Happy New Year!: 2026
New year begins in the studio with a hand-stitched patch for my old linen smock. I don't recall when I bought this shirt from The Gatsby's boutique in Great Barrington MA, but it may be 30 or more years. The fabric is quite threadbare in spots now, and I'm having a wonderful time stitching and patching so that it can keep going for some more years. It's a short-sleeve shirt and serves very well to protech my clothing since it is getting thicker and thicker with patches and fill pattern stitches.
This large patch it the greater part of a vintage handkerchief that I scored from Swanson's Fabrics in Turner's Falls MA. https://www.swansonsfabrics.com/ I'm having a very good time stitching all over it to join it firmly to the deteriorating fabric below, and it's slowly stabilizing both fabrics by making them virtually into one strong fabric.
I'm opting for using a variety of stitches to fill in the empty spaces rather than the straight lines of running stitch that is very popular right now. I'm going for a look on this patch which is more like stippling, It is tiny back stitches that form tiny dots. I'll use a small variety of other stitches as well.
I've been collecting vintage cotton and linen hankies and table linens from Swanson's for a few years now and will be using them on my signficant mending pile over the course of 2026. It's time to get everything back into working order!
If you want to see more everyday photos of what I am doing I post frequently on Instagram @journalofathousandlives
