Well, a very Happy New Year to all my Stitch Safari listeners. I hope 2025 fulfils your creative embroidery goals and that these episodes of Stitch Safari add to your embroidery knowledge, vocabulary, and inspiration, as does mine.

So what better way to begin 2025 than with something gaining traction as a popular means of documenting life events, happenings, memorable moments or simply feelings – I’m talking about Embroidery Journalling.

Now this is a term I hadn’t come across before although I have seen some of the work on social media.

I think it’s fun, whimsical, highly detailed and a great way to teach yourself how to embroider.  There’s no pressure to conform, no one telling you you’re doing it wrong – because this is your life and your expression of recording your daily life moments, your way.

It’s an apt term describing the use of a needle and thread to record daily life, events and feelings instead of writing a daily journal.

And I just love it.  Would I do it?  Probably not – but seeing how others record the everyday, the mundane and the memorable is utterly delightful and frankly, quite fascinating.

These events can be represented by an icon a word, a phrase, a squiggle or a shape – and they’re small.  The designs are tiny and so closely worked together that there should be no space left in the hoop by the end of the year – and the overall effect is amazing.

Plus with all the talk about mindfulness and being in the moment, I couldn’t think of a better way of enjoying some downtime and reducing stress levels.  You do as little or as much as you like.

Now this has become so popular that there are numerous how-to YouTube videos on Embroidery Journalling, and at least one Embroidery Journaller offering a Facebook support group.  Jump on Pinterest for 500 Embroidery Journal Ideas for 2024.  Plus savvy marketers have kits, downloadable PDFs and endless tips and tricks to get you started on this addictive pastime.  Even a local art-based event space offers regular workshops in Embroidery Journalling.

This is incredible.  It’s fantastic for the world of embroidery, especially for those who want to take up a needle and thread and begin to embroider without a pattern, without a workshop and minus a tutor.

It suits the adventurous and those who like to fly on their own – learning as they go. You teach yourself to embroider and develop your style at your own pace.

The original premise was to track every day for a year, now that’s a huge commitment right from the get-go, the idea being that you get a fair representation of your year at a glance. But, not everyone can tie themselves to that sort of commitment, yet their work is still interesting and fun.

I don’t believe this is as easy as it sounds.  To me, this is relentless, says the person who stitches every day, yet more and more embroiderers are joining this newish creative trend.

I’m going to enjoy learning more about Embroidery Journalling and what it entails, how it’s done and why so many younger embroiderers find it so appealing, so join me as I traverse this relatively new embroidery community.  Regardless of whether you’re new to embroidery or have some knowledge, this sounds like a lot of fun to me – and the results are quite stunning.

Come on, let’s find out what Embroidery Journalling is all about.

Google Embroidery Journalling and pages load like a stack of cards.

In essence, it’s a creative project using a small stitched design that’s worked onto fabric representing each day of the year for all 365 days.

Embroidery Journals have been around for some time now and their popularity is growing steadily with endless ideas, icons, embroidery journal kits and advice on how to get started, all readily available.

It’s a form of daily journalling becoming a visual diary using a needle and thread and your imagination gleaned from an event or simply tracking the year through some other device such as the seasons or months – perhaps even the Zodiac.

Planning though is important, so start thinking about this adventure well before the year begins and stock up on supplies like needles, threads, fabric and hoops.

Even travelling doesn’t stop this creative endeavour, just use your phone to record what you do each day, and if you’re truly committed, take your embroidery along for those downtimes that always seem to happen on time away from home.

They say variety is the spice of life, well, it’s the same for journalling.  Vary the size of the icons used – and if stitching something for every day of the year is too much, you can tweak it to suit what is achievable for you.  Perhaps work weekly.

It’s no wonder Embroidery Journalling is popular.  A beginner with zero embroidery experience can begin, it’s inexpensive and fairly stress-free.  Your ideas, your work and no rules.  Work at your own pace, create daily or whenever you can.

This is a creative means of documenting your life – and as your embroidery skills improve you can include a complexity of stitches and add beads and embellishments.  Come year’s end, you’ll have created a wonderful keepsake for that year.  What’s not to love?

Any event can be included in this work.  Birthdays, anniversaries, books you’ve read, family, holidays, food and even the weather – and if you’re stuck for an icon just go to a website called The Noun Project for inspiration.

Getting started is easy.  12″ embroidery hoops are recommended, along with a firm cotton fabric and a stabilizer – I’d just fold the cotton over twice before hooping, coloured cotton embroidery floss in a multitude of colours, needles and small sharp embroidery scissors or thread snips.  You’ll also need some paper and a pencil to draw and transfer your icons.

It would be worth researching the best ways for you to transfer designs onto your hooped fabric before stitching, and trust me, there’s plenty of information available.

Transfer designs by tracing, using a lightbox or a well-lit window.  I recommend using a sharp chalk pencil rather than a lead pencil because lead can smear and dirty the fabric.  Some people recommend and work with water-soluble pens – I haven’t had much success with them, so good luck with that one if you choose to use them.

Cut the circles of fabric at least 3″ or so larger than the hoop – then either machine zig-zag or hand blanket stitch around the edges to help prevent fraying because, over the course of a year, any frayed threads will become extremely annoying if you don’t address them at the get-go.

It’s a good idea to pre-wash and iron your fabric before stitching.  To get that fabric nice and tight in your hoop, bind the inside hoop with ribbon or tape so that the fabric is gripped snugly between each ring of the hoop.  Just wrap it around and around the entire inner ring, finishing with some stitches or a little glue.

Some Embroidery Journals are randomly covered in icons and I have to say this is my favourite style.  But you can theme your work if you wish to into things like the seasons – just divide your circle into four sections, or the months of the year – divide into twelve sections.  And as you’re working in a hoop, these divisions become like wedges of a pie or a pinwheel. Some people use boxes and work each box in a monochromatic colourway.

It really doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it, but there has to be some forethought given to the theme you want to follow and how you’re going to set it out – because you’ll be working on this the entire year.

Gauge the size of your icons to ensure they’re suitable for the size of your hoop and the number you’ll be working over that year.

Having trouble drawing or coming up with ideas?  Well, even that’s taken care of for you.

Numerous websites offer icons to download or jump onto Pinterest or the Noun Collective.

Begin with the stitches you know and if you don’t know any, go to YouTube for myriad how-to videos that will help get you started.

My favourite go-to resource on YouTube for embroidery is Sarah Homfray Embroidery.

Research simple outline stitches – running, back, stem, split and chain stitch.

Couching a thick thread is also a great means of outlining a shape – just lay the thick thread along the drawn shape and stitch over it with another thread to secure it in place.

Then look at filling stitches – stitches that will fill a shape such as satin stitch, long and short stitch, French Knots and seed stitch.

As your confidence grows explore more complex stitches and look at using different threads.

Don’t forget to use a variety of thicknesses – remember that cotton embroidery floss has six strands.  Work motifs using just one, two, three or all six – the difference in texture will be amazing.

It’s worth the time and effort to do some due diligence and research this hot topic.  Images for inspiration abound and they’re fabulous.

There are numerous beneficial aspects to this growing on-point trend.  It’s about making time for yourself and promoting some self-care in this busy, all-consuming world of ours.  It’s a time to reflect and be grateful for all the good things we have in our lives, there’s a level of commitment and persistence required and with that comes a sense of satisfaction in completing a task – even if it’s as simple as stitching an ice cream or a love heart.  Plus keeping some form of daily journal is seen to be therapeutic.

But that’s not all.  This arena of embroidery has created a community offering a platform for self-expression and creativity to those who want to show and share their work. The real value is in being part of this network or community that binds like-minds.

Researchers studying this area suggest that embroidery can evoke a positive and meaningful change in everyday life and health through the integration of mind, body and materials inciting a combination of mental and physical responses through the transformative potential of engagement.  Embroidery can help improve and sustain good health and well-being.

Simply by picking up a needle and thread and setting aside time each day to stitch and enjoy the process.

Let’s explore some of the people who’ve taken up this journalling challenge to see what their story is.

Claire Thompson, writing for BBC News Scotland recently tells the story of self-taught embroiderer Sophie O’Neill, who in the last five years has embroidered over 1,800 icons representing her life, travels, marriage, starting a business and buying a house.

Sophie’s recorded things like their first date, anniversaries and memories she feels would have fallen by the wayside otherwise that are now recorded in her embroidered journals.

Each icon takes 5-10 minutes to stitch out making Sophie appreciate each day – even the most mundane.

Having completed five embroidered journals, Sophie’s passion for embroidery is shared via social media and her blog The Stir Crazy Crafter, noting that ‘an embroidery journal is not for the faint-hearted’.

Another embroiderer Emily June shares her advice for starting an embroidery journal on her blog featuring crisp images of her work and ideas for how to set out journals differently.

Her embroidery is delightful and highly textural but it’s her layout ideas I find interesting.

Want more inspiration?  Then check out the work of Amy Deacon – there’s a reel on Facebook showing her utterly amazing embroidered journal.  It has moving parts such as a treasure chest with a lid that opens and a bucket that fits over a pile of sand sitting next to it.  This is imagination taken to the next level.  There’s even a make-up compact with teeny tiny mirrors on either side and a bird’s nest encasing three tiny blue eggs.  This is stunning, creative work that makes me want to sit and look more closely at each and every icon.

I’m excited about Embroidery Journalling for all the reasons I’ve been through, but most of all because it promotes people picking up a needle and thread to express themselves, their lives and the events that make up life.

It’s utterly fascinating.

So with 2025 well underway, I hope you do just that and best of luck.