Making With Intention: Choosing Materials Mindfully
I remember standing in an old haberdashery shop, surrounded by rows of colour, texture and shiny things. Feeling at peace but also overwhelmed from all the colours and textures and crafts I could do. I started picking out items, drawn in by their colour and textures.
Later that day when I was sitting down on a quiet evening about to begin work on my next piece, I looked at the materials I had bought and felt a disconnect. They were pretty, yes, and what I needed for the project, but they didn’t carry the meaning I wanted to feel. I began to wonder: what would it feel like to choose differently? What is every material we picked carried intention - not just for what we wanted to make, but for how we wanted to live?
Crafting is often seen as the act of making, but it also begins with choosing. All those choices hold a quiet power.
The Hidden stories of Materials
Every ball of wool, every skein of thread, every piece of fabric carries a story. Wool once grew on the back of a sheep.Cotton began as a plant in a field. Even synthetic fibres were born of oil and chemical processes transformed from raw matter into something soft enough for our hands.
Often we forget these origins. Materials arrive to us clean, neatly packaged and ready to be used, as though they are simply appearing on a shelf. But when we pause to think, we can trace them back to fields, animals, factories and the human hands that toughed them before us.
Recognising those hidden stories deepens our relationship with what we use. A scrap of fabric is more than the cloth, its history. A skein of hand dyed wool is not just wool, it's the vision who created the colour for it. When we choose with awareness, we honour the lives, labour and resources that went into it.
Mindfulness in Choosing
Most of us have, at some point, gathered more supplied than we truly needed. There’s joy in abundance, but there can also be waste - unfinished projects, cupboards of untouched materials. Mindful choosing before purchasing slows that cycle.
Before we buy or pick up something new, pause to ask:
Do I truly need this, or am I filling a momentary craving?
Where did it come from? Who made it? What impact did it have?
Will I use it? Does it spark joy or meaning?
These small questions shift our relationship with making. Instead of rushing to buy for a quick dopamine hit, we place ourselves in awareness. Our supplies also stop being clutter, and become companions to the work we most value.
Sustainability and Kindness in Materials
There is also a wider mindfulness to consider: the impact of our materials on the world around us. Every item we craft with is connected to the planet, and choosing with care can be a quiet act of kindness.
Second - hand fabric shops, charity shops, and community stash swaps offer treasures without demanding new resources. Natural fibres biodegrade more kindly to synthetic. Recycling old clothes into patches or quilts keeps them from landfill and gives them new life.
This isn’t about guilt or perfection, it's about awareness. Each mindful choice is a tread in a larger tapestry of care, one that respects the earth as much as it feeds our creative joy.
Rituals of Material Selection
Mindful choosing can itself become a ritual. The next time you're about to buy or gather materials you might:
Take a breath before picking something up, allowing space to feel into the choice.
Touch the material slowly - notice the texture, weight, temperature in your hands.
Imagine the journey it has taken before it reached you.
Picture how it will live on in your finished work
Offer a quiet word of thanks for the resource and in the hands that brought it here.
Photo by Chiara Guercio on Unsplash
By turning selection into a ritual, we infuse even the earliest stages of making with mindfulness. Our craft becomes not only about the outcome but also the way we make it.
Intention stitched into every choice
Crafting with intention is not about being rigid or perfect, it's about awareness. It is about recognising that the things we use matter, that they carry stories, that they deserve our attention.
When we choose our materials with care, we make more than objects. We make connections. We connect to the earth, to traditions of craft, to the lies of others, and to our own deer values.
The next time you reach for the yarn, fabric or clay - pause. Ask what story it tells out. Ask whether its story is something you want to stitch into your life.
Because crafting, at its heart, is not only about what we create with our hands, it's about the mindful choices that guide those hands. One thread at a time.
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