Man doing embroidery on the train

[PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle]

Never before, either in public or private, have I known a man to do embroidery. But here he is, across the aisle from me, with his family all occupied with reading, games, colouring in and he’s busy doing the most intricate piece of cross stitch. Looks beautiful! And he’s not what you would call the artistic type. American, built like a lumberjack, bearded.
Anyone else know men who can embroider?

I was on a Welsh beach last year and a hipster-ish man was sitting on the sand knitting something quite complicated.

Ha! Nice update!
I used to work for a quite high end fashion company and our embroiders in India were all men - it is a highly skilled job, passed from generation to generation, with decent wages. They would work very closely with the designer, helping to advise on what was and wasn’t possible. Obviously this had an impact on the cost of the clothes and it would drive me mad when people complained about the price because each piece was like a work of art.

My grandad (born 1926) did embroidery and could dressmake. He painted and did really elaborate woodwork too. He was a bit of an objectionable old codger but he was a real artist!

My DP can do beautiful cross stitch and sewing and embroidery. So neat and precise. But he’s a doctor so seeing skills are quite important!

at update!

Knitting had one of its resurgence in the 80's. I remember a bishop needed a new mitre but it was very expensive. He knitted himself one out of gold coloured thread.

I taught DH how to cross stitch when we were young and skint. He has completed a section of every cross stitch project I have ever done, including family and friends wedding / new baby samplers. He finds it relaxing and helps to focus his mind after a bad day at work. He is hoping to teach DS one day.

It's wonderful to hear of so many men who happily spend time doing what many would consider to be 'traditionally female' activities.

Not wanting to hijack the thread, nor to go over old ground again and again, but this is one of my big beefs with certain people when it comes to the trans debate - especially some of those trying to push and pigeonhole children who haven't shown any clear positive signs of actually wanting to re-identify or transition.

"If you're a man who likes a 'woman's' activity, then you must actually BE a woman trapped in the wrong body and thus encouraged to re-assess your identity to somehow 'fit' your hobby, rather than your hobby merely being a small factor in who you are" - DANGEROUS, INTOLERANT VIEW.

"You're a man who likes an activity which happens to be far more popular among women, but it in no way defines femininity and is, as an activity, completely genderless and available to all. It is not your job to represent a narrow perceived stereotype of 'masculinity' as a whole - you are 100% an individual male man with your own individual likes and dislikes" - HEALTHY, TOLERANT, COMMON-SENSE VIEW

marvellous how does sock farming work? I could use it as I have a whole pile of lonely socks

It's nice to see traditionally feminine activities being adopted by men.

My grandfather used to crochet during the war, to help with the stress

There's a brilliant charity called Fine Cell Work which teaches prisoners how to do very high quality tapestry and embroidery work for sale

WeBuilt

Hear, hear, and exactly what I thought in response to that comment.

WeBuiilt Well said!

My next door neighbour growing up did tapestry as he was a merchant seaman and was chugging across the Pacifuc for weeks on end with not much to do and a mainly Chinese crew who didn’t speak English so not many people to talk to.

It always amuses me that these are seen as 'female' things when crochet and knitting developed from making the fishing nets and the best tailors etc. were all men.
There has been a lot of publicity about how crafting makes better surgeons, in my surgical field no one talked about crafting at Uni, but now we are older it turns out that large numbers of us are crafters.

Interesting thing that someone said upthread about dexterity and dentistry.

I teach textiles. Apparently some dental schools like students to have Textiles GCSE. It’s about fine motor skills, and as the person said, it’s also about dexterity.

It's been in the news very recently that medical schools are worried about the decline in 'tactile knowledge'. They say it's because younger people just swipe a phone screen whereas at one time they'd have been much more likely to do some sort of craft activity requiring manual dexterity.

The conductor Sir Colin Davis was a great knitter and used to make really intricate pieces. It was often mentioned in interviews with him.

I’d hope a surgeon was good at needlepoint!

When I met dh he was in the RAF . The first time I was sneaked into the men's block I noticed a huge tapestry on his wall... yes he had done it. He said it kept him busy on boring evenings . Unfortunately it was a naked woman so it never went on our walls!!!

He's also really good at styling hair, and was brilliant at doing the girls plaits when thye were small.

I remember my own grandfather knitting too.

I’m loving this thread

My ex (we are on good terms) does cross stitch. He's also a gamer and designs his own patterns, often based on the games he plays. Some of them are really very good!
I've got a super mario coin purse he made for me still.

He picked it up from my mum. I've tried it but I'm rubbish at it. Don't have the patience at all.

This guy is an inspiration.

@JenFromTheGlen my mum received an embroidered set of napkins from that charity as a Xmas present. There are pineapples on them and she loves it! When we were talking about her present we were saying how soothing embroidery/ cross stitch is. I might take it up!

My great uncle used to crochet. When I was growing up we had all sorts of crocheted items dotted around the house. I was reminded of this just before Christmas. There was a 16 year old boy on TV, Kirstie's Christmas, who was a whizz at crocheting.

In Brittany embroidery was a job for men. The traditional designs are amazing.

The late gardener, Christopher Lloyd was a keen needleman. IIRC, his mother was very keen and taught all her children - boys as well as girls.