Sunday, March 11, 2007
Craftivistas unite!
I have been teased about the idea about blogging about knitting before... but what the heck – creativity is in our rhythm of life!
You may have noticed an increasing interest in craft – last month the Guardian gave away a free Guide to Craft (very fab), yesterday it ran a story on some up-and-coming crafters. More and more people are learning to knit – what’s going on? I thought we could pay people in China a pittance to make our clothes for us?
Crafting is becoming an important form of self-expression for a lot of people surrounded by identikit high street fashion. By designing and making, or customising your own, you can make an anti-label statement, and it gives you a relationship with your garment that makes it feel a lot less disposable than a £2.99 T-shirt from H&M or a £1.50 cushion cover from IKEA. A lot of crafting involves recycling, using scraps and waste materials and renewing things you might otherwise throw out, so is environmentally friendly too.
Feminists are also reclaiming crafts – from being abandoned as activities that chain women to the domestic sphere, they are now being embraced as subversive, anti-fashion and creative, and a lot of women are now running their own businesses selling handmade items. There is even a term for subversive, political crafting – craftivism.
Yet it is not good for woman to craft alone – it’s far more fun together! So in this spirit, I am hosting a ‘stitch and bitch’ afternoon on Saturday. Bring your wool, bring your needles, bring your buttons and beads, bring your ribbons and fabric and glue… or just bring those trousers that need the hems turning up, or a T-shirt you want to customise, or just yourself coz I’ve got boxes of stuff! We can share our skills in knitting, sewing, crochet, applique, whatever - so if you have something to teach or want to learn, come along. Drop me an email or text for more details. If we make anything good we can always try and sell it to make money for moot at the next STMW Fayre :-)
You may have noticed an increasing interest in craft – last month the Guardian gave away a free Guide to Craft (very fab), yesterday it ran a story on some up-and-coming crafters. More and more people are learning to knit – what’s going on? I thought we could pay people in China a pittance to make our clothes for us?
Crafting is becoming an important form of self-expression for a lot of people surrounded by identikit high street fashion. By designing and making, or customising your own, you can make an anti-label statement, and it gives you a relationship with your garment that makes it feel a lot less disposable than a £2.99 T-shirt from H&M or a £1.50 cushion cover from IKEA. A lot of crafting involves recycling, using scraps and waste materials and renewing things you might otherwise throw out, so is environmentally friendly too.
Feminists are also reclaiming crafts – from being abandoned as activities that chain women to the domestic sphere, they are now being embraced as subversive, anti-fashion and creative, and a lot of women are now running their own businesses selling handmade items. There is even a term for subversive, political crafting – craftivism.
Yet it is not good for woman to craft alone – it’s far more fun together! So in this spirit, I am hosting a ‘stitch and bitch’ afternoon on Saturday. Bring your wool, bring your needles, bring your buttons and beads, bring your ribbons and fabric and glue… or just bring those trousers that need the hems turning up, or a T-shirt you want to customise, or just yourself coz I’ve got boxes of stuff! We can share our skills in knitting, sewing, crochet, applique, whatever - so if you have something to teach or want to learn, come along. Drop me an email or text for more details. If we make anything good we can always try and sell it to make money for moot at the next STMW Fayre :-)
