Lockdown Stitch Up
Words by Kayleigh Dunne
Starting a hobby is a new beginning. Falling in love with a subject, a creative outlet, a book for example, is an experience I adore. 2020 gave us a lot of bad things that I will not speak about here, but for many, me included, it offered the chance to start a new hobby and grow as a creative in the comfort of your own home.
Before the numerous lockdowns, if I was ever questioned on my hobbies, I would always reply reading, even though I could not tell you the last book I read. I was an avid reader when I was a kid but as I reached my twenties I found it hard to keep focused on a book long enough to finish it. I tried my hand at reading again during lockdown but it did not cut it. I needed to keep my hands just as busy as my mind. Enter embroidery.
Embroidery, needlepoint, and cross stitch were always crafts I had an appreciation for. I have a family member who cross stitched who once gifted my mother a piece of three girls (symbolising me and my two sisters, I was told) and I loved it! Beautiful pieces can be created using embroidery. It’s an incredible versatile craft and completely fluid in the works you can do with it.
Funnily enough, I loved sewing as a child and made little cross stitch pieces or sewed clothes in school but it never occurred to me that this could be a hobby. A hobby was drawing, playing a musical instrument or sports. Reading was my hobby, having read since I was young. I believed hobbies were cultivated from childhood. Not once did it click that I could start whatever hobby I wanted, whenever I wanted. Even in your mid twenties.
I cannot tell you what made me pick up embroidery and decide this is the time to begin. I had supplies under my bed for over a year before touching them. The need to spend time doing productive things and keep myself busy during lockdown led to me setting myself the challenge of embroidering a hot air balloon for my sister’s 21st birthday.
It arrived a month late but I was amazed and proud that this little bundle of threads and fabric was created by me. So I kept going, buying kits to practice fancy stitches, doing holiday themed pieces, and toying with the idea of an Instagram page. Embroidery was something I did for myself, something I loved and I want to learn more about this craft.
2020 gave me the chance to explore a hobby, a potential passion, by myself, away from the public eye, without judgement of others. Falling in love with a craft by yourself without the influence of others is an amazing thing. The way reading was my escape as a child, embroidery became my escape at 24. It was a welcome reprieve during the numerous lockdowns and the news they brought, and the daily stresses of a newly confined life.
Having a hobby as an adult, I have learned, is a godsend. Once restrictions began to ease and I returned to work, life became busy again, mimicking life before Covid hit. The one key difference was now, I had my little embroidery bag. Before lockdown, I did not give time to myself - I admit it. Embroidery gave me time for myself, sitting down with a cup of tea looking up Pinterest or Reddit, finding designs I love and thinking ‘I can stitch that!’ and even putting my own spin on things.
So start that hobby that has been hiding in the back of your head, or as it was in my case, under the bed. Grab that camera, go take photos of magpies. Pick up that pen, write a story. Take time for yourself, explore any interest you have, no matter how silly it may seem. Let 2021 be the year of more new beginnings, and falling in love with new things.
