Say Hello to the Zenkis

Breezes blow

cats purr low

rivers flow

and I sew zenkis.

Say hello to the zenkis

Seven years ago sounds a long time. Even to me. And I’ve been teaching sewing to kids for almost thirty years now. But it was seven years ago that I created my first zenki. That act of creation was a turning point, a corner that I could never have seen around. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that zenkis changed my life.

So, what are zenkis? Well, the simple answer would be that they’re softies, or stuffies as I believe you call them in the U.S. But they’re much more than that too. They’re a different kind of softie and unique in quite a few ways. But I’ll get to that soon.

First, I should rewind a little a tell you how the zenkis came to be.

A very brief history of what inspired the zenkis

One of the most surprising things I discovered when teaching kids to sew was how much they love it but even more surprising was the large number of parents, especially mums, who would tell me that they dearly wished they could sew with their kids but just didn’t know how. If I was inspired by the kids I taught – and almost everything they did was inspiring and bursting with energy and freshness – I was also deeply intrigued that a whole generation lacked any intimate creative experience of sewing and I was inspired to do something (I didn’t know what at the time) to rectify this situation.

The more I looked into this issue and the more I talked to mums (and dads), the more I realized that sewing was lost in a thick fog of myths about its being too difficult for kids or that a needle and scissors were too sharp and risky for kids. I knew from my workshops that none of this was true but despite what I knew it seemed that sewing had been entered, by some invisible hand, onto the cosmic list of endangered arts.

All these things simmered away inside me for a few years and then it happened, even though I don’t understand quite how it happened, and I created two tools to fight this situation. Firstly, I developed a sewing project that would be simple enough for anyone anywhere to make without having any previous sewing experience, a project that would be able to engage the imaginations of children and parents, and that would be endlessly adaptable to new subject matter. That sewing project was my very first zenki. Secondly, I created Sew a Softie as a global sewing movement that would allow me to inspire people all over the planet, especially teachers with students and parents with children, to try their hand at creative sewing by sewing a simple softie and then posting a free tutorial online to inspire others to sew with their kids.

What’s so special about zenkis?

So, what’s unique about my zenkis, outside of the fact that they make me happy? In a word: their design.

A zenki is made from only two pieces of felt. Felt is easy for kids to push a needle through, comes in wonderfully vibrant colours which kids adore, and its soft to the touch, a big plus for young kids. In addition, a zenki-style softie requires no more than a running stitch around its torso, and is designed so that arms, legs, wings, or any other protruding parts don’t need to be inserted and pinned into place, which is a fiddly task for young kids.

This simplicity means a zenki can be fully completed in a single sitting (very important for kids and busy parents) but also, and I really didn’t expect this when I created the design, it means that parents and children can use this design to bring to life almost any softie they can dream up.

The endless adaptability of the zenki design was a genuine surprise, even though I know that one of the most deeply enjoyable aspects of creating anything is that there’s always an element that is outside all our control and all our plans, an element that just appears on its own and says, “Hi, I’m here!” That’s one of the really invigorating things about creative activities. Well, at least, it is for me.

The unique role of zenkis in the Great Scheme of Things

I think the zenkis are the simplest softies in the entire universe. And they do too. Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that zenkis tend to develop their own quirky personalities. Another unexpected outcome. But they make great friends, and friends, even when they annoy or frustrate us, are one of our universe’s most wonderful treasures.

I couldn’t live without friends and I wouldn’t want to live without zenkis. They have certainly enriched my creative journey and my everyday life and, within the framework of Sew a Softie, they have been able to bring the fun and creative buzz of sewing that I love so much to adults and kids all over our planet.