Have you ever considered sewing a handbag as an act of meditation or as a way to get in touch with your self and reduce stress? Let’s look at the process In order to see the connection to inner peace.
To make a handbag, the sewer needs to focus on the immediate – you need to be precise and concentrate on what you are doing at the present moment. There are no distractions tolerated and your mind calms because it is focused – the breathing evens out into a regular rhythm. The previous stress you may have experienced fades into the distant past as you look at this perfect piece of fabric in front of you something you have lovingly picked out from the vast array of other fabrics, making a special bond between you and this beautiful organic object waiting for your unique input.

You carefully place your handbag pattern on the fabric and focus on cutting as evenly as possible around the outline of your purse. The anticipation builds as the faint beginnings of your new bag take shape. Diligently, you focus on the task in front of you, cutting in careful precision with total deliberation.

Sewing your handbag is where the actual shape starts to form and you realize you are close to finishing. Keeping the line of stitching straight requires your full attention as the row develops with the edge lined up perfectly and each stitch attains harmony with it’s neighboring stitch. Be aware that there is great peacefulness in this degree of full intensification of thought.

As the bag is nearing completion, you may start thinking about how the fabric texture suggests a pleasant memory such as the feel of your Mother’s dress against your skin when you were little or a soft Summer day. Your mind peacefully wanders to that special time when you were younger and life seemed so simple.

The calmness and inner peace you attained through the process of creating your own handbag changes to happy pride as you display this unique work of art to friends and family and bask in their words of praise for your talent and dedication. You now have a physical reminder in the form of your bag that you are special and talented with a gift of creation. Look at your new handbag and remember the calmness you felt when you were in the midst of evolving this piece of fabric into a special work of art and know that you can carry this peace with you always.