If you’re looking for a relaxing way to pass the time and get creative, hand sewing/embroidery/stitching – whatever you want to call it – might be for you.

Anyone who hand sews will tell you it has a calming, meditative quality and there’s plenty of research to back this up. In fact, getting busy with a needle and thread can:

Reduce anxiety and lower blood pressure: the repetitive, rhythmic quality of stitching by hand is incredibly calming for both mind and body.

Encourage mindfulness: when you’re sewing, you have to concentrate on creating each stitch, which is a great way to focus the mind. If you’re paying attention to what you’re doing, your brain is less likely to become distracted or dwell on negative thoughts.

Slow cognitive decline: Sewing requires creativity, concentration, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, problem solving and learning new skills. These activities have all been shown to help keep your cognitive and motor skills sharp as you age.

Help reduce chronic pain: as well as stitching’s meditative qualities, focusing on every stitch and following a pattern can prove a very effective distraction from chronic pain for some people.

Improve confidence and self-esteem: we all need a sense of agency and feel better about ourselves when we’ve created something, especially if it’s colourful and aesthetically satisfying. Feedback from others can also give our self-worth a serious boost.

Help reduce depression: creativity, mindfulness and relaxation are all benefits of sewing and all proven to boost our mental wellbeing.

Create social connections: while some people prefer to sew in solitude, for many it can be a great social activity. Whether you meet with friends, join a local sewing group or share your sewing online, becoming part of a sewing community is a good way to strengthen social connections and reduce loneliness.

Help you achieve a ‘flow’ state: being ‘in the zone’ and totally absorbed in an activity is incredibly good for your mental health. Many sewing enthusiasts love the hobby for just this reason. (If you want to know more about the benefits of achieving a ‘flow state’, positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s TED Talk  is fascinating stuff.)

Have a go and feel the benefits

Hand sewing is something I’ve done since someone first bought me a cross stitch kit for my birthday an embarrassingly long time ago. And is something I’d fallen out of the habit of doing in the last few years. So, I decided to get my mojo back on a local course with renowned textiles tutor Suzi Park (otherwise known as Suzi Stitch) of Make it in Wales at Stiwdio3 in Cardigan.

A chilled-out day of learning hand stitching techniques from Suzi, in a light airy studio with lovely people, was just what I needed to find inspiration again. At the end of the day, every single person there felt relaxed, happy and motivated to go home and carry on creating with a needle and thread. It didn’t matter whether we’d just practiced rows of plain stitches, or attempted a masterpiece, the positive effects we all experienced were the same.

So, if you want to get creative and boost your wellbeing, why not give hand stitching a go? There are lots of ways to get into it – buy a starter kit, join a local group, treat yourself to a course, follow a YouTube tutorial or just grab a needle, thread and fabric and go for it. It’s not expensive, doesn’t take up much room (unless like me you start collecting stupid amounts of fabric and sewing books) and doesn’t require any expertise. The simplest stitches can be as beautiful and emotionally beneficial as the fancy ones!

If you’d like to try hand sewing with Suzi Stitch, keep an eye out for courses on the Make it in Wales website. Stiwdio3 also host a community sewing group for anyone who’d like to make their sewing more social. Happy sewing!