Celestial Stitching – Have You Heard of Slow Stitching?

Textile artist Linda McNutt will be offering a class, “Celestial Stitching” in conjunction with her gallery show at Verdigris Tea, 135 Warren Street @2nd in Hudson, NY. 
Participants can either bring creative stitching projects from home or begin fresh under McNutt’s guidance.
Classes are $20 each and benefit the Art School of Columbia County.  Reservations are required.  Call 518.828.3139.   

Linda McNutt has been practicing slow stitching for years.  It’s using only needle, thread and scissors to create gorgeous art.  Now she’s offering classes.

Celestial Stitching (so named to coincide with the Lunar New Year) takes place on Wednesday, January 29th and Wednesday February 5th from 4-6PM at Verdigris Tea, 135 Warren Street @ 2nd, in Hudson, NY.  Classes are $20. each.  Participants can choose to attend one or both.    Revenue will benefit the Art School of Columbia County.  Reservations are requested due to limited seating.   Call 518.828.3139 to reserve space.

McNutt will lead participants in creating a small ‘slow-stitch’ project with a Celestial theme – working with tea bags and fabric ephemera.  “I’ll bring some materials,” McNutt explained, “and I encourage participants to bring their own fabric scraps.  It makes it more personal.”  Those attending are also asked to bring a needle, embroidery thread, and scissors.

“We’re happy to include both novices and seasoned sewers,” McNutt says.  “The camaraderie from joining in the creative process is valuable in itself.”  Those with uncompleted sewing projects are encouraged to join in also.  ‘We’d love to have a roomful of enthusiastic creators.”

There are plenty of benefits to ‘slow stitching.’  Statistics emphasize hand/eye coordination, a reduction of stress and anxiety, lower heart rate, social interaction without electronics and the satisfaction of creativity.

“We’re calling it the Stitch Café,” says Verdigris Tea founder, Kim Bach.  “While Linda and I worked together hanging her art show (at the Tea Shop through 2/24/2025), we lamented about how this craft is so little understood.  We decided that we could offer a class and participants could learn what can be created by using hand work.  Just looking at the pieces on display is really inspirational.”

The workshop/class is open to everyone.  Those interested can bring works in progress, or, working with McNutt’s guidance, create something brand new.