We already know you’re interested in the art of fabric and thread – why else would you be here? But perhaps you’re looking for a more tactile read, and the luxury of sitting down and reading a magazine cover to cover? If you’re interested in subscribing to a print (or digital) journal exploring textile art, there’s lots of gorgeous options to choose from. 

Here’s our list of the best textile art magazines. These publications are suitable for readers at all levels. High quality, beautifully illustrated, and aiming to inspire, engage and share, each title brings alive the latest developments and inspirations in textile art. 

Read on to discover these periodical gems: Embroidery, Selvedge, Fiber Art Now, Textile Fibre Forum, Quiltfolk, Quilting Arts and Surface Design Journal.

Embroidery

Embroidery is a beautifully presented long running magazine serving lovers of embroidery and contemporary textile art. It comes from the renowned Embroiderers’ Guild in the UK and was first published in 1932.

Over the decades, Embroidery has become the most well respected review of the art of embroidery and stitched textile art. This magazine inspires and impresses with its mix of textile art features, in-depth artist interviews and colourful artwork shots. There’s a listing of the best exhibitions and events around the UK and beyond, and all the latest news in the world of embroidery. 

Subscriptions are available for readers in the UK, Europe and worldwide. Published six times a year, it will bring you plenty of inspiration. Not to mention the option for incredible access to a vast, fully-searchable digital archive of back issues!

A digital downloadable version is available through Pocketmags, or a single issue pay-as-you-go option is available for those who don’t wish to commit to a long subscription.

Selvedge

Celebrate our communal love of cloth, culture and creativity in Selvedge, an attractive feast-for-the-eyes, square-format magazine. This internationally renowned magazine was launched in 2004 by textile obsessive Polly Leonard, and is published every two months in print and digital formats.

In a magazine as beautiful as the textiles represented within its pages, it features articles on textiles in fine art, craft, design, fashion and interiors, sharing the history and importance of cloth, and its place in the modern world. 

Print magazine subscribers receive complimentary access to the corresponding digital edition. Or subscribers can choose the digital-only version. Back issues are available to buy separately.

Great pride is taken in the printing process, using soy-based inks, paper and packaging produced in an environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner.

Textile Fibre Forum

Textile Fibre Forum is a long-running Australian textile art magazine, in print since the 1980s. Produced by ArtWear Publications since 2011, this quarterly magazine shares the work of textile artists, as well as promoting exhibitions and events, and exploring new techniques and innovations relating to textiles, fibres, and textile art. It has a strong focus on Australian artists and contemporary textiles, with articles from specialist contributors in each issue. 

The subscription price includes postage and handling within Australia. International purchasers pay postage at checkout. Alternatively, you can buy a digital subscription. Print format back issues are also available to purchase separately.

Fiber Art Now

This sumptuous magazine, published in the USA, has a broad remit – perfect for those who like a little bit of everything. It explores all types of textile art, including embroidery, crochet, weaving, felting, book arts, quilting, traditional techniques like shibori and sashiko, and more.

Covering installations, wearables, sculptures, vessels and basketry, wall and floor art, plus engaging artist profiles, there really is something for everyone. 

You’ll get four jam-packed magazines a year, as well as instant access to the archive of digital back issues. Shipping is free in the USA, and international subscribers can either pay for shipping or choose the great value digital-only subscription.

Quilting Arts

In Quilting Arts, you’ll learn more about textiles and techniques for contemporary art quilting and surface design. Published in the USA since 2001, this quarterly magazine is full of informative articles dedicated to promoting the art quilt movement, and is suitable for all levels, from novice to professional quilters and textile artists. 

It provides inspiration, technical information and mixed media insights; its aim being to elevate the visibility of art quilts through education, innovation and inspiration. 

Quilting Arts is available in print format, with a supplement to cover postage outside the USA. Back issues are available separately.

Quiltfolk

Travelling coast to coast from New Jersey to California, the quarterly magazine Quiltfolk visits a different state of the USA in each edition, exploring quilters and quilt stories unique to that region.

Beautifully designed and printed, this magazine is a tactile delight, with a soft cover and gorgeous images showcasing the art of quilting, and will appeal to all quilt makers and quilt lovers everywhere. 

This print-only magazine, first published in 2016, has 164 pages brimming with inspiration, and it is advert-free. Back issues are also available to purchase.

Surface Design Journal

If you’re looking to take your art to the next level, check out the Surface Design Journal from the Surface Design Association. This magazine will help to expand your knowledge on techniques and applications.

It covers textile art, design trends, exhibitions, as well as  interviews with artists, makers, curators and collectors. The journal is published in the USA, but has an international scope. 

This quarterly journal comes with membership of the Surface Design Association, which includes a range of other benefits.

Readers can choose print and digital, or digital-only subscriptions, at different price points depending on your location worldwide. Individual issues can be purchased at the SDA store.

While free motion embroidery has been her trademark, Leisa has also mastered an abundance of skills – from weaving to painting and casting, as well as basketry, crochet, sewing, draping, silkscreen printing, 3D printing and laser engraving. Any of these might play a part in her intriguing artworks.

Leisa’s deep-rooted sense of social justice often leads her to create works that portray her thoughts and feelings about topical issues. Her own life journey – which has seen her battle illness and deafness – has coloured her approach to her art.

Displaying a distinct strength of will and determination, Leisa has overcome adversity. She’s notched up awards, exhibitions, commissions and a book series, and travelled the world while running businesses, studying, teaching and bringing up two daughters.

With a half century of artistry under her belt, and refusing to allow health issues or the passing of time to stand in her way, Leisa is now embracing 3D printing and even uses AI to generate ideas. This is one mighty textile artist who never gives up.

So many possibilities

Leisa Rich: I’m an experimental artist who transforms common and alternative materials in unique ways. I utilise fibre techniques that include free motion stitching, as well as modern technology such as 3D printing and laser engraving. My art works and pseudo-utopian, hyper-real environments suspend reality and sometimes invite interaction.

“I have a very vivid imagination of a quite utopian nature.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

In my imagination, there’s a spectacular world, similar to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Little Shop of Horrors, or to the places conceived by Dr Seuss where there are wonderful things to touch and experience (but the people coexist happily!).

At first, it was merely a fascination with materials and process that led to my interest in pursuing a career in fibre arts.

However, as I continued in this art discipline into my twenties and beyond, concept became increasingly important – domesticity, women’s and children’s issues, forming personal identity, making tactile human connections, provoking viewer interaction, pulling viewers in for a closer look – these began informing my practice and have continued today as I make connections between my personal and global life and my art.

I’m also quite inquisitive: I love learning, exploring new directions, pushing the limits of materials, techniques and concepts. Fibre art is perfect for that.

Although every visual art form has possibilities inherent to it, in genre, artistic influence, material choices and more, I really believe that textile art has a distinctive advantage over other art media due to its variety – painting and printing on textiles, sculptural forms in felt, mixed media constructions, digital images on fabric, jacquard weaving, drawing via machine or hand embroidery and more – the list is endless.

Shaped by ups & downs

I was probably subconsciously drawn to fibres as a very young child. Tactile things have always comforted me. I spent years in hospital due to my deafness. My mother would bring Barbie clothes she’d made for me, and I would finger paint in silence in the art room. 

Although I do now have hearing in one ear, I prefer to work without auditory distractions. One illness led me to a weaving class when I was 15. Three days in, I knew I had found the direction of my career and the passion of my creative life. 

My experiences guided me. I had huge medical challenges, parents who never understood me, growing up in Canada in a natural environment surrounded by farms, living on a lake, with the ever-changing, sometimes harsh and sometimes stunning beautiful seasons inherent to living in the north. Summer camp, a very artistic and talented sister and brother-in-law, teachers who eschewed and ridiculed me, important people who shunned me, and blue collar people who embraced me – these are the things that have moulded me in many ways.

“Dyeing and weaving paved the way for learning, growth and experimentation in fibres and mixed media.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

The cathartic ritual of weaving, the earthy ritual of communing with nature in the early 70s, while gathering plants for yarn dyeing, the meditative process of dyeing and the interesting sculptural elements from assorted organic materials all influenced my learning.

Moths & hippy artworks

My very first artistic influences were my sister and her husband. My sister was a talented artist with an MFA from Michigan State University. She later went on to graduate from MIT in architecture and is now an architect in Seattle. My ex-brother-in-law, a painting professor at Michigan State University for 27 years, painted professionally until his death in his 80s. Their house was an artistic springboard for me. The ethnic food parties they threw, attended by the art professors and deans of MSU, exposed me to wild points of view, exciting perspectives, creative ideas and the open-minded art world that abounded in the 60s and 70s.

I was also greatly influenced when, in 1976, I met and spoke with the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, a pioneer of fibre-based sculpture and installation, whose art practice I admire to this day. I made the work Venus’s Hair shortly after meeting Magdalena. This piece met its untimely death in the mid 1990s after becoming infested with moths and larvae. It was a demise common to thick, hairy, hippy artworks hung on a wall for long periods of time.

Overcoming obstacles

There are positives and negatives about who we are as people and as artists. All of it is fodder for ideas and direction. I’ve worked hard to turn these negatives into positives, and I still struggle to do so. Negative experiences in some people raise their hackles enough so that they rise above in spite, and thus it is in my case. When I was dealt deafness and numerous other physical challenges, I refused to let them get me down and I strove to overcome them.

“When my father said: ‘Why can’t you paint pretty pictures and make money, or get a real job?’, I ignored him and worked harder to be a better artist.

I drew on my love of nature and used it in my art.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

When I hung out with the university art professors at my sister and brother-in-law’s parties, I listened and learned from their artistic conversations and debates. When my famous fibre arts professor ignored me and focused instead on her talented, pet graduate students, I took university classes in other art school disciplines and learned invaluable skills.

I talked my way into a job as a knit, leather and fur designer in the mid 1980s for an international company and when the other designers refused to speak to me, the production staff taught me everything I needed to know, on their own time.

These are the influences I carry with me to this day. I’m not impressed with someone who is superficial or pretentious. Rather, I am impressed with their integrity, honesty, kindness and true interest in a fellow artist.

Globetrotting & growth

Although I spent my early childhood in the company of many professional artists who were connected to my sister and brother-in-law, it wasn’t until 1975 when I went to Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, that I took art seriously.

There, I specialised in fibres for 10th grade. I still have a little slip of paper from my public high school 9th grade art class that says: ‘Leisa has an affinity for art’. That teacher must have seen something in me that I didn’t really discover until the following year.

I returned to Canada, my country of birth, to attend the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the fall of 1978. Unhappy with its programme, I took a semester off, then attended the University of Michigan, studying for a BFA in Fibres.

I ended up using my art degree to do fashion design for a number of years, first with Norma, an international fashion design company based in Toronto. While at Norma’s, I got married and had my first daughter. I then started a business on my own, creating wearable works including sweaters, hats and jewellery that were worn on prominent television shows and featured in magazines.

I have always taught, so I decided to return to school for a teaching degree in art, while running a full-time business and raising my daughter, which I completed at the University of Western Ontario Althouse College of Education.

I had several moves from Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia to Kauai, Hawaii to Dallas, and from Texas to Atlanta, Georgia. We decided to sell off everything we owned to travel around the world.

We covered England, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. All of this travelling, with my husband and six-year old daughter thrown in, means I’ve had many diverse experiences and influences studying the art of many cultures.

We later had another baby, and while teaching part time, I returned for my Master of Fine Arts in Fibres at the University of North Texas, graduating in 2007.

“I have always had my cake and eaten it – what you can conceive of can become reality if you put your mind to it.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

I want to encourage those who hesitate about going back to art school to go for it, if that’s what will nurture and further your creative experience. During all of this moving and travel I always worked part or full-time and raised two daughters. I love going to school and learning.

If I could, I would continue my education in various programmes, as the professors and fellow students encountered in an institution of learning always inspire me and help me creatively grow.

From Facebook to fabric stores

My work has got better both technically and conceptually as I’ve worked, researched and practised.

I’ve found Facebook – yes, Facebook – to be a huge inspiration for ideas and research. Things posted there led me to do research in areas I might never have been exposed to, such as new literature that’s just come out.

This includes art books, research papers on art, technological advancements, TED Talks on a variety of subjects, art, artists, exhibitions, art-related ideas, information about environmental issues that are important to me as a vegan, individual discussions about politics, and food.

These have led me down wonderful, and sometimes frustratingly difficult-to-navigate bunny holes. I’m a very sensitive person and my heart is poured into my work.

When it comes to developing my ideas, I’ll sketch if I need to, but I’m really a 3D person and don’t enjoy paper and drawing implements. My sketches are the million ideas fully formed in my head, so many that if I lived a thousand years I wouldn’t be able to create them all.

I have a great stash of materials of all kinds in my studio. What I use really depends on what I come across. For instance, I recently noticed a really crazy, distressed fabric at Fabricland, near my home. No one was buying it, so it was discounted to $6 a metre!

I bought four metres of the off white and brought it to my studio. By the next day I was back at that same store. I bought everything they had in the off white, as well as a minty green, a flesh pink, and a blue-black. What am I going to do with 40 metres of fabric?

That’s often how it works… I will see something, buy it and, for sure, maybe an hour later, or three months later, or even 15 years later, a fully formed idea will pop into my head for it, and the process of realising it begins!

“Since I’m so experimental, everything is always changing. I’m always pushing materials, explorations and learning new techniques.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

I struggle sometimes with my need for experimenting, in an art world that keeps telling me to stick with one thing and only one thing! However, when I try to be anything but what I am, I’m desperately unhappy.

Harnessing artificial intelligence

I’ve always incorporated multiple methods and materials in experimental ways in addition to free motion embroidery. But as I’ve got older, I’ve experienced carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis, which has meant I can do less handiwork.

So I purchased a 3D printer some years ago. It means I’ve been able to combine fibrous materials and processes, along with plant-based biodegradable plastics to form new art pieces. 

I’ve also added AI (artificial intelligence) and laser cutting on a Glowforge machine to the techniques I use in my work.

I’m approaching the utilisation of AI in a much different way than the methods used by many 2D artists though; I provide my name as a prompt (it’s been trained on my data – that was really weird to find out!), as well as suggested textures, and the AI gives me plenty of visuals I can choose from and work with.

I use the chosen image to create pieces that go through my laser cutter, which works with a variety of materials such as wood, reflective or shiny plastics, even fabrics. I’m just at the beginning of this type of exploration, but the AI images generated from this so far have been super exciting! 

The first thing I fully used it on is an elaborate neck piece for my WOW (World of Wearable Art) 2024 entry. I’m going to be focusing soon on pushing the envelope with textiles in the laser cutter.

My husband is my techie god, and we are both making sure we know how to use the cutter at its optimum before committing to fabric – with textiles if you put the wrong one in you have yourself a fire!

My home is an ever-changing showcase for my work. I know when something is a favourite when I realise I don’t want to sell that piece, like my monumental work, Father, Son and Holy Ghost (2021).

It’s taken up permanent residence in our master bathroom, and we chose the dramatic wallpaper to set it off. This work is from the body of work I’ve been making since my move back to my home country, Canada, in 2020.

A rewilded life

Now that I am in my mid 60s, first and foremost I must make my health a major priority. While my ideas and creative passion are still young, physical challenges that come with being an ageing artist have reared their ugly head and it can be scary. 

I’m still searching for the holy grail: the dollars, backing, assistants and opportunities to realise very large-scale installations. And I want the plethora of ideas I have, and my prolific production of works, to be put to good use in amazing spaces, as well as selling my smaller works. I still want to travel more and to become a more knowledgeable vegetable gardener.

When we moved back to Canada we bought a 100-year-old farmhouse with over three acres of land on Howe Island, overlooking the beautiful St Lawrence River near Lake Ontario. It’s very quiet and only accessible by ferry.

We’ve been rewilding it, which included returning most of the mown property to wildflowers and trees, removing all fossil fuels, installing geothermal and solar energy supplies, and adding structures that use the green building concepts from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified architecture system.

It’s a haven for white-tailed deer, coyote, fox, mink, birds, bugs and many more creatures. We labelled our property ‘Safe Zone’ as we also don’t consume animals or animal products.

“This move to a wild place, with no doctors, no retail, no street lights even, has meant I’m very attuned to nature’s rhythms.

My recent works have reflected that.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

Supporting role

I’m excited to tell you I have a gorgeous dream studio – finally! When we extended our house, a studio was included in the plans. It’s 1000 sq.ft, with 16ft (5m) high ceilings and pro-track lighting, and can be configured as a gallery, workshop or event space. 

In summer 2023, we established a foundation for fibre artists and welcomed our first resident artist from the Textile Museum of Canada. Artists live and work on our property, and have access to an outdoor studio, as well as working with me in the indoor studio.

Future summers will see more sponsorships, scholarships, and residencies supported by me and my husband, in association with Craft Ontario, The Textile Museum of Canada, and Contemporary Textile Studio Co-op, based in Toronto. All the details are available on their websites.

The co-operative is a four-month programme so either for people who live in Toronto or those who can stay there for four months.

Educate for the future

This is a really weird time to be an artist, with AI radically changing the way art is produced. I fear for 2D artists, who are already facing a time when the validity of their original art will be questioned.

Perhaps their work will no longer be sought after, since others will be able to make their own ‘great art’ right from their computer and phone. This is a very volatile scenario… we’ll have to see what happens.

“Textile artists have a brief respite from that right now, since our work is tactile and dimensional and presently impossible for AI to do… but that time will come.”

In the future, robots will receive prompts from the AI and dye some yarns or weave some cloth, print fabric, or build sculpture. I would suggest that aspiring textile artists become aware of technological changes coming down the pipeline and figure out in advance how they can adjust what they do in order to deal with that.

And – the advice I give everyone – gauge your impact on the environment. If you’re doing plant dyeing but eating animals, your contribution to negative climate change is larger than your positive impact is from choosing organic working materials.

“Awareness and educating oneself will be the most important skill in this new vista.”

Leisa Rich, Textile artist

Certainly, there’s a pragmatic satisfaction found in helping the environment by reducing items headed for landfill. But these artists also tap into the joy of imagining the prior lives of their found riches and seamlessly blending the old with the new. Every recycled object bears its own bumps, bruises or sparkle that can’t be purchased or recreated. And that’s where the creative magic of working with secondhand materials lies.

Paul Yore’s works incorporate recycled objects as metaphors addressing the social challenges of queer culture. Louise Baldwin uses salvaged fabrics and construction materials to explore her feelings toward building a new home. Zipporah Camille Thompson celebrates her paternal grandmother through an installation featuring beloved colours and a special rice from the American South. Stacey Chapman builds Her Majesty’s coronation gown from surprising castoffs. And Melissa Emerson portrays a mother’s love on a simple netted fruit bag.

Paul Yore

Paul Yore’s interest in recycled materials initially stemmed from environmental concerns, as well as wanting to pursue a sustainable practice. During his art school days, the free or reduced cost of secondhand goods was also appealing when expensive art materials were out of reach. But Paul’s main driving force in choosing recycled materials connects to queer culture.

‘As a queer artist, my choice in scavenged material centres around an aesthetic of ‘bad-taste’. I’m interested in pop-culture, trash, camp, and lowbrow humour, all qualities which form part of subversive queer culture. I find the conceptual richness of found, thrown-out or waste materials serves as a metaphor for marginality, and by extension, queerness.’

Paul is also motivated by the idea of rescuing pre-loved materials and giving them new life. For example, he uses a lot of secondhand pet blankets with embedded hair. Nothing is off limits in terms of materials and media. Glue and paint may be used to cobble items together, or for tougher materials like plastic, hole punches, eyelets and cable ties work well. Other everyday fibres such as rope, string, fishing line and wire are also used.

Thanks for Nothing features a map of Australia conflated with a skull and the Union Jack flag as the background. Paul says it began as an interrogation of contemporary themes such as nationalism, colonialism, capitalist modes of production, consumerism and the politics of identity through a queer lens. However, the work is quite open-ended and offers a variety of possible interpretations. The work also incorporates diverse words and phrases that are also ripe for interpretation.

‘My interest in found materials extends to using found and borrowed phrases, expressions, slogans, symbols and logos. The layering of those images and sentiments further opens my work as a site for possible critique and speculation. They explore how language informs the ideology that underpins our cultural settings. Interestingly, the words text and textile share an etymological root in the Latin word textere meaning to weave.’

The construction of Thanks for Nothing is essentially a needlepoint embroidery with an appliquéd, quilted border. The wooden frame is embellished with found objects and paint. For the needlepoint section, Paul traced his design onto embroidery canvas and then stitched the main outlines in dark colours. He then slowly covered the rest of the surface with free-form designs, intuitively choosing colours along the way. The border was formed using scraps of off-cuts from larger appliquéd works. After stretching the work onto the frame and fixing it with cable ties, the piece was embellished with hand sewn sequin details and beading.

‘It can be a technical challenge to use materials that vary greatly in their constitution, from coarse materials like denim, jute and thick blankets to fine materials like lace and silk. However, an exciting aspect of my methodology is a sense that things don’t necessarily easily fit together. For me, the variety of degraded or broken-down materials becomes a metaphor for creating a new whole from salvaged parts.’

Paul Yore is based on the unceded land of the Gunaikurnai people in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. He has exhibited widely, with a major survey exhibition called WORD MADE FLESH (2022) at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, which featured 15 years of work and included over 100 textile pieces.

Instagram: @paul.yore

Louise Baldwin

Assemblage art is not for the faint hearted. Juxtaposing disparate elements into a cohesive whole can easily lead to visual chaos. But Louise Baldwin’s ‘bodging’ technique helps her expertly overcome that challenge.

‘My work may appear to take a bish-bash-bosh or that-will-do approach, but in fact, it’s a very slow process squeezing things together and shifting them around, so they work collectively. I like the term bodging to describe the way I combine, mend and repair things. It means using what is to hand rather than going out to find the correct piece of equipment. There is a frugality, inventiveness and accidental beauty to bodging that totally appeals to me.’

Louise admits she also has sentimental attachments to the variety of objects she incorporates into her textile art. She particularly enjoys weathered and handled materials, things that bear a history. Odd things find their way to her collection, from friends’ donated scraps of fabric to items found in London’s plentiful skips to ordinary household packaging. Containers are also of interest, as they often have unexpected details and shapes.

‘I really enjoy the challenge of thinking how materials can come together and have what I call conversations. Materials that have been discarded or lost their original purpose can be transformed and reinvented to take on new meaning. I also always enjoy the lack of hierarchy in the materials I use, treasuring an old plastic top as much as a pearl, and a sweet wrapper as much as gold leaf.’

When using hard materials like wood, linoleum or metal, Louise first drills holes for stitches and then uses simple running stitch, back stitch or anything that looks like sutures. She also uses a random weave stitch to work needle and thread over hard materials. The weaving technique was learned through a meander into basketry techniques, and Louise found it’s great for building up a surface and tethering down threads.

Temporary Condition is a series developed while Louise was building a new house next to her current one. When clearing and sorting out her studio, she found all sorts of ‘nonsense’ and decided to push it together into stitched assemblages.

Louise worked intuitively to create a record of the building process with its scaffolding, wiring, noises and tied down things. A thick wool felt was used as a contrasting material, creating a sense of insulation and calm. It was also functional and provided a blank canvas against the chaotic and worn materials discovered in the depths of her old studio. The materials are held together with staples, binding hand stitch and random weave stitch.

‘There was a lot of anxiety as we prepared to move, so I created the assemblages to describe the change that was occurring. The process of building on such a large scale as a house and making something on a more intimate and emotional level helped me capture some of my history and some of our future.’

Louise Baldwin is based in London, UK. She studied textiles at Goldsmith College London in the 1980s at degree and postgraduate level. Her work is held in public and private collections and has been shown in various exhibitions in the UK. Louise is a member of the 62 Group and Art Textiles: Made in Britain. 

Instagram: @louisebaldwin_textiles

Zipporah Camille Thompson

There’s a special colour of blue found in the American Carolinas. It’s called ‘haint blue’ and it’s Zipporah Camille Thompson’s colour of choice. The rich indigo and cobalt blue connects to the coastal ancestral connections that inform her work, and this work is no exception.

‘This work was part of an exhibition that honoured and memorialised the life of my paternal grandmother, Allean, originally from South Carolina. She loved the colour blue, and she always reminded me of strong, gentle ocean waves in the way she greeted, encouraged and loved you endlessly. Her life was difficult, emerging gracefully from an abusive relationship and raising 11 children on her own. She worked fields, as well as working as a washerwoman, and she spectacularly cleaned everything from cotton to kitchen floors.’

Carolina Gold features a quilted hammock and altar that symbolise eternal rest, with printed silhouettes of sublime psychological and physical landscapes of labour and survival. The pots hold candles and other objects, and the prized rice of Carolina was included to pay tribute to Allean’s endurance, faith and compassion.

One can spend days looking at Zipporah’s collections of recycled works and see something new every time. And it’s remarkable how everything stays together! Drills, rope machines and sewing machines are among her chosen tools. But her favourite technique is weaving.

‘I love weaving! It allows me to continue finding the best kinds of junk and find connections between recycled materials and the woven cloth. It’s so satisfying finding ways to bring everything together through installation and sculpture. It challenges me to see found objects differently and in a new context, while using my creative problem-solving skills.’

Nothing is off limits for Zipporah, including chicken bones. She reports they are incredibly hard to clean and require bleaching and layers of painting. She’s also discovered no matter how much bones are cleaned and sealed, a greenish blue chemical oxidation happens over time. It’s a natural process she’s grown to love and embrace.

Zipporah’s sources for recycled materials are as unique as the items she finds. Of course, thrift stores are a given, but she reports there were plenty of times she scavenged along highways and ocean shores. Friends and family also provide gifts of old or neglected items.

‘For me, the more materials, the better. I’m all about high texture, bizarre surfaces and exquisite details. Roadside tarps, crystals, rocks, shells, fabric scraps, marine rope, hair weave, chicken bones, antlers and bedsheets are some of my favourites. It’s all about juxtaposition, and in my studio, my mantra is ‘everything is sacred, nothing is too precious’.’

Zipporah Camille Thompson is based in Atlanta, Georgia (US). Zipporah is represented by Whitespace Gallery (Georgia) and is an Assistant Professor of Textiles at Georgia State University. She is a recipient of many awards and residencies, including the Margie E. West Prize (2023).

Website: zipporahcamille.com

Instagram: @zipporahcamille

Melissa Emerson

The fact Melissa Emerson’s tender scenes of a mother’s love are stitched onto plastic refuse tickles the brain in remarkable ways. Bubble wrap, bin bags, caution tape and, in this case, fruit netting, hardly seem loving and cuddly. But be assured, a fierce mama bear message is embedded in all of Melissa’s works.

‘I have an inherent need to document my motherhood experiences and feelings. In this piece, the netting is vibrant in colour and features strength and containment. It replicates my own protectiveness, strength and fragility as a mother. The netting can also be easily pulled apart and has areas of transparency, creating a further narrative exploring my vulnerability and fragility.’

Melissa especially enjoys working with found plastics in response to increased plastic waste problems across the globe. She also likes materials that can easily break to enhance her emphasis on vulnerability and fragility. She rarely starts a piece with a definitive meaning in mind, but instead lets the combination of her starting photograph and chosen material inform how the artwork develops.  

Plastic materials also inform Melissa’s stitching techniques. Thinner plastics require very fine needles and slow and careful stitching. More transparent materials require overlapping stitchwork to keep them in place.

To stitch on such tricky surfaces, Melissa typically uses soluble fabric. Sometimes she’ll attach the soluble fabric to the plastic object, stitch and then wash away. Other times she stitches onto the soluble fabric separately, and once washed and dried, she’ll attach the stitched artwork to the object.

‘I really enjoy the unpredictability of working with recycled materials. There is always an element of risk, and I’m never certain how the finished piece will look or if it will even work as an artwork. In many ways, the act of making becomes more important than the outcome. Plus, I’m always looking for ways I can reduce landfill , including only using fabrics that are found or of significance to me.’

I Know Your Face started with a sketch from a photograph onto soluble fabric. Initially, Melissa worried the netting would fall apart after washing the soluble fabric, so she stitched in a very detailed fashion whilst creating many overlapping stitches to create a strong mesh surface. Before washing the soluble fabric, she pinned the artwork to cardboard to prevent the stitches from moving. There was still a bit of movement where the stitching was fairly sparse, but Melissa felt that only enhanced the piece.

‘This work represents the changes that occur over time and accepting I cannot hold on to key moments or control future events. My son and I look directly at each other, and our unspoken words acknowledge we are both present. A single glance demonstrates our shared understanding: I know him, and I get him. Cocooned in a sleeping bag, he’s comforted and secure in the strength of our connection. His innocence and trust in my strength and protection radiates.’

Melissa Emerson is a UK-based artist that recently returned to Northamptonshire, UK, after living in Canberra, Australia. She has exhibited in both the UK and Australia and has won several drawing category prizes for her textile work.

Instagram: @mel_emart

Stacey Chapman

Upcycling is how Stacey Chapman describes her process of building her fabric ‘palettes of paints’ from second hand materials. And she confesses her method has led to hoarding on a grand scale. She’s unable to stop turning something worthless into something of value, especially when the perfect material appears at the perfect moment.

‘I don’t think a psychology degree is needed to diagnose what’s going on. My practice is steered by my obsession of turning rubbish into works of art, as each work always starts with collating and touching materials before any making happens. The end result is like alchemy!’

For this work, that alchemy came to life when a long-time neighbour donated fabric to Stacey. The neighbour had never done so before, but the day she did was the same day Stacey was starting work on the coronation dress. It was the perfect fabric!

Stacey also shopped dead stock fabric stores when she realised her stash of tiny offcuts wouldn’t work for the large-scale figure. Those speciality stores sell leftover fabric rolls from high-end retailers and designers at discounted prices, giving the materials a second life and preventing them from heading to a landfill.

‘Every element of upcycled materials changes the overall look of an artwork. No one can recreate the fabrics or notions that have lived and seen many things before making their way onto my palette. Their back history becomes embedded into the quality of the art, and to me, that is unique and ever so special.’

1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II is essentially a large, quilted jigsaw puzzle, as each element was created separately. Stacey used a wide variety of techniques, including hand stitch, appliqué and beading. Stacey also added her own hair, retrieving clean strands from the bath, coiling them into curls, and stitching each curl down with clear thread.

Stacey especially enjoyed creating the orb. Stitching the faux pearls and diamantes was a challenge, but Stacey was pleased with the layering of metallic gold fabrics and organza. The jewels came from costume jewellery she was gifted as a teen, and she was thrilled ‘they waited 30 years’ for a worthy project.

The sceptre’s long, thin shape proved to be a challenge as it bent easily, even after being created on mount board. So, Stacey used various shades of gold stitching to reinforce the sceptre’s gold rope, various shades of brown organza, and blue chunky glitter fabric.

Sadly, Queen Elizabeth II died before Stacey’s work was finished. Having lived in the UK all her life, the news led to an emotional rollercoaster. Stacey felt immense sadness but also huge gratitude to have had such an inspirational and unshakeable figurehead.

‘Her Late Majesty’s passing gave my project even more meaning and gravitas. It was very important to me that the finish be literally fit for a Queen. I wanted it to be sumptuous, rich and impressive. I also heard the Queen was fond of a remnant and a bargain, so I hope she would have approved of my thoughtful sourcing with sustainability in mind.’

Stacey Chapman is based in Margate, Kent, UK. She exhibits her work in galleries and accepts commissions, and she was awarded the largest artist sponsorship to date from Janome UK. Stacey is also a presenter and has been featured in many publications, including writing as a columnist for Love Sewing Magazine.

Artist website: artseacraftsea.com

Instagram: @art_sea_craft_sea

Facebook: facebook.com/ArtSeaCraftSea

A childhood spent around the paddy fields, forests and mountains of Japan, coupled with an early career in horticulture, art and garden design, have given Kazuhito a deep appreciation for natural beauty.

Kazuhito’s heartfelt reverence for nature manifests in the care he takes when nurturing and gathering his natural materials – a process that takes many months. It’s also helped him to cultivate an instinctive knowledge of when and how to harvest and use them to create elegant, sculptural artworks.

His UK-based allotment and garden and nearby park provide the fibres, and Kazuhito dries and fashions these into artworks that bridge the gap between Eastern and Western influences. There is a meditative quality in his patient and precise handiwork, which manifests as the piece transitions from 2D to 3D, the grasses, leaves and twigs being woven, or stitched and tied to traditional Japanese washi paper.

Upon close examination, it’s clear that Kazuhito’s intimate connection with his organic materials is a large part of his success.

Family influences

Kazuhito Takadoi: All of my inspiration comes from the natural world. I was born just outside the city of Nagoya, Japan and my childhood was spent playing amongst the open fields and ponds around our house. I would sometimes visit the next village of Arimatsu, famous for shibori tie-dye fabric. It was hung up to dry outdoors right across the village and I was fascinated by the huge variety of patterns that could be created from what is essentially plain white cloth and dye. 

In the summer we visited the forests and mountains and that’s where my interest in plants was first sparked. My aunt, a retired teacher living in Tokyo, would bring me nature books and I found the Western-style gardens quite captivating, especially as Japanese people weren’t growing herbs and flowers back then. 

My maternal grandfather was a teacher of ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, though he died when I was very young. Both my grandmother and mother were keen crafters and there were always craft magazines around the house. So I guess I was exposed to several sources of inspiration from a young age.

From garden designer to artist

I took a course at Hokkaido Agricultural and Horticultural College at Sapporo, and gained work experience at a large commercial garden in Japan. My interest in English gardens led to a 12-month training programme at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden, Wisley, UK, followed by another 12-month training programme at Longwood Gardens Pennsylvania, USA.

I moved permanently to the UK in the late 90s where I worked at a large private garden. After that, I studied for a degree in art and garden design at Leeds Metropolitan University, with the intention of becoming a garden designer. Although I had always had a keen interest in art until then it had been just a hobby. However, as the course progressed I found I was more interested in the art aspect rather than the garden design. 

With my strong interest in horticulture and a love of art I wanted to find a way to combine the two. I started by collecting leaves and grasses from gardens, which I used to make embroidered greeting cards. 

It was only after graduating that I decided I would try to become a full time artist. Since 2008 I have been exhibiting with jaggedart in London, and my work is included in various solo and group shows in the gallery and fairs, including the Crafts Council Collect.

‘Now nature is both my inspiration and my source material, which is provided in abundance from my garden and allotment. There are no added colours: everything is natural, simply dried, then woven, stitched or tied.’

Artistic influences

I’ve been influenced by the earth artist Andy Goldsworthy. I’d never seen anything quite like his leaf sculptures before, and his art helped me to realise that both the art and the materials don’t have to be conventional. 

I also love Richard Long’s work: his clever interventions in the landscape are sometimes indistinguishable from natural phenomena. He epitomises the Japanese artistic principles of wabi sabi, or less is more. My work often reflects a subtle adherence to this, and the avoidance of symmetry.

Grasses, leaves and twigs

Grass is my primary material although I sometimes incorporate leaves and twigs into my works. My threads are always grasses. They are nothing special. They aren’t Japanese varieties that I have cultivated, just ordinary red or green grasses that you can buy from any garden centre. The grasses are easy to grow in my own small suburban garden. I find it better to grow them in large pots, as it prevents different varieties and colours from mixing together. The trick is to pick the grass at the right moment, I can’t tell you what that moment is, but after years of experience, you just know.

Autumn provides me with a varied selection of leaves, and I get a lot of these from a large park close to where I live, which has a good variety of trees. The twigs I use are either beech or hawthorn.

‘It’s taken very many unsuccessful attempts with a variety of materials to finally find a combination of grass, leaves and washi paper that seems to work. With constant refinement I’ve been able to create work that I’m happy with.’

My materials are simply air dried in my studio. I layer leaves between newspaper and leave them to dry under a moderate weight. The grasses are left to dry in the open as I have to keep checking the degree of flexibility. Experience tells me when they are just right: rigid enough to sew with, and yet still flexible enough to manipulate. Hawthorn needs to be harvested and left to dry for about a year, cleansed, and then de-thorned before I can start on the construction. The construction element alone can run into many months.

It’s not possible to have complete control over natural materials. They have somewhat variable properties and so the material plays a key role in the final shape of the artwork. My materials are not treated with anything, they’re simply dried.

‘In addition to a deep respect for nature, my work reflects a reverence to time: the time it takes for the grasses to grow, and for them to become sufficiently tender to embroider my works.’

As they dry and mature, there is a subtle colour shift, comparative to seasonal change. The time it takes to complete a piece varies a lot. For a small one, it might be just a couple of weeks but a large piece can take a lot longer. 

When I’m making art, I just improvise. I’ve never studied weaving, sewing or basketry; my techniques are self taught by trial and error.

Stitching on washi paper

As my work has evolved I’ve found sewing to be the simplest and oldest method of joining materials. In Japan there were more rules and disciplines about the way art was done. Living in the UK has given me the freedom to explore and experiment, to create my own style, develop my own techniques and make my own rules.

‘My stitching techniques are very simple, I just use a straight stitch and any knots are a basic overhand knot.’

Although I always use the term ‘sewn’, I don’t actually use a needle. Because I make the hole in advance, it’s simply a matter of cutting the end of the grass at an angle and threading the grass through the paper. Where twigs are included, I drill a very fine hole through the twig, threading it with a fine linen twine and tying through the paper. Sometimes I strip the bark off the twigs. Unfortunately, a strand of grass wouldn’t be strong enough for the tying, so I have to use the linen twine. I sometimes use pure white Koyori Japanese paper string/book binding threads. The flexibility and rigidity of these fibres give an even greater sense of three dimensionality. 

The fabric I use is washi – Japanese mulberry paper. My early works were made using watercolour paper but to be strong enough to sew through it had to be quite a heavyweight paper and this didn’t give me the result I was really after; they just looked too stiff. Washi is both strong and lightweight and is much more like a cloth to sew through. Whenever I go home to Japan it always includes a visit to my favourite paper shop to add to my collection of washi.

‘The shadows that you see in my artworks aren’t consciously created – they’re a happy coincidence – but I find that they add an interesting dimension.’

They can create the illusion of movement and add depth to the work. As the light changes or the point of view is moved, the shadows create a new perspective.

I often highlight my work with gold leaf. It’s not the daunting process that people might imagine. It really is quite simple, and you can easily find the basic techniques on internet tutorials.

Essential planning

I like my work to look simple and spontaneous but, in reality, it is very carefully planned and plotted. The design is first drawn onto tracing paper with compasses and protractor, and when I am happy that it has the right balance, I transfer the design onto the washi by piercing through the tracing paper with a needle.

‘I haven’t had any great challenges, but sometimes there are setbacks, where something may not turn out exactly as planned. But I just see this as an opportunity to develop a new technique.’

The titles I give my works allude further to the natural world, not only to the woodlands and materials but also to the weather and the cosmos. Though they may appear abstract, each piece has a story behind it.

Do try

‘My advice to any artist or maker is never be afraid to try. You don’t have to use established methods and traditional materials, if you think it’s a good idea just go with it. Always keep a notebook or a camera handy, you never know when inspiration might strike.’

I always have my iPhone with me and will photograph anything that takes my interest: a cloud formation, an unusual pebble, a flower, just anything unusual.

Although I’m just happy that people enjoy the work that I produce, to be awarded a special mention by the Loewe Craft Prize in 2019 was very gratifying. My work has been shown with jaggedart at Collect every year and to have one of my pieces purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London also makes me very proud.

My mother was a young girl during America’s Great Depression, and she also had family members who somehow survived the Dust Bowl years. She grew up hearing this saying, and she repeated it often to me, especially when I thought I needed something new to wear. ‘You can fix that’ was her approach to everything, especially when it came to textiles and clothing.

In a world focused on consumerism, textile artists are increasingly questioning the need for ‘new’ and are instead choosing to use vintage fabrics or incorporate visible mending and other sustainable approaches. And some artists incorporate natural materials or take a meditative approach to their work, inspired by the sights, sounds and rhythms of nature.

Working sustainably is great for your wellbeing. Whether you’re experimenting with natural materials, experiencing slow stitching or connecting with nature through your art practice, this philosophy will bring mental, physical and spiritual benefits.

But knowing where to start can be overwhelming. What should I make with that old tablecloth and how do I work around those stains? How do I reconnect with nature? Where do I source older textiles? What’s recyclable and what’s not? How do I work more sustainably?

This booklist has the answers you need. These expert authors will help you imagine, source and create your own textile art using a variety of techniques, including dyeing your own fabrics, incorporating found objects and natural materials, and exploring unique threadwork. You’ll also discover the benefits of connecting with nature to inspire your creativity.

Create Naturally: Go Outside and Rediscover Nature with 15 Artists

Learn from 15 makers who share their philosophies and step by step processes to create nature connected works. They not only share tips and suggestions for creating your own art, but they also articulate the physical, mental and spiritual benefits they gain from working with natural, recycled and repurposed materials. 

Featured works include a nature journal, baskets, temporary beach structures, dyed textile and woven wall art, and embroidery. The book’s luscious pictures and interesting stories make readers feel as if they’re having a personal creative conversation with the makers.

Author Marcia Young has been making and writing about art and fine craft for over 30 years. She is the founder of the Fiber Art Network and former publisher of Fiber Art Now magazine.

Create Naturally: Go Outside and Rediscover Nature with 15 Artists (2023) by Marcia Young. ISBN 978-0764364341

Wild Textiles: Grown, Foraged, Found

Textile artist Alice Fox is known for her remarkable use of natural and found objects. And she’s now sharing advice on how to work with foraged, gathered and grown materials to create fabulous textile art pieces. You’ll be amazed by the possibilities! Weeds, dandelions and other plants are useful as cordage, while leaves can be stitched, quilted and shaped into vessels. 

Alice also describes how grass, wool, plastics and mud can be delightfully repurposed, along with stones, shells and a multitude of urban treasures. She encourages makers to be open minded and experimental as they work with seasonal bounties to create art that bears a strong sense of place and character.

Author Alice Fox is an embroiderer and textile artist who uses techniques from textiles, soft basketry and printmaking. She is based in Saltaire, West Yorkshire (UK), and exhibits and teaches across the globe.

Wild Textiles: Grown, Foraged, Found (2022) by Alice Fox. ISBN 978-1849947879

Resilient Stitch: Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Art

Following up on her renowned book Slow Stitch, Claire Wellesley-Smith considers the connection and ideas around wellbeing when using textiles for individuals and communities. 

Claire and other contemporary textile artists share practical ideas for ‘thinking through making’, using ‘resonant’ materials, and extending the life of pieces using traditional and non-traditional methods. Community based textile projects are also featured, including a moving account of one textile community’s creative response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The connection between wellbeing and the creation of textiles has never been stronger. Recommendations for resilient fabrics that can be manipulated, stressed, withstand tension and be made anew are offered throughout the book. Claire and featured artists also explain techniques for layering, patching, reinforcing and mending. The overarching goal is to help makers explore ways to link their emotional health with their textile practice.

Stitch Club member Rosalind Byass is a big fan of Claire’s books and says she has read them from cover to cover several times.

‘Her first book, Slow Stitch, is like a stitch meditation. Its calm colours, cloth cover and peaceful visual layout make it one of my favourite textile books. I love Claire’s style of writing and her attitude and approach to life. Be sure to read her page on repair. It will change your view about things not being perfect. The section on stitching and mental health is also uplifting.’

Stitch Club member Joekie Blom is also a fan of Claire’s first book Slow Stitch.

‘It’s wonderful. I especially love the natural dyeing Claire describes. I changed all my not-so-liked threads into wonderful colours.’

Author Claire Wellesley-Smith is based in Yorkshire, UK. She teaches extensively in adult education, schools, community based projects, museums and galleries.

Resilient Stitch: Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Art (2021) by Claire Wellesley-Smith. ISBN 978-1849946070

Wild Colour: How to Make and Use Natural Dyes

Natural dyes are a wonderful way to add colour and dimension to your textile art, but knowing the ‘what’ and ‘how’ in working with plants can be a challenge. Jenny Dean’s book is a practical and inspiring all-in-one resource for textile artists of all genres, including knitters, sewers and weavers. 

More than 65 species of plants and natural dyestuffs are featured, and Jenny carefully explains how to select fibres and plant parts and then choose the right methods for mordanting and dyeing. She also describes how to obtain a range of gorgeous colours from every plant using environmentally friendly dyeing techniques.

Author Jenny Dean has been using natural dyes for over 40 years and has written several books on the subject. She also lectures and leads workshops on natural dyeing, and she enjoys hand spinning, knitting and other textile arts.

Wild Colour: How to Make and Use Natural Dyes (2018) by Jenny Dean. ISBN 978-1784725532

Textures from Nature in Textile Art: Natural Inspiration for Mixed-Media and Textile Artists

This book is for artists wanting to combine unusual recycled and repurposed materials with traditional fabric and thread. Textile artist Marian Jazmik reveals the secrets of her lushly textured and sculptural embroidered pieces, from initial photography to finished objects. Who knew a chance spotting of lichen on a tree trunk or scattering of autumn leaves could lead to such glorious textile art?

This book is packed with practical tips and illustrated examples of a myriad of Marian’s techniques. She takes the fear out of working with images and helps makers translate those images into three dimensional works using an eclectic mix of natural and synthetic materials. Hand and machine embroidery, as well as dyeing, printing and painting techniques, are also explained.

Stitch Club member Zara Muradyan is a fan of Marian’s book.

‘I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for new ways to explore textural surfaces while using everyday materials. Great resource for upcycling while creating sophisticated artwork!’

Author Marian Jazmik is based in Bolton, Lancashire, UK, and she has exhibited widely, including at The Knitting and Stitching Shows, Home in Manchester and with Prism textiles group in London and Birmingham.

Textures from Nature in Textile Art: Natural Inspiration for Mixed Media and Textile Artists (2021) by Marian Jazmik. ISBN 978-1849946704

The Wild Dyer: A Maker’s Guide with Natural Dyes with Projects to Create and Stitch

Fabrics coloured with natural dyes have a beauty and subtlety all their own. Onion and avocado skins, chamomile and birch bark, and even nettles and acorns can produce lovely, ethereal colours and effects. 

Abigail Booth takes the reader’s hand to help demystify how to forage and grow dying materials. She fully explains her dyeing process, including workspace setup, equipment and fabric choices and care. Beautiful photographs are complemented by easy to follow instructions. 

In this book, Abigail also shares unique sewing projects for using your beautifully dyed fabrics, including a drawstring foraging bag, a gardener’s smock and a reversible patchwork blanket. Both beginners and experienced artists will enjoy Abigail’s journey from her kitchen to the great outdoors.

Author Abigail Booth is based in London, UK, and is co-founder of the studio collective Forest + Found. She works in textiles, drawing and painting, and exhibits in the UK and internationally.

The Wild Dyer: A Maker’s Guide with Natural Dyes with Projects to Create and Stitch (2017) by Abigail Booth. ISBN 978-0857833952

Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles

No matter your experience with using botanical dyes, India Flint leads the way. She explores the fascinating and infinitely variable world of plant colour, including gathering, preparing and processing plants. 

From whole dyed cloth and applied colour to prints and layered dye techniques, India uses renewable resources and shows how to do the least possible harm to the dyer and the environment. Her recipes include a number of processes uniquely developed by India, as well as guidelines for plant collection and using nontoxic mordants.

Author India Flint is an artist and writer whose works are represented in collections and museums in Germany, Latvia and Australia. She lives on a farm in rural South Australia, researching plant dyes, making artworks and planting trees.

Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles (2021) by India Flint. ISBN 978-1911668404

Textiles Transformed: Thread and thrift with reclaimed textiles

There’s something quite magical about textile collage using vintage textiles, and Mandy Pattullo is an expert. Following the make do and mend and folk art traditions of previous generations, Mandy provides simple instructions for working with a variety of antique textiles and precious fragments. The book is filled with ideas for embellishment, stitch and appliqué, as well as tips for transforming materials into impressive quilts, bags, books, tablecloths, tapestry panels, wall hangings and more.

Mandy also shares project ideas for working with quilts, patchworks, linen, lace, wool and deconstructed preloved garments. Each project beautifully demonstrates how makers can incorporate beautiful fabric and stitch finds from the past.

Author Mandy Pattullo trained as a surface pattern and textile designer and is now a textile artist who exhibits and teaches across the UK. Her work is based on collage techniques, and she makes a conscious effort to repurpose existing textiles.

Textiles Transformed: Thread and thrift with reclaimed textiles by Mandy Pattullo (2020). ISBN  978-1849945806

Mending with Boro: Japanese Running Stitch & Patching Techniques

One simple stitch can bring new life to hundreds of your favourite things! Harumi Horiuchi introduces the simple straight (running) stitch called sashiko (it translates as ‘little stabs’), used to repair and reinforce fabrics. This process of repair, and the philosophy of finding beauty in mending, emerged in Japan and is known as boro. It’s a favourite technique among visible mending enthusiasts, as it adds intriguing textural elements to garments and home furnishings.

Harumi’s approach is simple: the things you love are worth fixing. She helps makers discover the pleasure of working with old fabrics and making classic neutrals come alive. Whether readers want to reinforce, repair or remake an entire garment with patches, Harumi’s demonstrations and instructions are easy and enjoyable. Not only will fabrics and garments gain a new look and feel, but the environment will also be grateful.

Author Harumi Horiuchi is an expert in repurposing old fabrics, particularly linen. She has co-authored other books in her native Japan about the joy of reworking and wearing old clothing.

Mending with Boro: Japanese Running Stitch & Patching Techniques (2023) by Harumi Horiuchi. ISBN 978-0804856041

Creative Mending: Beautiful Darning, Patching and Stitching Techniques

Mending is truly an art form in the hands of Hikaru Noguchi, and she’s sharing her entire range of techniques for embroidering, patching, darning and felting. Noguchi’s basic rule of mending is that a repair should suit the fabric and its user, so she provides 13 illustrated lessons and over 300 colour photos to help readers make the statement (or not) they want.

Learn how to use yarn, floss, ribbon and fabric to reinvent well loved garments, as well as ways to manoeuvre through tricky places like inseams and underarms. Numerous variations and 67 different tips and examples provide all the guidance you need to rethink and repair beautifully.

Author Hikaru Noguchi moved from Japan to England in 1989 to study constructed textiles, which led to collaborations with several British designers, including Tom Dixon and Barneys. Hikaru has participated in many international exhibitions, and her work is sold in boutiques and department stores in London, Paris, New York and Tokyo.

Creative Mending: Beautiful Darning, Patching and Stitching Techniques (2022) by Hikaru Noguchi. ISBN 978-0804854740

Stitched Mixed Media

‘Embellishment’ is what Jessica Grady is all about, and she’s well known for literally turning trash into whimsical and colourful treasures. This book is packed with colour, ideas and enthusiasm as she helps readers look at the potential of recycled products. She then explains how to turn those finds into beautiful embellishments for hand stitching onto samples. 

Projects and step by step sequences demonstrate her exciting process of playing with textiles and mixed media to create new and unique works. Jessica helps readers build a basic tool kit, as well as provides ideas for sourcing and organising supplies, making a stitch library of samples, and using threads creatively. 2D and 3D techniques are clearly explained for creating unique pieces and helping readers develop their own artistic voice.

Author Jessica Grady is based in West Yorkshire, UK, where she is a member of Art Textiles Made in Britain. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and in 2018, she was named as the ‘Under 30’s Scholar’ by The Embroiderers’ Guild. Jessica is also a passionate teacher who teaches stitch and recycling through various workshops and community projects.

Stitched Mixed Media (2023) by Jessica Grady. ISBN 978-0719842238

Books featured in this article

• Create Naturally: Go Outside and Rediscover Nature with 15 Artists (2023) by Marcia Young

• Wild Textiles: Grown, Foraged, Found (2022) by Alice Fox

• Resilient Stitch: Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Art (2021) by Claire Wellesley-Smith

• Wild Colour: How to Make and Use Natural Dyes (2018) by Jenny Dean

• Textures from Nature in Textile Art: Natural Inspiration for Mixed Media and Textile Artists (2021) by Marian Jazmik

• The Wild Dyer: A Maker’s Guide with Natural Dyes with Projects to Create and Stitch (2017) by Abigail Booth

• Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles (2021) by India Flint

• Textiles Transformed: Thread and thrift with reclaimed textiles (2020) by Mandy Pattullo

• Mending with Boro: Japanese Running Stitch & Patching Techniques (2023) by Harumi Horiuchi

• Creative Mending: Beautiful Darning, Patching and Stitching Techniques (2022), by Hikaru Noguchi

• Stitched Mixed Media (2023) by Jessica Grady

If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Looking for more book suggestions? Check out our list of the best hand embroidery reference books.

Textile artists are increasingly focusing on environmental issues and the need for sustainable practices when creating their art. They’re intent upon using repurposed and pre-loved materials that have been discarded or found. And the more unconventional, the better.

We’d like to introduce you to five amazing artists who literally turn trash into treasure in remarkable ways. From vintage fabrics to industrial waste, all these artists create with love and respect for their unusually sourced materials.

Zwia Lipkin is drawn to upcycled home décor textiles, while Ruth Singer has a passion for vintage fabrics. Elnaz Yazdani is inspired by industrial materials and even has a close relationship with a car parts dealer. Vanessa Barragão transforms waste from the Portuguese textile industry, and Julie Peppito has a unique approach when it comes to old toys, litter and other found items.

Find out what drives and inspires these artists, and gain some great ideas and tips for recycling materials in your own artwork along the way!.

Zwia Lipkin

Upcycled upholstery

Zwia Lipkin has always been drawn to old and weathered surfaces and items that have a past story. In high school, she created assemblages with found objects and wrote her senior thesis about the use of trash in modern art. As a historian, she sought to give voice to the underclasses and people discarded by society. So, when Zwia returned to making art, it was only natural to pick up where she left off by using upcycled materials.

Zwia lives near an amazing non-profit organisation in California called FabMo, which saves upholstery showroom samples and makes them available to the public. She fell in love with these home décor textiles and soon started working with them. The more she learned about the textile industry and the general waste problem facing our planet, the more committed she became to using only upcycled fabrics in her work.

Zwia takes her inspiration from nature, travel and world events. The rescued home décor textiles she uses are luscious and tactile, so sometimes the fabrics themselves dictate the outcome. At other times, an idea comes first and then she selects suitable fabrics. She enjoys making abstract work, but also incorporates figurative elements.

The relationship between different colours and textures is an important part of Zwia’s work. Her textiles are thick, so she raw-edge appliqués them directly onto batting using her sewing machine. She then combines this with touches of hand stitching in a Sashiko style.

Her materials mostly come from FabMo, but she has also amassed a large stash of fabrics from her relatives. Some of her most personally meaningful work was made using family materials. Every now and then, friends and neighbours also give Zwia textiles they no longer want, allowing her to exclusively use upcycled fabrics. Her bulging scrap boxes are an endless source of inspiration.

Zwia is committed to using recycled materials in her work, and she hopes to not only use them as a statement, but to also touch upon environmental issues directly.

‘I encourage other people to reduce their consumption and upcycle. Every little effort counts! Our planet currently faces great challenges, mostly because of human short-sightedness and an insatiable greed for things and resources. The problems of waste and plastic pollution are significant and contribute to the existential issue of global warming.’

Zwia’s advice for exploring recycling is to find gorgeous pre-loved fabrics that excite you. Look for used textiles that inspire you in ways that new materials can’t. Perhaps they bear a print no longer available. Or they show interesting visible signs of wear that can add texture to your work.

Search for organisations that collect used and unwanted textiles. You can also sort through your own old clothes, or ask family and friends for their unwanted textiles. Thrift and charity shops are also good resources.

Anything you can make out of new fabric can also be made with recycled cloth, and the possibilities are endless! The best inspiration often comes from playing around with scraps.

California-based artist Zwia Lipkin grew up in Israel where she attended a high school for the arts and received a BA in Art History and East Asian Studies. She then took a long break from art to pursue a PhD at Stanford and then to raise a family. When she finally returned to art practice, she chose textiles as her main medium. She’s taken a handful of quilting classes, but she mostly teaches herself through experimentation and practice.

Website: www.anytexture.com

Instagram: @anytexture

Facebook: facebook.com/ANYTexture

Ruth Singer

Vintage viewpoint

Ruth Singer’s affinity for old textiles started when she was child. And her first career working in museums gave her an enduring passion for historic textiles. So, when she began to develop her own work, Ruth turned to vintage fabrics and eco textiles to make repeatable products. From there, she moved to making one-off pieces using old textiles whose marks, darns, stains and tears became part of her art’s narrative.

Ruth conducts extensive research to create textile art that tells stories with complex meanings. So, it can take a while to match up a concept she wants to explore with the cloth in her stash. Her studio is full of old textiles, some of which she refuses to cut up because they’re so old and precious.

Ruth uses a lot of 1930s linens from her grandparents, as well as damaged and decaying Victorian clothing, quilts and church textiles. She also hunts out supplies from specialist antique textile dealers, buying things that catch her eye, even though she might not find a use for it until much later.

‘My work is usually very subtle and delicate, with little interventions into the cloth itself, so it can sometimes be mistaken for a museum piece. This kind of fragile cloth is integral to my work, and although I use other materials for certain projects, old cloth will always be my first choice. I have a lot to use up!’

Ruth believes using old textiles is the best way to bring instant meaning and depth to your work. It’s also a great way to be more sustainable in your use of materials. Old quilts make a wonderful base for appliqué and embroidery. Old tea towels and dusters are also soft and easy to stitch upon. And vintage family fabrics can be especially meaningful and powerful. But if they’re too precious to use, beautiful old textiles can be sourced on eBay and at antique fairs.

Ruth Singer is based in Leicester, UK. She has exhibited her work far and wide, most recently at Llantarman Grange in Cwmbran (2022). Ruth has also authored many books, including Fabric Manipulation, and she regularly runs online workshops. Ruth also works on community projects, residencies and commissions, and she is the Chairperson of the Leicester Society of Artists.

Website: ruthsinger.com

Instagram: @ruthsingertextiles

Facebook: facebook.com/RuthSingertextiles

Elnaz Yazdani

Alchemy in stitch

Elnaz Yazdani first began using found objects and unusual materials during her degree course. She was given a brief called ‘the alchemy of cloth’ which led to her fascination with alchemists and the transformation of materials. She became obsessed with turning ‘the mundane’ into ‘the magnificent’ through stitching. She often finds inspiration and beauty in a range of unconventional materials, and she loves using them in her embroidery projects.

Whether working on large-scale works or pieces of contemporary jewellery, Elnaz likes to incorporate stitch in her work. She spends a large amount of time developing embroidery teaching samples for her costume, fashion and textile students.

The common theme throughout her work is her use of unconventional materials. Each project stems from the materials she chooses to collect. Their colours and shapes influence the outcome and creative process.

Elnaz collects materials from a wide range of places and is always looking for new and alternative supplies. She especially sources waste cutoffs from local factories and manufacturing companies. And she’s developed a good relationship with a car parts supplier, who offers her waste items too small for them to use and otherwise destined for landfill. Her local scrap store is also a favourite source of materials.

‘My visits to the scrap store are inspiring. I let my imagination run wild with all the unusual materials and repurposed items they have for sale. Sometimes, I find it helpful to take a sketchbook along to record my inspirations.’

Use of alternative materials often finds Elnaz having to rethink how she teaches traditional embroidery skills. This is especially true when teaching goldwork embroidery. Her classes on alternative and contemporary goldwork are hugely popular, as she turns traditional techniques on their head by introducing obscure or unconventional materials.

Elnaz also likes to encourage her students to challenge their notions of a bead in embroidery. She invites them to reflect upon the nature of beads and where they can be sourced. Then she asks if they could make their own beads. What materials would they use? Would they choose something hollow, cut something up, or break something down?

Making your own beads is a great way to start working with unconventional materials. It will help you see the potential of unusual objects. Then once you have something to work with, grab some fabric, a hoop, needle and thread, and have a go at some alternative embroidery!

During pandemic lockdowns, Elnaz’s obsession with found and unusual materials grew. Of course, she had more time to explore ideas and sort through items collected over time. But the lockdowns also encouraged her to look around her own home and repurpose household waste materials, such as old stationary, game parts or broken wires.

Elnaz also uses her work as a form of escapism, which benefits her mental health. By creating captivating embroidered worlds of repurposed materials, she can lose herself in stitch after a long day of online teaching.

Elnaz Yazdani is an artist and educator based in Yorkshire, UK. She has exhibited her work most recently at the Fashion & Embroidery Show, NEC, Birmingham (2022) and the Bankside Gallery, London (2022). Elnaz was also commended in The Embroiderers’ Guild Beryl Dean Award for Teaching Excellence in Embroidery and Design (2020).

Website: elnazyazdani.com 

Instagram: @elnazyazdani

Facebook: facebook.com/elnazyazdanii

Vanessa Barragão

Refashion passion

While at university studying fashion design, Vanessa Barragão learned about the huge amounts of trash produced by the textile industry and its harmful effects on the environment. That’s when she decided to start recycling and repurposing textiles. She worked hard to establish agreements with local Portuguese textile factories, which allow her to collect most of their waste. And she’s always on the lookout for new factories that might also share their waste materials.

‘We have a saying in Portugal: what is trash for some is luxury for others. As creatives, that’s where we need to direct ourselves.’

Vanessa’s techniques are based on traditional artisanal textile practices including latch hook, crochet, felt, weaving, embroidery and macramé. She especially enjoys experimenting with unusual materials, and figuring out new techniques for incorporating them into her work. Each new material poses its own challenge and aesthetic. For example, her tapestry Nostalgia used strips of esparto grass braided into several branches. The grass is traditionally used for basketry, but Vanessa figured out ways to work it into her tapestry. Remarkable!

Once the textiles arrive at Vanessa’s workshop, she washes her chosen materials. She then sorts and catalogues them by colour. Vanessa admits it’s a long process, and the materials do take up a lot of space in her studio. But she finds it rewarding to know all those materials will be repurposed when they would otherwise be thrown away.

Vanessa’s best recycling tip is to take time to determine what is really ‘trash’ and what can be repurposed into something new. Keep an open mind and experiment to see what’s possible.

Vanessa Barragão is based in Albufeira, Portugal. She has exhibited in many group shows and completed multiple commissions. Her Botanical Tapestry was unveiled at Heathrow Airport, London, UK in 2019. She is fully committed to only working with waste materials to create magnificent botanical and coral-inspired works.

Website: www.vanessabarragao.com

Instagram: @vanessabarragao_work

Facebook: facebook.com/vanessabarragaoartist

Julie Peppito

Thrifting activist

Julie Peppito shopped at the Salvation Army and other thrift stores as a teen, both out of necessity and because it was fashionable at the time. Poring over aisles of discarded toys, clothes and furniture, she wondered what made something ‘valuable’ and what made it ‘out of fashion?’ Why are clothes thrown away if they only have a hole or stain?

While she still shops at thrift shops, Julie’s neighbours and friends also like to contribute to her collection. She has also discovered great objects and textiles on the street.

Julie has been experimenting with ways to make herself and others look at old things with new appreciation. She celebrates every object’s history and loves to smash and sew them all together. Their narratives of place, time and use are woven together as she considers who made them and how they were used. Julie’s hybrid forms serve as metaphors for the way we connect to ourselves, to each other and to the planet.

Julie’s creative process is quite unique. Often, she just sweeps up piles of trash off the floor and glues it onto a canvas. She then embellishes the work with any and all materials, including embroidered imagery, sewn-together toy cars, cutlery, hand-painted patterns and life drawings. Julie starts with bins of objects containing items loosely organised by size and kind, although over time they’ve become mixed up. She then flips the bins’ items onto the floor.

‘In a random John Cage ‘philosophy of chance’ kind of a way, I dump the bins out and challenge myself to use what’s there. I love to combine brute force and energy with fine decorative details.’

Sometimes, Julie sews objects to old carpets or canvases. Other times, she wraps them all together with yard, wire or old electrical cords. To work out a composition, she pins items next to one another to see if the story feels right. She then stitches everything together, and then adds more!

One of Julie’s top tips for artists wanting to use recycled materials is to look through your materials and see if you can replace any of your store-bought materials with recycled materials. Start by viewing old things in terms of their colour, shape and form. How much stuff have you bought that you don’t need? What are the things that no one else would ever want?

Once you have a collection of items to recycle, challenge yourself to explore and use those materials in your work. Your goal is to make them desirable once again.

Julie is based in Brooklyn, New York (US). Her work has been featured at The Long Island Children’s Museum, Kentler International Drawing Space, Ethan Cohen Gallery and many other venues. She has received a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Sculpture and has made art for four New York City Park’s Department playgrounds.

Website: juliepeppito.com

Instagram: @juliepeppito

Facebook: facebook.com/Julie-Peppito

Elnaz Yazdani says rethinking beads is a great first step to explore recycled art. If you’re up for the challenge, check out Jessica Grady’s remarkable upcycled bead creations for more inspiration.

In her practice-based work, Claire dives deep into a process, be it straw embroidery, goldwork or stumpwork. She studies the technique and plays with it. She looks for ways to adapt it, often by introducing layers of contrast through her choice of materials, textures and colours.

Alongside her work creating wow-factor embroidery for fashion shows and private commissions, Claire’s technique studies have allowed her to develop her personal practice – grounded in tradition, but always pushing the boundaries of the process. And her insects, flora and abstract designs made using straw embroidery are the perfect example of this evolution and experimentation.

Challenging traditional techniques

Claire de Waard: Embroidery methods themselves are such a great source of inspiration. My imagination is always sparked by understanding each method, and then thinking about what I can do to challenge it. I can change the scale, use different colours, or try out different materials, always with the aim of retaining the essence or structure of the technique.

My practice is rooted in the strong belief that no technique is old-fashioned.

This approach was particularly relevant to me when practising whitework embroidery. There are so many styles and processes covered by this technique. My favourite methods play on the structure of the fabric itself, like drawn thread work, for instance. 

I love straw embroidery, which is very similar to goldwork in its process. This technique was first used in the 17th century in Europe. For example, there are church garments in Switzerland which are exclusively embroidered from thread and straw, in lieu of goldwork. The straw is long-lived and retains its shine and quality amazingly well.

I find the materials themselves very poetic. The act of transforming something of minor value, like straw, into gold-like threads speaks loudly about the way we define luxury and beauty. Somewhere within all this there is also a story about the importance of cloth and wheat, and their relevance within anthropology, which I find really interesting.

I am not incredibly illustrative in my work. But understanding the method itself provides me with options for experimentation that can exist on their own, without me having to draw.

Straw and crystals

I use a lot of straw, or natural raffia, combined with small beads, such as those supplied by Japanese brands like Miyuki and Toho. The straw comes from a farm in Staffordshire, which I found through the Guild of Straw Craftsmen. 

I’ve also inherited a taste for crystal beads (xilion beads, or sew-on crystals) from working in the fashion industry. I use them in moderation when I feel they are balanced by other textures. Sometimes, I make my own embellishing materials. I’ve experimented with metal patination techniques in the past, for instance.

A millefeuille of contrasts

My work is mostly practice-based, starting with studying a particular technique. There is a degree of intuition involved, replacing the traditional materials, or relying on found shapes. This leads me to a result that is more spontaneous and pleasing. The same goes for the colours. Sometimes a pop of colour can really lift the ensemble, other times it is more about proportions.

A key step for me is to assemble my materials before getting started, and play around texture and colours.

I used to watch a lot of cooking shows and often there would be an emphasis on providing contrasts: crispy and melting textures; acidic versus sweet flavours; or hot and cold temperatures. This idea has stayed in the back of my mind since. I like to compare my design process to creating a millefeuille, building different layers of contrast within the materials, textures and colours that I use.

Another constant behind my influences has been to look at foreign textiles, from Africa, Amazonia and parts of Asia, although I am no expert. I find the idea of transforming plants into textiles really fascinating. The learning curve associated with the excitement of exploring textiles is what drives me. There are simply so many crafts, styles and history to study – providing a lifetime of food for thought.

I was born in the US, to a Brazilian mother and a Dutch father, but I grew up in France. And to some extent I think this has influenced me in my choices and aesthetics. Embroidery is strongly associated with haute couture in France, and it’s through this prism that I first started appreciating the industry. But my approach is also one that I see as more grounded, with a love of natural, unrefined fibres, and modest items that deserve attention, like the objects depicted in some of the Dutch still life paintings.

As a teenager, I was interested in gaining textile skills. But I didn’t take up cross stitch until later, starting with a ‘simple’ project that took a year to finish. I very much loved the repetition and pace of it, and soon started to explore other stitches.

The craft industry is a big part of the economy in France, and very romanticised when it comes to the luxury market and its relation to haute couture. I fantasised about being a professional embroiderer, and taking a degree at the Royal School of Needlework offered me that possibility, as well as the chance to live abroad. 

While my inspiration was driven by looking at the Métiers d’Arts collections, for instance, which were full of exquisite beading and feathers, the RSN opened up a new perspective on embroidery for me.

Since then I have worked for various fashion brands, where I help with the embroidery for seasonal shows and private commissions. And in 2020, I decided to place more focus on my personal practice; I’ve had great feedback, particularly on my work with straw, which pushes me to go further.

Experimental crafting

I don’t really draw unless I have to – I prefer to play around with the materials themselves. This approach allows me to study other craft practices and use them to develop my processes. 

Each material has its own properties and therefore requires me to work a little differently. For example, with basketry you need to dampen the straw, like you would with woven willow. Further research led me to Japanese basketry techniques, and from there, exploring weaving patterns. Another straw craft I’ve studied is marquetry, with the added complications of dyeing. For each craft, my explorations lead me back to my own applications within the realm of embroidery.

My artwork practice has been strongly influenced by my embroidery work in haute couture, and fashion in general. Techniques, like beading, with strong visual impact, play an important part of my work. Although I aim to remain fairly modest, some of my work has inevitably featured that same ‘shiny’ element. I often find my work becomes more densely embellished than I first imagined.

A lot of my work is developed as samples, but these can be adapted as accessories or embellishments.

I also look to the interior industry for inspiration, in particular when it comes to straw marquetry and embroidery studios such as Montex. I’m quite excited at developing ideas based around the use of straw embroidery as a feature on bespoke furniture pieces.

My favourite work is Straw Harlequin. It is based on a previous sample with a similar structure, where small beads fit within the gaps left by the dents on the straw leaves. By dyeing some of the straw black and filling the gaps with more beading, a black and white diamond pattern was created. It was difficult to keep the straw shapes regular, for a uniform diamond pattern. Despite being intensive to make, it gave me a lot of satisfaction. It’s a very tactile piece that has its own movement and weight.

Her beautiful vessels celebrate the unknown history of these aged garden implements.

Alice uses sampling to figure out how to build these structures, by testing out different plant materials in small scale experiments. This gives her the confidence to begin working at a larger scale.

You might be wondering how Alice is able to stitch daffodil leaves. Read on to find out how she constructed her work Hybrid 2, which she made for the Textile Study Group’s INSIGHTS project.

Perhaps you’ll find yourself viewing your own garden plants in a totally new way – as a potential source of working materials.
Name of piece: Hybrid 2
Year of piece: 2020
Size, techniques and materials used: 32cm x 8cm x 5cm, Drilling, cordage making & looping, Found tool, daffodil leaves

Finding connections

TextileArtist.org: How did the idea for the piece come about? What was your inspiration?

Alice Fox: Found objects often form a starting point for my work. These might be gathered on walks in my local area or further afield.

Found items form a tangible link to the place that they came from. By working with found objects and gathered materials, I’m able to create something that forms a personal record of the place these items are connected to.

My work is intimately linked with my allotment plot. Here, I have been exploring the variety of found, grown and gathered materials for several years. This ongoing exploration was initially the basis of my practice-based research for an MA degree, and it continues to form the focus of my current practice.

The starting point for this piece, Hybrid 2, was a group of old tools found in the shed on my allotment when I first took over the plot.

The tools are rusty and many are broken. I wanted to explore ways of working with these objects, either by working into them or by adding other materials, to create something unique.

Working three dimensionally, these objects became sculptural pieces celebrating the unknown history of the tools and the little piece of land that they have worked.

What research did you do before you started to make?

First, I created a series of small-scale experiments with a number of different materials.

Hand-processed plant material was twisted into cord, which was then brought together with found plastics, metals, ceramics and wood. These different elements were combined by wrapping, binding, stitching, weaving and looping.

As my experience and knowledge of the materials grew, so did confidence in my ability to make resolved pieces on a larger scale.

Rusty trowels and daffodils

Was there any other preparatory work?

This work is part of an ongoing exploration of the materials in my allotment garden.

Lots of different elements and experiences feed into this piece, even if they are not explicitly linked. I experiment all the time with the materials I grow and gather. I test different plants for cord-making and play with different ways to use the threads that I make.

Some of the techniques I use are borrowed from soft basketry, others are more traditionally associated with textiles. If I see a technique in a book or online, rather than using traditional materials, I try it out using the natural materials that are available to me.

What materials were used in the creation of the piece? How did you select them? Where did you source them?

Hybrid 2 is made up of a rusty trowel and interlaced cord that I made from daffodil leaves.

The trowel was found amongst other old tools in the sheds on the allotment.

The daffodil leaves grow under the fruit trees on the plot. I gather the leaves in the spring after the daffodils have flowered. At this stage the leaves have started to dye down, returning their goodness to the bulbs for next year. I dry out the leaves and store them until I need them.

Structural stitching

Take us through the creation process

To attach the cord to the trowel, I need an anchor point. I use a pillar drill to make a row of holes around the edge of the metal trowel. This gives me the starting point for attaching the cordage to the object.

I dampen the leaves using a water spray bottle and wrap them in a cloth for an hour before working with them. This softens the leaves, making them more flexible.

By twisting two strands together in my fingers, I start to make the cord or string. This is essentially a two-ply thread. If a strand of fibre is twisted in one direction it will generally un-twist itself when you let go. So I use a ‘ZS’ twist structure to join the two strands of thread or fibre together. The strands are twisted together in such a way that they pull against each other and won’t unravel.

Then I feed the finished cord through each of the holes in the trowel in turn. Looping the cord through itself, in a version of a detached button-hole stitch or a large-scale version of needle lace, allows me to create the walls of the structure.

I work my way around the edge of the tool, and then continue working in a circular way, ‘stitching’ into each of the loops from the previous row. In this way, the vessel-like structure starts to grow up from the trowel base.

What journey has the piece been on since its creation?

I made Hybrid 2 during the development stages for the Textile Study Group’s INSIGHTS project. The piece featured in the book of the project and was shown in the accompanying exhibition at the Festival of Quilts.

This piece led me to make more work along similar lines. It is now part of an ongoing series, where I have made sculptural vessels using other tools using a variety of allotment-sourced materials.

That was how a series of politically-inspired, globe-shaped baskets gave form to international textile artist, Barbara Shapiro’s, concerns – regarding issues of exclusion and division, pollution of the world’s waters and social action in the pursuit of justice.

Involved in textiles from an early age, Barbara, a San Francisco native, began weaving in 1975 in New York City. Since then she has developed a rich knowledge of historic and ethnic textiles, along with broad technical experience in weaving, dyeing and basketry.

After her involvement in the San Francisco Art to Wear movement in the ’70s and ‘80s, she shifted her focus to non-functional textile art, creating beautiful wall hangings and sculptural baskets. Indigo dyeing is both her signature and her passion and is often used to enrich her weaving and basketry.

Barbara teaches workshops in basketry and indigo dyeing at universities and conferences across the US, and has taught at the Art Department at San Francisco State University as well as Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through SFSU.

A past Board Member of the Textile Society of America, she also serves as an advisory board member of the Textile Arts Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and was a docent at the SF Museum of Craft and Folk Art.

Barbara’s award-winning textile art has been widely exhibited and published internationally. She writes for many textile publications and has served as an exhibition juror and guest museum curator.

In this interview Barbara takes us through the steps she followed, from concept to creation, as she formed her globe-shaped basket ‘Tikkun Olam: Repair the World’. Inspired by the concept of repair as artwork, she describes her use of and training in Japanese kintsugi – the repair of broken ceramics with lacquer and gold leaf – and how recycled tea-bags and fermented persimmon juice featured in the piece.

Name of piece: Tikkun Olam: Repair the World
Year of piece: 2020
Techniques and materials used: 14 x 14 x 13H”, Techniques: Hexagonal plaiting, indigo dying, kakishibu coating, gold leaf application Materials: Sedori cane, tea papers, indigo, Kakishibu, raw kozo paper, gold leaf, sumi ink

Repair as artwork

TextileArtist.org: How did the idea for the piece come about? What was your inspiration?

In 2018 I started a series of politically inspired, globe shaped baskets. I do not often create work with a political perspective, but recent events moved me to speak my mind, albeit in a quiet voice. The first, called Strength in Diversity (2019, 12 x 12 x 12”), was my response to a growing division among citizens of the US.

The globe is plaited in hexagonal technique interlaced with handwoven bands of various bast fibers and paper (gampi, hemp, linden, straw, indigo dyed ramie, nettle, mulberry, kudzu, fique, coconut). Bast fibers have been used by common folks for centuries whereas silk and cotton were luxury fibers for use by nobility and the wealthy. My response to exclusion and division is Strength in Diversity.

The second, called Troubled Waters (2019, 13 x 13 x 13”), reflects my concern for the pollution of our natural environment, especially the waters on which all life relies. Laws protecting the environment are being stripped away in the US and I find this frustratingly short sighted. This plaited cane globe is embellished with dyed and inked paper and cloth debris, symbolizing the pollution of our waters. There is a pool of these materials inside the bottom of the basket reflecting what we see, instead of limpid waters, when we look into our rivers, lakes and oceans.

The third basket, the subject of this interview, is Tikkun Olam: Repair the World, (2020,14 x 14 x 13”.) It was conceived of as a response to the huge 2019 fires in Australia, evidence of the effects of global warming on our small planet. As a Californian, those Australian fires had brought back memories of recent ones we had experienced, fires that took the homes of some dear artist friends. When the Corona Virus upended our lives early in 2020, it seemed appropriate to continue with the theme of repairing the world.

After some time spent planning, I was ready to start plaiting in my new studio in mid-March. As I write this article, California is burning once again, and we have suffered from very smoky air for weeks all the while dealing with a pandemic. The Hebrew words Tikkun Olam: repair the world have come to suggest social action in the pursuit of justice. Today, our world and our lives are in need of repair on so many levels.

What research did you do before you started to make?

Decades ago, I acquired an interesting piece of Japanese ceramic at an auction. The subtle, incised, geometric pattern contrasted with some strange irregular gold lines running through the piece. I later learned this was Japanese kintsugi, the repair of a broken ceramic piece with lacquer on which gold leaf is applied, highlighting the repair rather than concealing it.

Last year I actually took a class in this technique from David Pike, a Japanese-based American kintsugi expert. I made several repairs to broken ceramics in the months after that class.

The concept of repair as artwork has been part of my own textile art practice for many years in my collaboration with wood turner Chuck Quibell. He gives me his occasional imperfect bowls that have cracked in the drying process or gotten too thin on the bottom as he strived for the finest turning. I use textile techniques of coiling or darning to fix these bowls in the long tradition of women repairing things. The bowls have won awards in the wood turning world and one was exhibited in Mending = Art curated by Diane Savona.

I love the Japanese tradition of giving a basket, often a worn utilitarian basket, a new life by covering it with recycled paper coated with kakishibu, fermented persimmon juice. I have a couple of Japanese examples in my collection and have used the technique in a number of my sculptural baskets such as Unwrapping Memory.

Natural materials and techniques

Was there any other preparatory work?

I did some quick sketches and then made a small maquette of the plaiting technique and materials to be used for the skin and repair. My maquette included stitched mending, but I rejected this idea as impractical and unnecessary to my vision of a kintsugi inspired repair.

To create the skin for Tikkun Olam: Repair the World, I used recycled teabags, which are made of strong thin abaca paper. I drink enough tea to have accumulate stacks of these small precious rectangles. I open up the bags, compost the tea, wash and dry the papers flat, and dip them into indigo halfway.

For this project I coated a bunch of these two-toned papers with kakishibu, fermented persimmon juice, and let them cure to a nice dark reddish-brown hue in the sunlight. The persimmon is self-polymerizing and strengthens, waterproofs, and gives the paper a sheen.

What materials were used in the creation of the piece? How did you select them? Where did you source them?

The globe is plaited with sedori cane from Japan. Sedori means scraped in Japanese. The top of the beveled shiny side of the cane is scraped off, exposing some of the pithy fiber. This, like the underside of the cane, takes dye well, leaving a light-colored undyed stripe along each un-scraped side. I sourced this cane in Tokyo on a recent trip and have dyed a lot of it in indigo myself for other baskets.

The tea bags were easy to come by. I could have used other types of handmade paper, but I liked the idea of reuse. My kakishibu, fermented persimmon juice, came from Japan, but can be ordered online in the US. It was also used to adhere the tea papers to the cane. The repair patch was made of raw kozo (mulberry) paper which is strong and very textured. I coated it with gold textile paint as an adhesive, Italian gold leaf, and sumi ink.

What equipment did you use in the creation of the piece and how was it used?

My equipment are my two hands, a few basketry tools and brushes. I also use my camera to document the process for further explorations.

Creation of the basket

Take us through the creation of the piece stage by stage

In February 2020 I moved my art studio to San Francisco in a building next to where we live … so fortuitous with the general confinement that was soon to come. After some time spent organizing my new space, I was able to start working in mid-March. I could see the Grand Princess cruise ship moored in the middle of the Bay with Covid19 positive passengers and crew still aboard. The pandemic was constantly on my mind and remains so.

With my maquette completed, I went to work plaiting a large globe-shape in hexagonal structure with an opening on the top. While it dried, I prepared the skin for my globe by coating the indigo-dyed tea bag papers with kakishibu and curing them in the sun. Using more persimmon juice as an adhesive, I put about a third of the skin on what would be the back of the form to see what it looked like.

Then I drew a stencil of the gash I wanted to cut out and transferred this shape to the, still uncovered, front of the basket surface. I carefully cut out the shape and was relieved that the globe did not fall apart even with the large piece removed. A bit of glue made sure it all stayed in place. I adhered more torn pieces of the tea bags covering about 2/3 of the surface in all, creating continents and oceans. Sumi ink was added as necessary for depth.

I used the removed piece of plaited cane to draw a slightly larger shape on the raw kozo paper and cut that out. This kozo repair piece was coated with gold textile paint as an adhesive and then real gold leaf. The back side which would be visible inside the basket was coated with persimmon and cured. The repair patch was glued to the inside of the globe. Sumi ink created deeper shadows here and there, and the work was finished!

What journey has the piece been on since its creation?

The Mendocino Art Center hosted a Bay Area Basket Makers exhibition with Tikkun Olam: Repair the World in Summer 2020.
Other recently exhibited works include:
Strength in Diversity, National Basketry Org. Members in Print, 2020
What Knot: Top Knot, National Basketry Org. Basketry Now 10th Anniversary Exhibition, 2020
Top Knot II, Handweavers Guild of America Small Expressions, 2019
Unwrapping Memory, Surface Design Association, Home – Holding on and Letting Go 2019
Coiled Sakiori with Suki Ball, Mt Koya Temple, Japan, 2019 and Nagoya, Japan, 2018
Unwrapping Memory, NBO Members in Print, 2018
Sedori Vessel, HGA Great Basin Basketry Exhibit, First Prize, 2018

For more information visit www.BarbaraShapiro.com

Have Barbara’s tips and techniques inspired you to try something different? Let us know in the comments below.

Jaynie exposes the purposeful and sometimes dastardly persuasive goals of junk mail by refashioning and reshaping the papers into sewn metaphorical ‘protests.’ Her unique process of shredding, rolling, and otherwise manipulating flyers, catalogues and safety envelopes is truly remarkable.

This article shares an insider’s look into both Jaynie’s thinking and process. You’ll be amazed by her creations and have to remind yourself what you’re seeing comes from a mailbox.

And you’ll be surprised to learn about the national events that sparked this creative journey in the first place.

Jaynie, a Brooklyn-based artist, creates alternative narratives from quotidian materials. Her work has been exhibited at ART on PAPER; SPRING/BREAK Art Show; Governor’s Island Art Fair and the National Museum of Romanian Literature. Jaynie also has a long history of community work, and she currently volunteers with the Learning Through Art Program.

Art as protest

TextileArtist.org: What initially attracted you to textiles as a medium? How was your imagination captured?

Jaynie Crimmins: Although I do not now consider myself a textile artist, I use sewing as one of the techniques to fabricate my work. Visits to my grandparents introduced me to sewing, knitting and crocheting. And my maternal grandmother was a wizard at repurposing by cutting all of our old clothing into strips to crochet huge, functional rag rugs.

During my undergraduate education, I took several weaving courses which lead me to an interest in coiled basketry and frame loom weaving.

I was also a self-taught embroiderer and enjoyed using embroidery as ornamentation on clothing and decoratively in artwork as well.

Overall, I found fibers to be a very expressive medium that allowed me the freedom to use traditional techniques to create non-traditional work.

What or who were your early influences and how has your life/upbringing influenced your work?

My maternal grandmother predominantly influenced my work. Nothing seemed to make it into the trash in the Brooklyn apartment of my Eastern European grandparents. Discarded clothing became crocheted rugs. Old curtains became aprons. Leftovers became the ingredients for new meals.

Nothing was wasted, and everything possible was reused. Castoff items became novel and compelling in their metamorphosis.

So that familial sensibility informs my practice with its power of transformation, frugality, ingenuity and handmade quality.

What was your route to becoming an artist?

My creative practice was put aside for about 15 years while teaching art full-time, working towards a Master’s degree in Art Education and raising a family. In 2006, I began taking graduate fine art courses and workshops through which I slowly explored materials and methods of creating.

Although I have always kept visual journals, I only began defining myself as a full-time artist in 2009. That is when I began using shredded papers, searching for the right balance of personal expression, context for the work and construction techniques.

Our nation’s circumstances during this period were dire. During the recession, people were losing their homes, jobs and were unable to pay their bills. Destroying my financial papers was my way to deal with the anger, sadness and disbelief that the warning signs of this disaster had been ignored for at least two years.

After experimenting with various ways of working with the financial papers, I decided upon shredding and then sewing, folding and rolling the shreds. These techniques seemed old fashioned, and I felt like I was ‘mending’ what was destroyed. While shredding fragmented the content of the papers, reconstructing them also created a new frame of reference. And that inspired my first project called Home Economics and the second series entitled Borrowing from the Future.

When I first began working with shredded paper, I became fascinated by encaustic paints and began incorporating beeswax as both a unifying color in my work and as an adhesive. For me, the beeswax became like amber. It trapped the history of the subprime mortgage crisis, the deregulation of financial institutions and its effects on ordinary American citizens.

Shredding with a purpose

Tell us about your process from conception to creation

Something internally or externally stimulates my curiosity which then leads to a series of pieces that investigates an idea, feeling, memory. Further, my projects [series of pieces] are informed by books, current events or a personal concern and take shape through my examination of their content.

My materials are solicitations, safety envelopes and catalogs that are difficult to recycle because their inks have a high concentration of metallic inks.

In addition to shredding the previously mentioned materials, I use thread, various armatures and glue. The shredded mailings are interwoven into the context and content of the work.

Deconstructing these materials reshapes their formulaic messages into narratives of personal interest.

My palette is derived from the colors of catalogs, solicitations and patterns of safety envelopes. There is no specific form that defines my work, although there are reoccurring motifs and shapes, particularly botanical, architectural and marine-inspired ideas.

During the process of creation, the direction of the work can change by varying the technique used to build with the shreds. This can be a challenge, yet it keeps the work interesting and fresh for me.

About seven years ago, I stopped using beeswax as an adhesive. A critical step of my practice most recently has been sorting paper shreds by color, in many cases blending solicitations and safety envelopes with various catalogs, affording me control over the range of color.

My new project In Search of Beauty makes a departure from this task, with each piece using a single catalog in combination with other shreds, restraining the range of colors.

My process is very laborious and meditative, yet I am also making decisions all along the way. Sometimes those decisions change the direction of the piece. My final artworks continually surprise me.

Tell us a bit about your chosen techniques and how you use them

My medium is shredded paper. I manipulate this paper in various ways: rolling, folding and sewing.

Rolling is done with my non-dominant [right] hand, and then individual rolls are placed on an armature one-by-one with a tweezer.

Each shred is folded or left untouched and then sewn.

The sewing is functional but also adds an unexpected element in the finished work. Leaving ends of threads hanging loose in the completed works creates a ‘breath.’ And their fluidity becomes a contrast to the tightness of the rest of the surface and texture.

What currently inspires you?

As noted earlier, I am currently working on a project called In Search of Beauty. In these dark and difficult times for our nation and the world, I feel compelled to make beautiful objects.

By rearranging mass-marketing mail, this project seeks to reconfigure promotional aesthetics into work advancing my personal conception of beauty. Inspiration comes from architectural elements and nature.

The importance of symmetry and economy

Tell us about a piece of your work that holds particularly fond memories and why?

A Field Guide to Getting Lost (a series of pieces from 2018) explores issues of memory, creativity and the endeavor to be fully present using my explorations of geography. This project liberated me from my use of and reliance upon navigation apps while moving through the urban landscape and its parks.

The desire to surrender to my surroundings and meander and notice my environment without connection to a smartphone continues to inspire me as I walk the streets of NYC and wander through its parks.

Linking my internal world to the external world allows for new narratives and the assimilation of details. The development of these practices has reawakened my ability to dream, wonder and observe in a visceral way.

How has your work developed since you began and how do you see it evolving in the future?

I have been working with shredded personal papers and mail since 2009. That is 10 years as of this writing.

When I began with this medium, my forms were based on marine life and ‘felt’ organic. As the work progressed, I began experimenting with other forms.

In 2015, I read Frank Wilczek’s book A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature’s Deep Design . Wilczek defines beauty in nature through two distinctive features: Symmetry (a love of harmony, balance and proportion) and Economy (satisfaction in producing an abundance of effects from very limited means).

These principles acknowledge my methods of fabrication and influence my approach to form. Symmetry and Economy continue to sustain my practice, inspiring works that seek out patterns to create finite objects.

It is difficult to envision the evolution of my artwork. So, if I look back in order to look forward, I would say I have continued and will continue to work with the material of shredded mail until I feel like I have explored EVERY permutation possible.

The transformation of my materials progresses through a series of small changes to the surface of the work. And while the changes that occur in my work seem revolutionary to me, it is possible they are not even noticeable to others.

What advice would you give to an aspiring textile artist?

My advice is twofold. Most importantly, make your work. And then try to network with other artists in both real-life and on social media.

If you admire someone’s work or feel it relates to what you are doing, visit an exhibit of their work, ask to visit their studio or contact them through social media or email. It’s not about asking for a favor. You instead want to listen to their story and learn about their evolution as an artist.

Joining artists’ or other professional organizations can also help build a network of like-minded people who are generally willing to share information about techniques, exhibit opportunities and workshops/conferences.

For more information visit www.jayniecrimmins.com

Junk mail is truly a novel material to recycle into textile art. What unique materials do you recycle in your own work? Let us know below.