Category: Craftivism

Stardust Mothers, 2022

Luana Rubin not only makes quilts addressing environmental and other topics but also organizes donations of quilts to those in need. Through her company, over 20,000 quilts have been made and given to the bereaved after 9/11, victims of hurricanes and other disasters, cancer patients, and others in the United States and abroad. 

 “Stardust Mothers” in Rubin’s words celebrates the “continuity of wisdom that stretches down through the generations of women [and] drives us to protect each other, and the Earth, and all the creatures who share this beautiful planet. It is…the archetypal wisdom that grandmothers pass on to their granddaughters. We are all made of stardust, and that wisdom vibrates in every atom.” 

The women’s protective poses also call to mind women who gather, in the past and today, to stitch and knit to improve the world and help its inhabitants.

Cotton fabrics and thread, Inktense pencils, fusible web. Made and lent by Luana Rubin

Peace, Unity, and Justice Interreligious Quilt, 2023

Muslim, Christian, and Jewish youth, adults, and families of Washington, DC gathered conversations to discuss peace, justice, and injustice, culminating in the construction of a quilt reflecting their vision for a more just world. Its blocks can stand alone or together and be rearranged—representing the theological reflexivity required to engage in interfaith relations—and held together by safety pins, which are symbolic of the safety net each community of faith provides. 

Lent by Farah Shakour-Bridges on behalf of 4B4 Education, Inc.*

*Read more about the 4B4 Education, Inc., organization’s goals and activities at 4B4u.org/about. 

Playdate, 2018

Quilts may be used to address social issues of all kinds, including racism, as in this depiction of a play date between mothers and their children, one pair black and one white. As Mazloomi states, the scene reminds us that lessons conveyed in childhood “tend to stick with us for life. Racism is a learned behavior,” but parents modeling friendship will be learned and mirrored by their children.

Cotton. Made and lent by Carolyn Mazloomi

VISIBLE MENDING

Jeans by Rachel Barclay, Sweater by Erin Eggenburg

The “Visible Mending” trend arose as a response to consumerism and waste, inspiring some to darn, patch, and embroider clothes with intentionally visible mends to celebrate reuse. Barclay says she “channels the Jewish concept of ‘Tikkun Olam’ (‘Repair of the World’), to “elevate the practice of repair” using Sashiko, a traditional Japanese embroidery used in mending and quilting.

“Visibly mended” darned sweaters use techniques seen in 19th century samplers and mended clothes, in colorful new iterations.

Jeans mended and lent by Rachel Barclay, 2023. Sweater mended and lent by Erin Eggenburg, 2023.

Connecting Threads: Compare the sampler and mended garments in the Altering & Mending section.

“PUSSY HAT,” 2017

Within days of the 2016 presidential election, a woman’s march was planned in Washington DC, with additional locations nation- and worldwide. Almost immediately, the notion of wearing home-knit pink hats spread rapidly. Photos of the march’s hundreds of locations on all seven continents show participants’ hats forming a “sea of pink.” 

Worn in Washington, DC. Acrylic. Made by Stephanie Szurek. Lent by Sarah Kirspel

2: The “sea of pink” the Pussyhat Project envisioned was visible on the National Mall. Photo by Brian Allen, Voice of America.

“VOTE” MITTENS, 2020

Craftivists are not just knitting on the sidelines; many volunteer for related causes. In addition to knitting these mittens and a banner to carry at marches, Jennifer O’Brien volunteers to register voters and organizes events for citizens to meet candidates and become informed on legislative issues. 

Wool. Lent by Jennifer O’Brien 

3: Banner designed by Jennifer O’Brien and knit by O’Brien and Dawn Carlson, Sarah Fisher, and Holly Robbins, carried at numerous marches and rallies. Photographed at the Water Protectors Rally at the Minnesota State Capitol in August, 2021. Courtesy of Jennifer O’Brien.

CLIMATE SCARF, 2015 

Marine scientist Joan Sheldon used color-coded yarns to record global climate change, with one row to represent every year from 1600 to 2015. 

Purple represents the average temperature; a single shade of blue was needed to show below average temperatures and multiple shades of pink through red, above-average. 

If the scarf were updated to 2024, it would require two new shades of red.

Many knitters and quilters are making climate scarves and bedspreads, usually recording one year of temperatures in their location (sometimes with high and low temperatures for each day), and sometimes comparing the current year with a year in the past. Other quilters, knitters, and embroiderers are stitching data into their work, to visualize and call attention to a variety of social and environmental concerns.

Tunisian crochet in wool. Made and lent by Joan Sheldon

Connecting Threads: the Rage Made Beautiful quilt in the Grief and Remembrance section is another example of using a textile to visually represent data.