Now that you have learned some of the building blocks of hand sewing, you might be wondering how you can apply this skill..? Let me share a few ways that hand sewing comes in handy:

• As a child I sewed nearly ALL my dolls growing up, and I sewed them by hand, as well as sewing their doll clothes by hand too. Doll making still uses hand sewing and making doll clothes is fun!
• The Running Stitch may be a basic stitch, but used as a repeat pattern with various thread colors, it can be a great way to embellish a plain table cloth, linen napkins, or baby clothes and bibs
• You can make a simple bag to fill with little treats and give away as gifts
• Traditional Book Binding continues to use needles and thread for binding books together! Once you have practiced the running stitch, sewing a book signature will be easy!
• You can sew a little decorative pillow, and closing the pillow after stuffing still uses hand sewing methods, even if you sew the pillow on a sewing machine
• You can sew a Prayer Flag or two (or MORE!) to hang in your garden, in your home or at your office
• Haute Couture uses hand sewing skills for final finishing on fine garments - this, of course, adds to the final price!
• Did you know that astronaut suits still utilize hand sewing? Read more about that HERE

Another aspect of hand sewing is the therapeutic value of slowing down to sew something by hand, or to embroider something to make an everyday item more decorative. The Slow Stitch Movement is a recent movement that values the therapeutic qualities of hand sewing by encouraging hand stitching for relaxation and meditation purposes, as an anti-dote to the hectic pace of our busy world. I'll share a little more about Slow Stitching in the next lesson...

What ways can YOU think of to incorporate hand sewing in your world?

Check out the photo gallery in the next lesson to view projects that incorporate hand sewing for more ideas and inspiration!