Sewing as a Daily Spiritual Practice

Disclaimer: I promise to not get all woo woo and/or religious on you! I think people see the word spiritual and think for sure I’m gonna start talking about god, but I promise not do that in this post!  But I do want to talk a little about sewing as a daily practice. 

Back when I interviewed the sewing boss Jennifer Serr, the owner of The Sewing Room Alameda,  she mentioned that phrase “Sewing as a daily spiritual practice” and I’ve seriously thought about it ever since.

We all TEACH sewing, are mostly likely surrounded by sewing in our daily lives all day long,  but does that really mean that we’re finding time in our day to DO sewing?

I know that I often go a couple of days without getting in front of the sewing machine to sew something for myself and that can feel weird.

I started my sewing studio because I immediately fell in love with sewing!  I wanted to do it all day! AND back in those days I was absolutely spending MOST o f my day sewing.

I had a custom bag business that was fairly successful (this was pre-etsy, if you can believe that!). I would get orders from people all over the world where they would choose from one of our bag styles then customize the fabric, lining, pockets, straps, etc. And then once those bags came in, guess who was making them? Yep, yours truly!

After a few years of this, I think was actually pretty worn out from sewing! I did it all day, most days and frankly knew that I’d either have to start outsourcing or head in a different direction. That was when I started teaching sewing!

Anyway – this all being said when I finally got away from sewing all day as my means of income I was able to get back into it and make some things that I wanted to make!

This always took me to a place of joy that seemed to make my day go in a better direction. But like anything that is good for me do daily (like taking vitamins, doing yoga, meditating, taking long walks with my pooch) I can forget how good it makes me feel.

So that being said, I’d like to try to make more of an effort to include some sewing in my day (even if just a few minutes) and see how that goes. 

Here are some tips that I thought might help me make this is a reality and maybe it will help you too: 

1. Designate a time and place to do your sewing each day.
2. Make enjoyable – Sewing for other people is not usually fun. This doesn’t count.
3. Commit!
4. But don’t be too hard on yourself if you miss a day.
5. Allow other parts of your life to support this new found habit. Maybe start a lunchtime open sew (where you’re not the instructor) where you can sew for fun alongside your students.

Let me know how this goes for you!