of a handmade felt kindle sleeve and thought, “I could do that.”

I love the strawberry theme she chose, but I’m thinking to go with either a celestial or tree of life theme. I’m leaning more towards the tree of life, but whatever colors of felt are available at the store will be the deciding factor.

I’m really excited about this project because 1. It will solve a small problem of practicality in my daily life 2. It aligns with my overal goal of living a more handmade life and 3. I like trying new things and have never worked with felt before.

• Summer themed tote bag

  

  I stitched this tote bag around two years ago and wore it down to the very last thread, so I want to make the new version. I’m in need of a new everyday bag anyways, at least for the summer, so now’s the perfect time for this project. I’m thinking of incorporating symbols like the sun, bumblebees, flowers, watermelon and the evil eye. I’ll probably use very simple, tight stitches this time around to prevent the items in my bag from getting stuck or pulling on the threads. Maybe I’ll add some patches too.

• Embroidered stationary - bookmarks, greeting cards, journals

  

  Last month I had a lot of fun experiementing with embroidered bookmarks and so I’d like to make some more of those. I would also like to start making hand embroidered greeting cards. Like last months bookmarks, I want to paint the greeting card with watercolor first and then poke holes through and stitch onto to paper in a contrasting thread color. I want to keep the designs rather vague, that way they could be used for a variety of occasions or even just to say I love you.

• Mystery stitches

  

  hand embroidered magic patches

  As always, I like to leave room for intuitive stitching, where instead of starting with a clear intention, I allow images to arise on their own, welcoming an organic understanding of meaning through symbols born out of the process. In practice this is looks like taking a pen to paper or fabric and drawing before my mind can formulate a plan about what I want an image to be, allowing it to come naturally as it is.

*If I have extra time*

• Mending/upcycling my own clothes

It’s come to my attention that I have a growing pile of clothes that either need mending or need to be transformed into something else. I have one cotton skirt in particular that I really like but just doesn’t work for my body, so I’ve been thinking I could turn it into a dress or a two piece set. If I manage to complete the rest of my creative goals for July, maybe I’ll start on this too.

What are you working on this month?

Thank for reading!

Zoya xx

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