My first soft sculpture with a hole in the middle! @tina.marais showed how to do that in her course Soft Revolution by @taketwoartcourses and I am very happy that it worked in this combination of eco printed silk and cutch dyed linen. The stitching suggests mycelia spreading out, slowly connecting both sides of the object.
🧡🤎🩶🧡🤎🩶🧡🤎
#textileart #mirjamtextiles #softsculpture #embroidery #biomorphic
WIP: working on an object made with eco printed silk and cutch dyed linen. Slowly the stitches spread out like growing mycelia. Enjoying the colours of the silk very much 😊
I rarely try to depict something from the natural world as realistic as possible. For me it’s more about experiencing and connecting to nature’s patterns, textures, colours and shapes and that does not necessarily lead to a lifelike rendition.
That said I do sometimes try to copy something as faithfully as possible in order to come close to it and really ’see’ it and understand it. In the images I show several examples made over the years.
Today I am thinking about ‘truly seeing nature’ as a way to connect to it, inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s hundredth birthday. His films and documentaries brought nature close so that I, and millions with me, could not only see, but also connect, understand and love all life on this beautiful planet of ours.
I have finished this object that has been long in the making. I experimented with new materials like brass foil and that took time (and provided a steep learning curve, I can tell you…)
It’s an imaginary floating plant, inspired by a book by Brandon Sanderson called: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. In this fantasy novel an imaginary world is depicted in which plants evolved to float to get moisture from higher up in the atmosphere. This is what I imagined such a plant/flower could look like, with a hollow top for condensation of moisture and only rudimentary roots. There’s much more going on in this book 😊, and I can definitely recommend a read, but the description of the plants caught my imagination and this is the result. At the moment it’s calmly floating in my living room amongst my other imaginary objects.
Just one day before the Making Zen online retreat starts! Are you excited? 🤩Warming-up exercises done? 🏋️Notified family and friends that you’re away in parallel universe for a week? 🪐 Built a fort with your fabric-and-thread stash? 🏰 Stocked up on beverages and snacks? ☕️🥤🍎🍌🍪🍫
Seems like you’re ready to go 😀
My workshop is available to see on Tuesday. Hope you will enjoy it and please share what you make in the Facebook group. I’d love to see it!
For those of you with the VIP-pass things are a bit more relaxed (lifetime access) In that case you also get my artist’s gift: an extensive tutorial with 9 videos on 3D stitch techniques that enable you to create a coral brooch like in the last images. Plus my Stitch Goddess workshop from the archives. Your stay in that parallel universe will be quite extended 😂
Also: this is the last day to get that wonderful VIP-pass for the early bird price of $97
See you at Making Zen! 🙋🏼♀️
P.S. Did you know Making Zen May 2026 has its own YouTube channel? You can watch interviews with all the artists there. Last link in my bio
I have been eco printing fabrics (linen) and threads (mostly silk) using different methods. For the leaf prints on the fabric I used rehydrated leaves collected last autumn. That was a first for me but luckily it worked quite well. 😅
I now have sufficient stash to bring with me to West Dean College this summer. Looking forward to seeing these fabrics become colonised by all sorts of lovely stitch experiments. 🍁🌿🍂🍃🌱🫐🧅
As you know I’m a big fan of natural dyes and eco printing, but not everybody has the opportunity to dive into that. Another possibility to get marks on your fabric as a starting point for embroidery is working with Inktense blocs (or pencils). Their ink works very well on fabric.
On these pieces of linen I used several tie-dye/shibori techniques and I painted the resulting ‘sausages’ 😉with ink. See last image for the ‘sausages’ before painting.
After painting, washing and ironing I made three of them into hoop embroideries with Ecovita wool thread. These threads are botanically dyed and I think their colours match those of the ink very well.
Do you know the ribbed spiderweb stitch? This surprisingly versatile stitch lends itself for making elements that seem to come right out of the sea, like shells and urchins. I’ll take you through all the steps needed to create these small beauties and how you can combine them in a lovely brooch in my Making Zen workshop.
You can watch the workshop for free (!) plus all the other wonderful workshops from the Making Zen retreat from May 4-8. Each workshop can be watched during 24 hours. If you register through the link in my bio you get all the info needed and the schedule for each day from @zenstitching . What a great way to nourish your creativity! Even if you want to watch just one of the workshops it’s already worth your while, but why not really dive into the joy of creating with a few more?
You will also get an offer to buy the VIP-pass for the whole event. This pass gives you lifetime access to all the workshops so you can watch and rewatch at your leisure. Plus a host of artist’s gifts (mine is an extensive tutorial with lots of techniques fully explained to create the rectangular brooch in the last images), workshops from the archives and more.
If you are already registered and are pondering on buying that pass I can advice to do it before the retreat starts because you then get the early bird price.
And of course I hope to see you all and everything you make in the Facebook group belonging to the event. Can’t wait for that creative buzz to start! Not long now! 😀
If you want to turn a beautiful pebble, shell or pottery shard into wearable art, crochet is an excellent way to do so. There are several ways of doing this and one of them is starting with a motif on one side, adapt the shape to the object and stretch it around the object until it’s firmly secured and you can turn it into a pendant, for instance. There’s some improvisation required and in my new video tutorial on Patreon I show how I go about it. Plus an extra PDF with 6 motifs that can be a starting point. This is part 2 in a series of new videos on using crochet to enhance precious small objects. It is a very satisfying and quick thing to do 😀 although admittedly working with fine threads and hooks can be a bit fiddly.
It’s nearly time for the workshops of Making Zen May 2026 to be released for VIP-pass holders. Just a few days more! So exciting 😀🥳
There are 38(!) other talented artists and teachers besides myself with a wide array of workshops. Swipe through the images to see a selection of them and check them out! (I’ve included myself with the sea brooch workshop 😊)
Many I know well and love for their clear, calm and creative style of teaching. If you have participated in earlier events you no doubt know what I’m talking about. But there are less familiar names too (for me at least) and that is always exciting.
Some workshops are already high on my wish list to watch, but I am going to watch quite a few of the others too as there are always ideas, tips or approaches that are inspiring even if you don’t make all the projects. Thanks to the VIP-pass I get access to the workshops on April 21, so ahead of the actual retreat, and can start enjoying everything in my own pace. It’s so enriching and encouraging to see all the beautiful things you can create, it will nourish my own creative practice for months to come.
Nice fabric ✅
Lovely threads ✅
Image of what you want to stitch✅
Only choice left is what stitches you are going to use to bring your vision to life. And that can be a daunting choice because each stitch has its own characteristics and will work in some situations and not so well in others. And also: how to combine them?
I write about that in a new article on Patreon. Spoiler alert: my best tip is to make samples and play and experiment like you see in the first image. 😀
I’m planning on doing a whole series of step-by-step tutorials on making brooches with 3D-stitches, with a theme for each brooch and videos for all the stitches and for assembly. I have made several brooches:
1 Moss/lichen brooches
2 Garden brooches
3 Landscape brooches
4 Sea/coral brooches
5 Flower meadow brooches
Both in a rectangular shape and a smaller round one.
What would be your favourite?
🌱🦀🌻🐚🪷🪸🌾🌸
TIP: if you feel most attracted to the sea/coral ones I can advise to register for the Making Zen retreat (link in bio) because my workshop there (can be watched for free) is on a round sea brooch and participants with the VIP-pass get an extensive 9-video tutorial on the bigger coral brooch as an artist’s gift. Those will not be in my shop for some time (need to make the other ones first 😊)
