Slow Stitching Set - Crimson & Clove

A collection of richly colored textiles, beautiful old materials, and curious little treasures, gathered from different places and times and ready for a new chapter

Our Slow Stitching Sets bring together vintage fabrics, hand-dyed fibers, beautiful threads, beads, paper ephemera, and found objects. Each material has been selected for its color, texture, history, or simply because we thought it was interesting. 

The collection moves through shades of crimson, cherry, wine, faded rose, and natural linen. antique French toweling, richly colored glass beads, and fragrant whole cloves bring color, texture, and a little unexpected warmth to the assortment.

These aren't conventional kits with a prescribed pattern or finished project. Instead, they're an invitation to experiment with layering, stitching, wrapping, gathering, embellishing, and making something entirely your own.

What Can You Make?

There's enough material here to explore a dozen or more small projects, depending on their size. Generous pieces of linen and cotton provide a foundation, while the smaller textile fragments, ribbons, beads, and found objects become the details that make each piece personal.

A few ideas to get you started:

• Stitched talismans and amulets: Layer vintage silk, hemp, linen, beads, and meaningful details into a small keepsake.

• Mini textile collages: Combine red shibori, sakiori, antique paper, and decorative stitching into little works of art.

• Brooches, bag charms, and key chains: Use the included safety pins and swivel hook to turn your stitched pieces into something you can wear or carry.

• Clove sachets and tiny pouches: Combine the included whole cloves with wool stuffing to create something fragrant and useful.

• Fabric beads and necklaces: Wrap silk and cotton scraps into small shapes, embellish them with thread.

• Needle books and stitched patches: Make something practical from your experiments.

• Small wall hangings: Use the included driftwood as a hanger for a miniature textile composition, or wrap it with colorful threads and fibers.

You might spend an afternoon making a little stitched ornament, create a thoughtful handmade gift, or return to the collection over time, adding a few stitches whenever inspiration strikes.

The Stories Behind the Materials

Part of the pleasure of slow stitching is discovering the character of the materials themselves. This collection brings together textiles and objects made for very different purposes, from traditional clothing to household linens and handwritten financial records.

Miyako Jofu — Fine Japanese Hemp Cloth

One of the particularly special textiles in this collection is vintage Miyako Jofu, a traditional Japanese cloth associated with the Miyako Islands of Okinawa.

Miyako Jofu is renowned for its exceptionally fine fibers, intricate weaving, and the extraordinary skill involved in its production. Traditionally made from ramie, a plant fiber related to nettle, this lightweight cloth was prized for summer kimono because of its cool, crisp feel.

The vintage fragment included here offers a small opportunity to work with a textile whose production reflects generations of specialized craftsmanship.

Vintage Japanese Silk Shibori

The collection includes several pieces of vintage red silk shibori, originally made for Japanese garments.

Shibori is a family of traditional resist-dyeing techniques in which cloth is tied, stitched, folded, or compressed before dyeing. These methods produce patterns ranging from tiny dots and puckered textures to soft, flowing areas of color.

Sakiori — Cloth Woven from Reclaimed Textiles

Sakiori is a Japanese weaving tradition that gives old cloth a second life.

Historically, worn garments and other textiles were cut or torn into narrow strips, then woven together with new warp threads to create sturdy, useful cloth. In communities where fabric was valuable, this was a practical and resourceful way to make the most of materials already on hand.

The crimson sakiori fragment in this set brings a wonderful woven texture and a connection to that tradition of reuse.

There's something especially fitting about including sakiori in a slow stitching collection: a textile already made from reclaimed materials, ready to become part of another handmade piece.

Oshima Tsumugi & Japanese Kimono Fabrics

You'll also find red-toned Oshima Tsumugi, a fine Japanese woven textile traditionally used for kimono.

Oshima Tsumugi is known for its intricate patterns, smooth surface, and remarkable lightness. Its production involves highly skilled thread preparation, dyeing, and weaving techniques.

Alongside the shibori and sakiori, it offers another example of the extraordinary range of textures and textile traditions found in Japan.

Antique French Linen Tea Towels from the 1930s

Among the more unexpected material is a piece of an antique French linen tea towel dating to the 1930s, which still carried their original labels and price stickers when we acquired them. 

Bank Ledgers and Postage Stamps

We've included original pages from a First National Bank ledger dating from 1931 to 1937.

These pages carry the handwritten entries and everyday financial records of another era, with the lines, numbers, and penmanship that make old documents so visually interesting.

They can become backgrounds for textile collages, small paper embellishments, or simply a source of inspiration for stitching and mark-making.

Vintage red postage stamps add another layer of printed history to the collection.

Hand-Dyed Silk Ribbons & Beautiful Threads

A generous assortment of ribbons and threads adds softness, movement, and opportunities for embellishment.

You'll find hand-dyed silk ribbons in rose, red, and mother-of-pearl tones, along with deep wine-colored silk velvet, frayed silk crepe, and jute-striped webbing.

The collection also includes a bundle of Laine St-Pierre wool threads in ten warm colors. These beautiful threads are useful for decorative stitching, couching, wrapping, and adding small areas of color and texture.

A red-and-brown hand-dyed thread and organic hand-sewing thread provide still more possibilities.

African Glass Beads & Found Details

The collection includes a recycled red African glass bead, along with a striking red glass disk bead. 

Their rich color and substantial shapes make them wonderful focal points for small textile pieces, especially when combined with the softer textures of silk, linen, and wool.

A small piece of pale driftwood offer opportunities for wrapping, embellishing, or hanging finished work.

Cloves for Little Handmade Gifts

We've also tucked a glassine packet of whole cloves into the collection. Combined with the included wool stuffing and fabric scraps, the cloves can be used to make small fragrant sachets. It's a lovely way to turn a little textile experiment into something useful or a thoughtful handmade gift.

What's Included

Each Red Slow Stitching Set is carefully assembled to closely resemble the assortment shown in our photographs.

Fabrics & Textile Fragments

• Small Red Kaya Bag by Ban Inoue, for keeping your materials together

• Heavyweight linen in White -  9" × 22" (22.9 × 55.9 cm)

• Midweight Linen in Natural - 18" × 22" (45.7 × 55.9 cm)

• Cotton muslin - 18" × 22" (45.7 × 55.9 cm)

• Vintage Miyako Jofu Japanese ramie cloth

• Assorted vintage red Japanese silk shibori fragments

• Antique French linen tea towel fragment

• Red Oshima Tsumugi kimono fabric

• Crimson handwoven sakiori cloth

Threads, Ribbons & Fibers

• Rose hand-dyed silk ribbon

• Red hand-dyed woven silk ribbon

• Mother-of-pearl hand-dyed woven silk ribbon

• Deep wine-colored frayed silk velvet ribbon

• Red silk crepe ribbon with frayed edges

• Red/natural striped jute webbing

• Natural frayed cotton-linen ribbon

• Laine St-Pierre wool/poly thread - 1 1/2 yd (1.4 m) each of 10 colors

• Natural-dyed twisted cotton thread in red and brown

• Hamanaka organic cotton hand-sewing thread

• Wool fiber for stuffing and dimensional work

Vintage Paper, Beads & Found Objects

• Original First National Bank ledger pages dating from 1931–1937

• Vintage red postage stamps

• Red glass disk bead - 3/4" (20 mm)

• Recycled red African glass bead

• Small piece of driftwood

• Whole cloves in a glassine packet

Tools & Finishing Details

• Hand-sewing and embroidery needles on a card

• Assorted safety pins

• 1/2" (1.3 cm) swivel hook

A Note About These Collections

Many of the textiles, beads, papers, and other components are vintage, antique, reclaimed, or handmade. Their variations, irregularities, signs of age, and occasional imperfections are part of what makes them interesting.

Each set is assembled to be a very close match to the one photographed. The vintage materials are available only in limited quantities, and some cannot be replaced once our supply is gone.

There are no rules for what you make, no pattern to follow, and no expectation of perfection. Just a collection of beautiful and curious materials, ready for you to give them a new story.