Cross-stitching!
This month’s episode saw us creating our first ever Mad Makers packs and posting them off to crafty folk across the UK – and we were pleasantly surprised how quickly they were snapped up! It was also the first time that someone approached us about recording an episode. @stitching_4_change first encountered Mad Covid at the Mad Symposium in October – and knew straight away that she wanted to be involved!
We think that sharing our passions and skills with other mad folk is a great way to be in community together… that’s why the Mad Covid coaster™ was born. The pattern is exclusive to MadCovid and was designed especially for this Mad Makers episode. @stitching_4_change would like to make it clear that you don’t have to feel calm or relaxed when you craft (she doesn’t!), you can still enjoy doing something even if you’re doing it compulsively or manically, or maybe it’s just preferable to doing nothing. There’s so much pressure from the mainstream craft movement to be “mindful” or “hygge” when you’re crafting, and for a lot of mad folk that is simply unattainable. In short:
“Be Mad, Do Craft!”
The materials you’ll need are below. Those who requested kits should have received most of them in your Mad Makers kit through the post. Links are included:
- MadCovid coaster pattern (above)
- 14count aida fabric
- Embroidery thread (known as “floss”)
- Coaster / fridge magnet
- An embroidery needle
- Scissors
Some optional extras:
- Squared paper (for designing a pattern)
- Coloured pens (for designing a pattern)
- Ruler
- Needle threader
- A plastic needle (this is an option for those who can’t use sharp objects, and can ask someone else to cut the threads for you)
If you run into any difficulties whilst making your MadCovid coaster, @stitching_4_change would be more than happy to try and help if you message her on Instagram, or you can email madcovid@gmail.com. Try and bear in mind that threads will knot, no matter how careful you are, and that you will stray from the pattern by accident no matter how diligently you follow it. Such is life’s rich tapestry…
Take lots of breaks, it’s not meant to be completed in one go! Rome wasn’t built in a day and the Mad Covid coaster wasn’t stitched in a week (in fact, it took about 6 weeks to film this episode)… don’t forget to share a picture of the finished product on Instagram and tag us @madcovid! Or email us madcovid@gmail.com and join our Mad Makers digital gallery!
If you have a particular skill or craft that you’d like to share with the Mad Covid community, please get in touch with us by emailing madcovid@gmail.com – you don’t need to have a specific idea in mind necessarily, we can chat through what’s practical and work it out together! We’ll work with you throughout the whole process, and can also help with filming equipment e.g. by sending a tripod and/or a memory card for your phone. We’ll also take care of all the editing for you!
Finally, we’ll be taking a short break next month. Mad Makers will be back to our scheduled programming in February! We’ll see you as usual on the last Monday of the month. Thank you for joining us this year and for all your support, we love crafting with you! Take care, makers 🙂
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask that you seek our permission before you use any of our material – this includes researchers who want to harvest our data for analysis!
Mad Covid 