Making Zen "Embroidered" Pocket

Oh my life epic Making Zen workshop. 

On Day 4 of the retreat (Thursday 7th May 2026) there was a session by Giovanna Zara  ( and here ) called The Stitcher's Pocket Companion. 

I knew it was a little more involved so I left it to be done at my leisure after the retreat. 

As we were experiencing a heatwave here in the UK, a slow stitching project was just the ticket. 

I had to cut into a second pair of my son's old jeans for the base fabric. I don't have "batting" so used some felt of which I have loads! 

I also have loads of embroidery floss.

Even more now that I have scrapped a couple of old half done cross stitches I hadn't looked at in decades. That is freeing in itself. 

I used up lots of scraps of thread on this project too.

So then what is the difference between Embroidery and Slow Stitching. I had a definition in my mind but googled it anyways and it is just what I was thinking.

"Embroidery is a technique focused on creating a specific, predefined image or motif, whereas Slow Stitching is a meditative practice where you stitch intuitively without worrying about the final product...."

I love the freedom of Slow Stitching but having an Embroidery background it's naturally a bit more stitch focused for me. 

There was no plan I just filled the fabric with lots and lots of "Stitching in Colour". I incorporated a few stitches or designs from other sessions on the retreat whilst I was at it. Namely,  the "Sunburst" butterfly the ribbed spiderweb "shell", the "Living Line" and "Dragonfly" design.

I also added a ribbon tab to the front inside edge to make it easier to open.

Then to the concertina pockets on the inside. Never constructed those before, what a great idea.

I used a remnant of fabric which I got at our local scrap store for the pockets - I had just enough. I had some bias binding which I bound the top edges with too.

All in all quite delighted with the project.