The Thread Journal Archives
Thread Journaling began for me as a quiet way to slow down and make sense of life. Since 2019, I’ve been stitching memories into fabric — family moments, community milestones, the messy middle bits, the things I don’t want to forget. What started as personal creative self-care has grown into a body of work that documents lived experience through thread, and now I’m beginning to explore what it means to treat these journals not just as keepsakes, but as a stitched archive of real life.
Making memories in miniature since 2019...
Over time, I’ve realised this isn’t just about memory-keeping. Stitch has become a way of processing, grounding and gently holding emotions that are sometimes hard to put into words. The slowness of it matters. The repetition matters. In a world that moves quickly and forgets easily, thread journaling feels like a quiet act of care — for myself, for my family, and potentially for the wider community too.
Stitching Through Uncertainty (2020)
In 2020, my Thread Journals became something even deeper. As the world slowed during the pandemic, I found myself stitching the miniature moments — quiet walks, small rituals, the stillness of uncertain days. That year also held personal grief, including a miscarriage, and thread became a way to process what felt too heavy for words. Those pages now hold both the fragility and resilience of that time — a stitched record of a global pause woven together with very personal loss.
From Personal Practice to Shared Healing
What began as something deeply personal slowly became something I felt called to share. I started offering Thread Journal workshops so others could experience the same sense of grounding, reflection and gentle processing that stitch had given me.
My first community Thread Journal workshop was with people living with and receiving treatment for cancer, alongside their friends and family. Together, we stitched memories, messages and meaningful moments — creating pages that weren’t just creative exercises, but future family heirlooms. Pieces of cloth holding love, resilience and connection. It was in that space that I truly saw the power of thread not just as art, but as legacy.
Honouring the Everyday as Heritage
As I’ve reflected on this growing body of work, I’ve started to see these journals as more than personal keepsakes. They are records of ordinary lives — of caregiving, community building, grief, celebration, resilience — the kinds of stories that rarely make it into formal archives. Textile has always carried history quietly, through quilts, samplers and hand-stitched heirlooms. Thread Journals feel like a contemporary continuation of that tradition. They hold lived experience in cloth, preserving the everyday as something worthy of care, attention and cultural value.