My Reaction to the Changes

I hate orange. I have always hated orange. Orange is the color of prison uniforms. Orange is what happens when cousins marry.

So you might be wondering why my blog now has an orange background. Well, surprisingly, I like it. I didn't think I would. Orange is ugly, yet this background looks happy, upbeat, and surging with magickal energy. I tried out several backgrounds. I clicked on this one by accident. But it works. Sometimes the blog knows best.

I am liking my new page 'Items for Sale' even though I've only had one page view. That's okay, I've only got two items listed. Remember when I said Blogger is stupid? Yeah, my phone is also stupid and will often send a blank email instead of the picture I am trying to get to my computer. I used my phone to photograph all of my string art- every patch, every Celtic knot, every lovely I made. Two pictures went through. Damn you, T-Mobile.

I have a sewing routine now. I sew magickal projects first. Then I sew things for the house or I mend items like socks and hems and holes which need patching. Then I work on personal projects which may or may not include magick. And then I work on items to sell which may or may not include magick.

I really wanted to have some kind of 'tradition' type of stitch magick practice where all acts of sewing were mini rituals. This does not work. It does not work any more than trying to make every dish I cook an act of Kitchen Witchery. I do a lot of magick in my kitchen. I harvest and store the herbs I will use for spells and place them in jars I enchanted. I draw symbols into crusts and dough. I empower spices. I charge water before boiling. I plan whole meals for Pagan holidays.

But most of the time, I am just cooking. I could probably improve our lives so much if every act of cooking was a spell but when there is a large man and two growing boys growling about being hungry, I just cook. And you would too because it is near impossible to maintain focus under those conditions.

It's the same with sewing. I sew some things I don't like or don't want, say my mother-in-law bringing me a dress with a broken zipper. She can sew, but she doesn't like to do zippers. (I, not knowing zippers were supposed to be difficult, have just been installing them neatly all along.) I don't think there's really any need to add a spell to the dress. I never added magick to my older son's uniforms because he often waited until the night before to tell me his ROTC pants needed to be hemmed. Then I would be annoyed at being rushed to finish something he was going to wear for an hour at 7am. Any spell I uttered during those stitches would have probably been a curse. Sewing takes time.

And it is a little difficult to enchant a sewing project. Lots of people have the idea that you can chant with every stitch you make. Do you know how many chants/stitches that is? I hope it's not cross stitch because you will be tongue-tied and cross-eyed with not much sewing done in under 15 minutes. Even if you chant at the end of every row, you still have a good bit of speaking to do. Never mind holding onto a thought for that long. Sewing is smoothingly repetitive. It lulls you into day dreams. Needle up, needle down, the warm, soft quilt spread over your lap- I dare you to stay alert.

What I generally do for magick sewing projects is to state my intent BEFORE I start sewing. I may have a candle burning on my altar. I may smudge the project with incense. I may chant some, but I don't try say the chant with every stitch. When the project is complete, I will charge it with stones. I don't think anyone could make every part of the sewing process a ritual. And I think this is why there is no formal stitching tradition. Just like there is no formal Kitchen Witch tradition; all Kitchen Witches have a very personal, very unique practice that they developed for themselves over the years. While there are books and websites devoted to Kitchen Witchery, you can't be initiated into it. You just start practicing.

As I look for more ways to charm my sewing, I think what I make will gradually become better designed. Like cooking, the only way to get better at sewing is to do it every day.