If I don’t do some couching I will burst

If I Don’t Do Some Couching I Will Burst’ was the explanation I gave to Dr. Amy Twigger-Holroyd to explain my need to make in order to feel more balanced due to work commitments generally, and during the Covid-19 pandemic in particular, and why I drew on couching as a stitch to achieve this. It was not until writing this essay about ‘The Piece’ I stitched in 2021 to stop me from ‘bursting’, that I realised the centrality of the work to expanded meanings of self-care.‘The Piece’ links my claims for psychological space, physical making space, camaraderie with like-minded makers and a quest for wholeness, all taking place within my home, in order to achieve the space that Louise Bourgeois refers to as being ‘‘a metaphor for the structure of our existence’ (Lorz 2015).