A Stitch a Day with Rebecca King

I love watching films, I really do. I love being able to watch a plot unfurl before me with twists that I didn’t see coming. But do you know who loves films even more? Rebecca King. For every film that she watched in 2023, she embroidered an icon representing something that happened. Whether it be a character or a plot device, she stitched one tiny, yet detailed icon for each movie on her Film Journal.

When I started seeing photos of Rebecca’s Film Journal appear on my Instagram feed, I was instantly enamoured; the details, the spacing, the number of films is truly astounding. She has even been kind enough to spill the details about what went into the making of her Film Journal. She was even gracious enough to share some amazing photos with us – she is a professional photographer after all! We’ll get to that a bit later though.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am 48, I live in a beautiful town called Lewes, near Brighton. I have been married for over 25 years to my lovely husband Andrew, and we have a wonderful daughter called Harriet who is in her 20s. We also have an extremely cute British Shorthair cat called Peggy.

I have run my own wedding photography business for over seven years. Apart from embroidery, I love films (hence the film journal), and I enjoy listening to music and going to live gigs. I also like to get out in nature and take photographs. I recently went to see the puffins on Skomer, which was magical.

What have been some of your favourite movies that you’ve embroidered icons for this year?

That’s a tricky question. I love them all, and I am proud of what I have achieved, but there are a few I keep going back to, like Ray Harryhausen’s Medusa from Clash of the Titans (1981).

I also love The Snowman. It was really important to get him right, as he’s such an iconic character, and was a special part of my childhood Christmas. I was glad that I decided not to fill him in, as I think the simplicity works better. I was originally going to make him 3D as I had with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, but I decided it wasn’t right for him.

Puss in Boots was fun too. It was harder to embroider popular characters like him as everyone knows what he looks like, and you can’t mess it up. When I embroidered Henry Cavill from Mission Impossible – Fallout, it was very difficult as it had to look like him – but have you ever tried to sew an iconic moustache that’s only 1mm?! I was making icons that were on average between 1 and 3 cm tall, and some really needed that fine detail to make them work, so it was tricky!

I do also enjoy the little Shih Tzu from Seven Psychopaths. She was so adorable in the film and I was glad I managed to capture her well.

What supplies do you use for your movie journal?

I used a colourful plastic hoop to display the piece, which is just over 9.5 inches. I found that size was too big to sew with as it made my hands and wrists ache, so I would use a 7.5-inch wooden hoop when sewing. The owner of my local haberdashery recommended that I wrap the inner wooden hoop with fabric so the hoop stays taught and doesn’t get baggy. It really works for me.

I traced a lot of my icons from my phone screen, but some were so small that you couldn’t make out the detail so I would then draw the rest by eye. I would be constantly looking from my phone to the piece to make sure what I was sewing was correct. I wasn’t inventing my own icons – I had to be precise with these famous images or it wouldn’t work.

I used a ‘Pilot – Frixion heat erasable pen’ to draw on my fabric. I found the purple worked best. It doesn’t leave a mark, as long as it’s not left on the fabric for too long. I used a nice soft cotton, not too stiff. I also don’t like it if it has any stretch to it, that can be a nightmare to sew. Also jersey – no thanks.

I have a mass of different cottons from Anchor and DMC. I love trying to use all the gorgeous colours. For the really fine work, I used Gütermann threads, as they are finer and less fluffy than the embroidery cottons. I also used their metallic threads, again, the finer ones worked better, as the thicker ones would split and be more difficult to thread on my tiny 4cm needle.

How did you learn how to embroider?

My mother taught me the basics of how to embroider when I was a very young girl. She would often complain my stitches were too small, but I guess that’s worked to my advantage now.

I haven’t spoken with my parents for nearly 20 years. One of the repercussions of that was that I stopped sewing for many years. I got back into sewing and crafts by making felt hanging decorations for family and friends. The embroidery came back to me through that: I was trying to make small details but felt doesn’t like to be cut too small, so as a consequence I had to sew on the details. It then evolved from there, and I realised how much I enjoyed it and had missed it.

My parents have taken a lot from me as a person, but I am grateful for the gift of embroidery I was given. It gives me an outlet to be creative. I find that it is a form of mindfulness for me. I am only focused on the sewing. I will usually have some music playing, but otherwise, it’s just me and the hoop.

How do you go about spacing out your icons?

I traced the display hoop and tried to work out a basic idea of how much space I would need for each month. It wasn’t very technical. I knew I would need more space for October, as I do ‘Shocktober’ every year, which basically means I spend the month of October watching quite a lot of horrors or thrillers.

I also needed a lot of space in December for all of the many Christmas films my family and I love to watch.

What made you decide to go with your current layout?

I just went with the flow. If a month went over I didn’t worry, as I knew I wouldn’t have as much time to watch as many films over the summer. I knew if I had a month where I hadn’t watched many films I could make an icon bigger. As it wasn’t a daily project, and I wasn’t having to sew 365 icons, I had more flexibility.

What has been the most challenging aspect of creating this project for you?

One of the biggest challenges was finding the time. As part of my wedding packages, I embroider a bespoke piece for my couples. I usually do a copy of one of their photographs. I also make felt gingerbread people avatars of them too. There was a lot of embroidery on my plate!

Also, in 2022 I had watched 86 films, so when I went into the project, that’s what I estimated I’d have to sew again, and I thought I could manage it. However, in 2023 (with my daughter back from university) I ended up watching over 120 films, so it became more time-consuming than I had previously thought.

Overall, I loved the whole process of making this journal, (and watching the films), so I didn’t find that a challenge. It was so much fun choosing what I would sew, and then thinking of ways to do it. It was also fun learning new stitches to make it more interesting and textured.

What advice do you have for someone wanting to create a movie journal?

Firstly, get the Letterboxd app. It’s a brilliant way to keep track of what you’ve watched. You log your films, and you can even rate them out of 5. It’s a really interesting film app. You can also connect with friends and family, see what they have been watching, and see if they loved that film as much as you did!

Don’t overthink it. Don’t worry about doing a basic icon. The most tricky thing was choosing what to sew from a terrible film, as they often have no outstanding visual that pops out to embroider (luckily my daughter and I have great taste in films, so it wouldn’t happen very often). Not every icon can be exciting, just like not every film is.

Keep colour and the aesthetic of the piece in mind. You have to create a balance. For example, I didn’t want to bunch lots of black and white films together, as it wouldn’t be as pleasing to look at.

What have you learned from starting a movie journal?

I’ve learned I love films and embroidery, and it was a great idea to combine the two. I also learned how to do a stitched padding stitch,which is what I used on my Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. I also learned that I watch a lot of films.

How have you managed to stay motivated throughout the year?

It was easy for me as I loved every minute of it. It also added an extra amount of excitement when I watched films because I would wonder what I would be sewing from it. Plus, I always have to be creating something, I get twitchy if I don’t.

The first journal I made was in 2020. I decided I was too boring to do an icon a day about my life, so I would focus on current affairs, music, film etc. The woman in the haberdashery shop said: “What are you doing that for, nothing ever happens.” Well, it all started out as fun: with Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina candle, Parasite winning four Oscars… but as we all know 2020 turned into the biggest pile of s**t.

It was so hard sewing it, it could be so upsetting at points, I’m sure it didn’t help that I was documenting the world death toll, George Floyd and one celebrity death or disaster after another. But there were good points too, like Donald Trump losing the election.

I stayed motivated as It felt like a really important piece to be making, a tiny version of the Bayeux Tapestry (which we know isn’t a tapestry) – it mattered.

That’s what got me through it. It would be my legacy piece. Diaries/journals always have more value after the fact. Their significance is only apparent years later. They are there as a memory, a reminder of what has been. Which you may not realise at the time how special it is. I think that’s a way to stay motivated. You’re making your own little Bayeux Tapestry, about your own fights and wars, about your good days and great days. I don’t think anything that can give joy to you or others is a bad thing.

Embroidery is a marvellous legacy to leave the world. To think that we still have some small pieces of embroidery by Mary Queen of Scots, which she made whilst imprisoned is incredible. So keep that in mind when you’re losing interest or you’re thinking of giving up: one day it could be behind a glass panel in a museum, or wrapped in tissue paper in a box, and be someone’s prized possession. It may not be anything as grand as that. It may only be that you refer back to it in the future, take pride in your accomplishment and find pleasure in thinking of all the things that you did, or the films you saw, in that year.

I think that’s one of the reasons I love photography too as it’s memories being documented, to be shared and loved for future generations.

Do you have anything else that you would like to share about your movie journal?

I hope this inspires someone to do their own movie journal or a journal of something they love, and are passionate about. Whether it’s birds or wildlife you’ve seen, or albums you’ve listened to, have fun and do it. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect: all that matters is it’s yours and you love it and learn from it. Do what makes you happy.

That blank piece of fabric has a world of opportunities open to you, you just need to sew that first stitch.

Are you working on a movie journal for 2024?

I have a packed wedding schedule this year and knowing how difficult last year was to fit in, I know I won’t get time to do it. Instead, I am planning on doing a once-a-month one, in a 4-inch hoop. I will sew one of my favourite films that month. It will be nicer to make the icons bigger, so I can add more detail, and practise more new stitches. I have already thought about doing Godzilla, from the fantastic new Japanese film Godzilla Minus One for January. The amazing spines are asking for detached woven picot stitches. I have already ordered a gorgeous metallic blue thread, which will be perfect.

Where can we find you online?

My only sewing page is on Instagram, and the name is @we_should_all_be_kings.

It’s not a great statement on the monarchy or anything, I wanted to have a page with my surname (King) in it. It started more as a personal page, (I have two photography pages and another one for my cat), but over time it has morphed into an embroidery film page.

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Thank you to Rebecca for taking the time to answer my numerous questions, it’s been such an enjoyable interview. Go ahead an give Rebecca a follow, you won’t regret it.

This is one of my last A Stitch a Day interviews in the completed 2023 series. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter to receive an email once I begin to accept new applicants for interviews. I expect this to be around June time. 

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