The first weeks of Covid-19 lockdown I still had to work hard, but since I didn’t have the usual couple of hours a day of commute I had more time for myself. One good side in this awkward situation. I could clean the house, spend more time with my husband and also make more crafts.
I decided I wanted to make one to remind me of what I miss most in these days: my Irish dance friends.
I miss our laughs, I miss sharing our successes and troubles, living together our hard work and fun, all the “I’ll never be able to” and all the “wow, I got it right”. I miss staying together sweating in the studio and drinking during a trip. I miss all the wonderful things we share.
But there is one thing I know for sure.
Distance will never tear us apart. Distance will never wipe away our friendship and passion.
Together, even at a distance, we are and always will be “InvincibilYS”.
While I can’t dance with you, I work thinking about us.
So I began this special embroidery piece picking the hashtag #InvincibilYS invented by our academy to share Instagram stories about us, to be less lonely, to feel closer, to share optimism and to say we’ll be back soon together. During the first weeks of pandemic lockdown it has become my mantra.
This embroidery has in the middle the Gens d’Ys academy logo with the #InvincibilYS hashtag: with this I experimented the embroidery of letters for the first time. I chose split stitch, and I have to say I love it: neat, clean and precise the way I like it, perfect even for small items.
I soon found working at this piece therapeutic for me, expecially healing those days. The needle goes up and down with its own rhythm, like a pendulum clock, like the beats of the heart. The hand moves and I can choose to focus my mind on the task or let her wander to other worlds, to other times.
I like precision works, the ones which require patience, I love making something with my hands.
I found split stitch great to make tiny precise stitches to draw gentle curves and follow carefully traced lines. I also found the lettering quicker than I expected when I began. I love writing with the needle, and using split stitch the design comes out precise and smooth as I wanted it.
But this project was meant not to be just letters. I wanted something more, with that 3D feeling I love in emboidery. I wanted to try something new and special.
The hardest part of my #InvincibilYS project was a 3D frame surrounding the writing and logo: a green Celtic knot all around.
I didn’t chose a highly complex design, but it’s been the first time I tried such an embroidery.
My plan was trying to follow the ups and downs of the design, thus making the final result 3D.
I chose padded satin stitch: first, I had to fix a woolen chord on the drawn knot, then embroider it all.
Well, the task was not easy, I knew I had to pay attention not to miss the ups and downs, but I found it funny and relaxing.
Here’s how I worked on the basis of the Celtic knot: with two different chords, patiently intertwined. Place a lenght, fix it, place the other one on top or slide it below, fix it, go on fixing until the next intersection, weave the two chords in position, fix… Repetitive, relaxing. After the first lenght you find the right way to make it so you’re less likely to make mistakes and your mind can wander a bit, while your fingers go on tracing the pattern.
This was the kind of project you would like to last longer!
But you know, all good things have to come to an end. And having the finished project in my hands was as good as the making!
It has been therapeutics for me, as I already said, in each step, from start to finish, a way to feel my friends closer.
Also, it’s been really funny to make. I learnt new techniques: I discovered I love embroiderying letters with split stitch; the making of the Celtic knot was the hardest part but I feel it has come as 3D as I wished.
Now this project is finished, I feel I miss it! I hope we can come back soon to our daily routine and forget all this strage moment. In the meantime, this piece will remember me anytime I watch it that, together, we are #InvincibilYS.
