I’m currently on maternity leave and I feel somewhat suffocated by what this stage of parenting feels like. “Suffocated” is probably too strong a word, but it’s the one that comes to mind. The second time around, the feeling feels the same, but less upsetting, as I know it won’t be like this forever. I am much more prepared to ride the wave this time and accept each day as it comes. This time I truly know how temporary it all is. One day my daughter will eat from a source that is not my body. She will sleep on a surface that is not my chest. She will be able to communicate with more than tears. And I will miss these days where I can soothe her (most of the time) with so little.
When thinking about the next experiment (the first that I have created since having my baby in February), I wanted to think about this feeling I currently have. The feeling of being so stretched for resources - time, energy, money and sleep and wondering how creativity can fit amongst it all. My studio is currently packed up - my sewing machines are covered and my desk is sprawled with tubs and bags of clothing for my daughters that need to be sorted, stored or passed along. I am the full time carer of my three month old.
When I think about making things, I feel guilty. Guilty that there’s no space for it. Guilty about the resources sitting untouched in my stash just metres from where I write this. As I thought about it, I realised that it doesn’t take being a parent to a new baby to feel like this. So many of us feel so stretched for many reasons - caring for others, working too much, being in poor health, being stressed - how can we remain in touch with our creativity without it feeling like another chore or something else that’s competing for resources?
I have been thinking about how I can have a softer relationship with making. If I want to be connected to my creativity for the long haul, the relationship needs to leave room for changing energy levels, shifting priorities, a messy house, tired brains and the reality of being a person with a full life outside of sewing.
Something I have come to accept is that not every season is built for ambitious projects. Sometimes creativity looks like:
Tracing a pattern while your dinner cooks
Mending or altering something instead of starting from scratch
Stitching a few rows of embroidery while watching something trashy on television.
Rearranging your fabric stash to get a better idea of what you already have
Thinking about making without necessarily making anything at all.
And I think there’s something important in that.
Because somewhere along the way, many of us have learned to measure creativity (and everything else we do) by output. By finished garments, momentum and how much we can make, share or achieve. But what if creativity could also be restorative? Gentle? Spacious? What if making could meet us where we are, instead of demanding we become someone else first?
When you read these words do your lungs fill up like mine do? I find that the guilt turns to relief and creativity feels a little more possible when I lower the stakes and my expectations of what creativity should look like right now.
The next experiment - Softening - is about loosening your grip a little, and finding a gently way to stay connected to making.
Making, Again is an ongoing series of gentle creative experiments for paid subscribers. Every six weeks, we explore a new theme together through reflection, conversation and low-pressure creative prompts. The experiments are designed to help you reconnect with your creativity in ways that feel achievable within real life, not separate from it.
You can think of them as touchpoints rather than tasks. Small invitations to notice what’s going on beneath the surface of your making practice and to respond with curiosity instead of criticism.
This experiment is about softening the edges a little.
Softening expectations.
Softening timelines.
Softening the idea that creativity only “counts” when it results in something finished or useful.
Instead, we’ll explore what it looks like to make in ways that feel comforting, playful, grounding or nourishing. To follow energy instead of forcing it. To create space for creativity to exist in smaller, quieter forms.
What you’ll find in the Playbook for this Experiment
Inside the Playbook, you’ll find gentle reflections, prompts and Making Experiments designed to help you reconnect with your creativity without pressure. Some are practical. Some are reflective. Some may not involve sewing clothing at all.
You might find yourself:
returning to a forgotten handcraft
making something tiny and low-stakes
creating a comforting ritual around creativity
noticing the seasons of your energy and attention
exploring what rest and creativity have to do with one another
letting yourself make slowly, imperfectly or inconsistently
None of this is about doing creativity “properly.”
It’s about remembering that your creative practice belongs to you. It can shift and change alongside your life. It can become quieter when needed and it can pause and return. It can soften.
👉 Download the Playbook below
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