Slow maker as an identity
I’m working out my identity as a slow maker in the era of AI. Perhaps I’ve always had the tendency to be a bit of a luddite. Or perhaps it was the inkling in my formative years towards conspiracy theories that has led me to this point. But I’m choosing to stand firm as a slow maker. I’m one who laboriously makes with her hands in a time when my husband uses 3 words, and a feeling to get AI to produce a full song in a matter of moments.
And that’s ok.
Prosperous businesses have to ebb and flow with the tides. Businesses have to change and adapt. We saw this during the pandemic when we all had to make drastic changes to our lives in order to keep prospering. Businesses that didn’t, like the local Army and Navy store in my town (a brick-and-mortar-only store) just didn’t make it through 2020. Their refusal to go online was their downfall. And it was their choice.
And this is my choice.
And I’m not a business.
As a choice
I’m a person who can choose the slow maker movement. There are many ways I can engage this desire to slow down and get my hands and body involved in my work, in my everyday:
- Craft delicious espresso beverages at home
- Bake my own bread for an added touch to a special meal
- Walk my kids to school and to their activities
- Create my own seasonal decorations
- Prepare my own super bubble mixture
- Sew my own clothes
What are some of the ways you slow down to engage your hands and body in your everyday life? We are embodied people in bodies that yearn to work in the ways we were created to. This isn’t all or nothing. Sometimes we have to or want to click the button to get things done. There are a lot of demands on our lives and we just can’t take the long way all the time. And we shouldn’t. AI is something that can be embraced and used appropriately and with astounding results.
As nourishing the soul
But using the newest technology will never nourish my soul like slowing down and stitching an entire T-shirt by hand does.
Speaking of which, here is the hand-stitched T-shirt I made using a pattern and method from the Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns book. I found this book through an interlibrary loan as its out of stock on their website. If you want to hand-stitch a top or dress using their suggested methods and fabric, I highly recommend this book! The pattern itself can be purchased from their website (or is included in the book if you can find it). I went on a long foray into converting A0 to A4 on my home computer so I could use the included patterns, but I’ll save that story for another time.
Here is a quick snap of my finished shirt. The shoulder and sleeve seams are backstitched, pressed to one side and topstitched with a running stitch. The neckband is encasing the raw edge of the neck hole but is itself left raw. It is stitched in place with the cretan stitch. Sleeve hems and shirt hem are left raw.
Well, I miiiiiight add a few visible lines of running stitches at the side seams and perhaps the hems too, as the instructions leave them unfinished. I’m going to wear it a bit to see what I’ll choose.
This project was worked on while with a reading light while waiting for my little one to fall asleep. I stitched it while on my own bed, winding down at night. And I worked on it at the community centre while waiting for my child to be done preschool. Every stitch helped calm my mind as I focused on the rhythm of the needle in my hand. The finished garment as well as the process I took to make it are both gifts to myself.
Happy Slow Maker Sewing!
