Sashiko Mindful Mending Workshop
With Shirley McLauchlan & Karen Finn
Dates: Thursday 14th July
Time: Drop in session, running from 1:00pm to 4.00pm
Place: Hawthorn Room, The Rockfield Centre
Age: All Ages
Cost: Free
Booking is essential for this event
Sewing workshop
In this workshop, you will learn a little of the history of Sashiko, a Japanese form of repair which translates directly as “little stabs”. It is typically carried out with a white cotton thread on indigo fabric. This visible mending technique has been practised in Japan for thousands of years.
In traditional Japanese thinking, 'wabi-sabi' is a world view centred on the acceptance of imperfection - 'Nothing lasts, nothing is perfect and nothing is finished'.
With this in mind, we hope to inspire you to continue your hand stitching long after the workshop perhaps making your own family heirlooms.
Alongside the gentle rhythm of learning how to do Sashiko stitching, we will open a conversation about the benefits of slowing life down, enjoying moments of silence and the effects of being in flow. We encourage you to be part of this conversation or to simply allow it to weave itself around you as sew.
Everyone is welcome with no prior sewing skills necessary to join this session. This gentle workshop is an opportunity to learn something new and take time away from the busyness of daily life.
Your tutor Shirley Mclauchlan has been a lecturer and researcher at Edinburgh College of Art (textile department) for over 20 years.
Alongside her work at ECA, she has her own design practice. Her design ethos has sustainability at the core, with a focus on hand skills and product longevity. Her work is best described as making modern day family heirlooms.
Her research has seen her explore the benefits that hand skills can have on ‘Repairing Clothes, Planet and Soul’ and through practice-based research she explores the benefits of these hand skills.
Recent projects with The Princes Foundation further explore community engagement & hand skills.
Your tutor Karen Finn is a holistic coach working with individuals and organisations to create personal and collective change. Karen is also a Mindfulness and Meditation teacher who believes that moments of calm contain dynamic energy to strengthen us.