Hand crafts, feminism and women's history

[Theducksarenotmyfriends]

I'm part of a craft group (crochet, knitting, spinning, felting, sewing etc) and we'd like to start having discussions about the connection between hand crafts like these, feminism and women's history. Does anyone know of any good resources (articles, books, photos etc) to get us started? I'm open to anything!

Oh, thank you OP...this is my crocheted, embroidered and tapestried soap box.

The denigration of ‘craft’ and the deification of ‘art’ is gendered and shocking.

I am a textile artist ...if I worked in paint and had a willy, my work would sell for ££££ more.

The Guerrilla girls have a point, women in art galleries are mostly naked...and models.

Whereas completely extraordinary works of art can be found dusty, unsigned and undervalued in charity shops and car boots, and many have just been discarded and lost.
I rescue as many as I can, but I would love to know who had made them

My DGM has just about stopped knitting now she's 94 and her eyesight has failed her. She really misses it. She's been knitting for over 80 years since it was so much cheaper to make and remake than buy when she was young so it was an essential skill.

What's the one date in English history that everyone knows?
1066.
What's the one piece of art commemorating that conquest of England that (almost) everyone knows?
The Bayeux Tapestry.
What actually is a tapestry?
A form of textile art, originally hand-woven on a loom.
Isn't the Bayeux Tapestry a work of embroidery?
Yes.
Not a tapestry at all?
No. No it isn't.
But I thought medieval tapestries were made by men.
They generally were.
And this great work of art?
Anglo-Saxon women. They were famous for their needlewomanship.
But it got called a tapestry?
Yeah.
So we kind of assumed it was made by men?
Yeah.
Oh.

Lots of research and history on quilting and slavery in the US context:

www.npr.org/books/titles/138325858/hidden-in-plain-view-a-secret-story-of-quilts-and-the-underground-railroad

The Quakers have made some wonderful protest quilts.

And of course MN's own woolly hugs is a beautiful example of making physical representations of support and love.

It's a wonderful topic, thank you for starting this thread.

Woolly hugs? Haven’t come across this before.

I got a lot of nice comments about my feminist knitted mittens at Million Women Rise (and a ‘radicalised by mumsnet’ badge :D )

if I worked in paint and had a willy, my work would sell for ££££ more.

I'm not sure you need to work in paint. The only famous knitter I can think of is Kaffe Fassett. And Grayson Perry's done okay with his tapestries, though they are only one part of his work.

So I think it's having a willy which really counts.

I was at an exhibition a few years back about Bauhaus, and I remember some comment about how the women artists working in textiles weren't valued as much. Unhelpfully, I can't even remember if it was in Britain or Germany, let alone which gallery/exhibition or exactly when. (I have been to too many exhibitions.)

The National Needlework Archive at Greenham Common has some interesting things in their collection - and also the Country Woman's Mural, which was sewn by the WI for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Actually, have you ever seen the mania around Stephen West? If he was a female knitware designer I'd wager he'd be written off as a mad cat lady who designs shapeless bags..

Flavia I so agree with you on Stephen West!

This too.

www.pussyhatproject.com/our-story/

Phew MoltenLasagne you're the only person aside from my DM who's agreed with me. I sometimes I begin to wonder if I'm missing something and then I give my head a wobble

tirisfsal it's a section in the body and soul topic. MNers make beautiful personalised blankets as a team effort for other MNers who are going through a very difficult time, such as illness or bereavement.

Not forgetting an infamous feminist group founded in the '70s the Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society!

Dont think this can be the original group but there is a facebook tribute page:

Well behaved women rarely make history! Ladies Sewing Circle & Terrorist Society is a place for Radical Ladies to gather and discuss sewing, politics, small armaments or whatever seems appropriate.
en-gb.facebook.com/pg/lscandts/about/?ref=page_internal

In searching for the link to the 70s group I came across this. American and not just about feminism / women but might be of interest slowrotation.memoryoftheworld.org/Julia%20Bryan-Wilson/Fray_%20Art%20and%20Textile%20Politics%20(54570)/Fray_%20Art%20and%20Textile%20Politics%20-%20Julia%20Bryan-Wilson.pdf

And haven't found the right search string to bring up relevant info but lots of recent local protests / statements made by crochet or knitted items being left on piers and along roads.

Nancy Bush has some beautiful books on traditional knitting, her knitted lace of Estonia is gorgeous. She has a couple of books on traditional sock knitting too.