Dearest Needlework Community,
Here are my ugly shoes! Or at least, one of them! Maybe the second one will be more beautiful, heheh! This week was a painstaking labour of love, from one side of this shoe, to the other... Many hours of slowly locating pricked holes, and then getting the threads aligned.
It seemed before this week, that I might finish them 'soon'... Isn't that often the way with art, crafts, making things by hand? "I'll just do this stitching and then that stitching, and it'll be effortlessly ....done!" Then 7 days later, and I've only got half of one shoe sewn.
It's at this point also, not just because it is taking so long, but also due to the level of incompetence I have, that it becomes hard to keep going. It probably feels like this to some degree, every single day - in various activities inside and outside of the home, BUT keeping going and looking for the solution is a life choice, and this usually leads to success.
My shoes feel like such a good example for me, of being humble; of accepting where I am not masterful or elegant, and recognising where I can work much better. I'm glad I didn't study a pattern for this - even though it might have shown me how to accurately meet up top and sole of the shoes; it is good simply to wade into the murk of the unknown, and find the Way!
'Wading around in the murk' is one of the best places to learn: like creative chaos, waking dreaming, or exploring a wild place - this is where humans are most naturally inventive. We access a primitive and holistic learning mode: embodied wisdom - which is both already in us or in the ether around us, and is something unfolding and appearing before us as we work.
It's a space which is momentarily 'impossible': trying to do something, without the skills to do it. Trying to learn but having no structure for the learning. Nevertheless, the skills come, just by the act of being and doing.
It seems like a hurdle that cannot be climbed over. And then it is gone.
So these are the efforts of my week: the shoe feels beautifully soft and neat on my foot, and I am excited to do the same stitchings around the sole of the right-footed shoe also. I'm impatient too, to add the wooden buttons - and to make more wooden buttons! The making of these shoes is bringing a big upwelling of new ideas and desires to make advance my skills: this is another positive effect of being immersed like this in the artisan way; with new skills acquired, the creative font opens, and more and more possibilities make themselves visible.
Well worth the temporary discomfort of seeing an ugly shoe, eh?
Much love to you all in your endeavours this Needlework Monday, dearest people!
www.claregaiasophia.com
Did you make your own pattern? Very well done - I have seen a ton of homemade shoes on Etsy - Are they leather?
Ciao dear @in2itiveart 🥰 No pattern per se, but I looked at a rough outline on The Great British Sewing Bee 🪷 Yes, the shoes I'm making are from an old leather skirt - seems like pig skin, though I'm not so proficient in leathers as yet 🙏 Thanks for your good comment, friend.
At least you’ve learnt new skills and you know somethings and how to correct them next time I admire your tenacity throughout the making of this shoe.
You did a great job
Thank you for commenting so positively, dear @abenad - yey: I am making progress, and the shoes should look more beautiful soon! Hehe!
You’re welcome
Not bad at all! And at least you won't see someone else in the street wearing the same shoes!
Oooh, hehehe - imagine if I did see someone wearing the same shoes - hahaha - that would be a surprise! :-D They'd be my shoe-solemate... Thanks for your good words always, dearest @deirdyweirdy - many blessings on a creative and flourishing spring to you!
An ingenious design to create an opening to get your foot inside and then close the shoe so it is close fitting. They look so soft and comfy to wear.
I agree about becoming immersed and how it leads you to other things.
Mmm: yey, thanks for this lovely encouragement dearest @shanibeer - I am so looking forward to the finishing of them, but lots more effort first, in completing another shoe's stitching... Yes; immersion is glorious, eh... Here I go again - in deeper!
Imagine a brand called 'Ugly Shoes'..
Oh wait, they already exist: Ug(g)s or however you spell that. Although they are boots.
Or what about Crocs?🤪
No matter what, I much prefer your creative handicraft over ugly mass production.✨
Ugly Shoe is a cracking idea, Vincent! 🤗🌟👑 Yes, there are many ugly shoes in circulation these days, though I wuite like Ug/ Ugg boots kind of style... but Crocks: 😴
Hi @clareartista, I congratulate you for the progress in the making of the shoes, they look comfortable, manual works usually take more time than we imagine and on the way they arise counter times that can stress us but at the same time allow us to visualize new ideas and strategies to finish the project, you are close to finish the job.
Have a great week!
Ahh, it is lovely to have your gorgeous comment dearest friend @belkyscabrera !! Thank you.. and yes, I love being around others who also enjoy the slowest ways, and who can appreciate and encourage each other: it would be such a different world if we didn't have each other! The finishing feels like a very long way away, but each step does get me enthused about what is possible - not just in this project, but in the next pair I'll make... soooo exciting... 😍
#hive #posh
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Thank you hugely, dear @ewkaw and @qurator - your support and curation is so appreciated!
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I like how you brought your readers through the journey you had in making the shoe. I'm woth you with learning first hand, not from patterns. The lesson seem to stick more in my brain when I experience it myself.
Ciao dear @romeskie - thank you for this lovely comment, and yey, it is really good to connect with other slow makers here! Yes: I sense that delving into shoe-making in this primitive, undesigner way will bring great skills uplevelling!
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Hi Clare! Congratulations on taking the risk to find your own way in creating this shoe. For a recent attempt, it's very good, at least you can tell what it is haha. And the best thing is that it will be a unique piece.
Greetings to you, have a nice Monday ❤️.
@lauramica - thank you so much for this lovely lovely comment!! Yes, hahaha, and I love that you can also tell which is right and which is left - that makes me feel pretty proud 😋 Very unique, absolutely!!
Have a beautiful and blessed week dearest friend!
You did a great job and mind you were able to achieve a new skill
I'm getting there, dear @precab , for sure - and it does feel very good! Thank you for your comment and positivity!