What have I learned?

What have I learned this week whilst making face coverings?

I hadn't planned to make face coverings.  My type of machine sewing is to add texture.  It's random and it's haphazard.  None of the skills required to make face coverings.

So what did you learn, I hear you say.  I'm glad you asked.

I learned that I haven't lost my dress making skills after all.  I last made my own clothes in the 1960s.  But guess what!  I can still hack it

I learned to value what I was doing.  Over the last 5 months I've been looking at why I don't value my work.  But making these face coverings has proved to me that my work has value and it's okay to be proud of what I'm doing.  It's also useful to have a purpose in what I'm doing and to know my 'why'.

I learned patience.  Haphazard sewing doesn't cut it when you need to topstitch.  But I dug deep, found my patience gene, and topstitched - mostly neatly - and found I enjoyed it.

I also found that it has made me really keen to finish making face coverings so I can get back to doing what I do best - haphazard and frayed.  But with added value!

And I haven't wanted to do that since the end of February.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Challenge update

As promised, here are my collages to date.  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will already have seen them.

I'm enjoying my 5-10 minutes of creativity a day.

How are you getting on?  Done anything creative lately?

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

What can I do?

This last few days have been strange.  Strange because of the virus BUT more strange because of the death of  George Floyd and the worldwide reaction to it.

Last Tuesday we were encouraged to fill social media with a black square.  I admit I didn't do it.  Lots of people I love and respect did - and that's fine.  But to me it was a silent protest.  And really this isn't the time to be silent.  We have to speak out.  We need to help.

And if you're like me, a white privileged person, it's hard to know what to do.  I think we - I - need to find out more about racism and how we can promote equality.  One thing as a Brit I needed to find out was why racism is such a problem in America.  I found this to be useful.

And then there's this

So what can we do?

I thought it would be great if we could support those who have a voice on social media. And those who don't!   To flood our own social media with the work of non-white authors, poets, artists, creatives.   Use the hashtag #amplifymelanatedvoices

Here are a few IG accounts to look at.
Candice Brathwaite: https://www.instagram.com/candicebrathwaite/

Rachel Cargle: https://www.instagram.com/rachel.cargle/

No White Saviours: https://www.instagram.com/nowhitesaviors/

Munroe Bergdorf: https://www.instagram.com/munroebergdorf/

And a book to read: paperback & Kindle We Need To Talk About Race or here at Book Depository.

If you follow any creative people please share a link to them in the comments below.

Thank you.
Bernice