feeling stitchy: Do you feel like an embroiderer?
My embroidery is mainly improvised, sometimes I'll chalk out a grid to get scale right or do a little doodle of the design in my design book. But most of the time I design as I go. The kits and preprinted designs just look too...twee to me. And I hate to be restricted like that.
I always find your posts really interesting Gabi, but this one especially so! As to which category I fall into, I guess I fall between the first and second groups. I have stitched some of my own designs and loved the process, but I also enjoy buying them from a "vulgar store" and following the directions pretty much exactly. Either way, I'm definitely going to refer to myself as an embroideress from now on!
I think that this Cavet speaks rather disparagingly of the 2nd and 3rd groups of "embroideresses," as if group 1 is the highest goal to be sought by the others. I'm glad that I have embroidery as a hobby, and not as a profession. The descriptions in the groups seem overly exaggerated to me.
I loved this post! I don't fall into any of the categories. I am in between 1 and 2. I often take liberties with printed patterns that I like. Or sometimes I won't stitch certain things and will add something else or choose stitches that are not "supposed" to be there. I wish I were more diligent at taking up my embroidery every evening like one would a good book. I look forward to more on the topic. Love the last embroidery very much.
I normally keep my mouth shut and my fingers still if I don't have something nice to say but I really didn't like the excerpts from the book at all. We are crafters and I will a hazard a guess that most of the folks who submit to the flickr groups and read here are like me - casual, "vulgar" crafters who may make their own designs here and there but rely on patterns.
I love to buy patterns because other people draw better than I do. I'm not "terrified" of anything related to crafting, I try it to see if I like it. If I like a new craft I add it to my rotation.
I love to stitch, I like getting better at it, but it's not important to me to achieve some personal status goal where I can feel I've ascended to some echelon of exclusive talent. I will never assume to have a "refined artistic ability", I don't want one. I'm not "calm" and "persistent", I'm passionate and devoted to what I love and what I don't love I discard. I'm patient when it's worth it.
I get that the book was from the 50's, the author is a man and that time in history people were awfully judgmental about a woman's abilities but I would love to travel back in time and give him a piece of my mind. I don't like cliques, I don't like classifying someone's worth by their skills and I don't like being classified by some stuffy man who probably has no idea that stitching is supposed to relaxing and fun. He was probably targeting his words to those fussy types who stitch royal wedding gowns and not people looking for a pattern of a narwhal with a tattoo. Or even in his own time, he wasn't targeting stitchers looking to reinforce collars or hide fraying hems or stained napkins which is where a lot of home embroidery is derived.
My apologies for the rant, I'm not targeting Gabi but a misogynist from the 50's who obviously could not assume that women like me would be reading his words 60 years later. Being judgmental and snooty to get others to aspire to meet your expectations is not the sign of a good teacher in my opinion, but a jerk. Hopefully the 60's and 70's opened him up a bit. I'll take Erica Wilson any day.
I definitely fall in to the second category but have a longing to be in the first but I don't feel I have the artistic ability to be accomplished there. I always enjoy your blog. Thanks for sharing.
I embroider mainly for fun and relaxation, and I'm comfortable as a "hobbyist" who occasionally tries her hand at original designs. It really depends on my mood! Sometimes I see a pattern that I really want to get creative with, sometimes I just wanna mindlessly stitch some pretty flowers, and sometimes I want to go off the beaten path and experiment. As long as I'm stitching, I'm happy.
I agree with you megmcg, there was something that rubbed me the wrong way about the way he phrased things, and unfortunately I have heard similar sentiments in other craft areas.
that says anything at all about me, my talent, or my character.
I'm definitely a 1- but I came to embroidery through fine arts training and want the originality of my own design. I like the description- "She is not easily satisfied and strives to always do better." Yes!
about different groups of embroiderers depending on the region they come from.
of the first to talk about these women.
there were no embroiderers belonging to groups 2 and 3!!!
clients - if you know some of these you can tell them about my kits :).
I never thought of categorizing any sort of crafter but I see where you could. But I don't think that one group is less than the another, it is just where you feel comfortable. My mom is in group 2 or 3 and I am in group1. I hope one day my stitches will be a tidy as hers.
The only time my temperament is as described is with my embroidery. Otherwise I am not too patient or calm, but I am definitely persistent and keep working at something until I am satisfied.
I am likely between number 1 and 2, I rarely do "kits" or pre printed things (unless that is what someone wants as a gift). I cannot draw very well either so I look through books at pictures and tend to embroider whatever I want. One example is the photo of a bunch of flowers that my parents took by the roadside while on vacation. I attacked it with my lightbox and then transferred it to dirt colored fabric and gave that as a gift.
I love this. I can be calm and consistent, but my life with three children (under 6) is very hectic and I only have time for the smaller projects. My impatience comes with not getting a project finished. I love the design process, and the challenge of making every stitch excellent!
I absolutely agree. And that opening paragraph could have been avoided. It is so horribly discouraging. A real pedagogue would have not written something like that, regardless of the decade. You can be passionate about embroidery if you stitch every day or if you stitch once a year, the labour of love it takes to make something is what matters, not the quantity, not even the quality! If you love it: make it.
Gabi I like your response but only want to point out that group 2 and 3 wouldn't be professional embroiderers because that would imply that's their job and it wouldn't make sense to fit his description of those two types to someone stitching for a living.
From what I have read of Madeira embroidery, which may or may not be different, people of all sexes and ages did embroidery for extra money but you wouldn't ask a shop to finish your expensive kit if you were stitching for a living. So maybe professional got lost in translation.
I definitely embroider as a hobby. I've made my own designs, I've made patterns my own by tweaking them and plenty of times I straight up trace an iron on transfer with thread.
All crafts have evolved significantly in the past 50 years because no one has to do them for a living anymore. Typically, in most places, women have been doing needlework because they weren't allowed or expected to do too much else. Now women in many places have a lot more choices with what to do with their time. I hope that more and more people take to needlework because it's so good for the mind to create and touch real materials. Have you seen the Renate Hiller video on Handiwork? It's on YouTube. She will make you feel special and connected to your work.
I was having difficulty with the choices, as I don't seem to fit any and yet like many here I am passionate about what I do, and LOVE the calm meditative process and always want to learn,stretch and explore. If anything I regard myself as an artist who uses embroidery as part of my larger repertoire to explore and express ideas. I have a problem with the concept of artists/crafters being boxed in,categorized and defined NOT on the basis of their work, the passion they have for it, and skill level but on whether they are doing it for a living or not. The implication that if one is not earning a living from their art they are not serious is shortsighted, snobbish and a laughable. Sure there are some who can, if they teach or work for an organization, or write books about it, or do bread and butter production style artworks, or just are lucky enough to get noticed by the right people, but the vast majority of artists/crafters cannot depend on their work to support themselves and therefore get other work to support their passion. Which is why I find the notion that if one isn't earning a living with their work they are not serious about it is sadly laughable.
I would love to change that... and I believe this discussion will help me on that! Thanks!!!
Well I had very little direct exposure to crafts as a child. I had a lot natural experiences though as I was expected to play outside and encouraged to explore. I'm 33 for a point of reference.
My grandmother (Nana we called her) did a lot of needlework but I lived too far away to learn from her. I have an aunt who knit while I was a kid and I didn't live near her either but it always interested me. When my son was turning 1 in 2006 I decided to learn to knit, most of my lessons and all my inspiration came from the internet.
I decided to learn embroidery after I saw a Sublime Stitching book being sold at Urban Outfitters and it took me a few years to go from book to actually picking up a needle . But yet again, most of what I learned and was inspired by was found on the internet (Jane Brocket, Jenny Hart, Alicia Paulson, Subversive Cross Stitch, Floss Box, a little Martha Stewart, Aimee Ray, this blog).
I know a number of people who embroider in counted cross stitch. That's pretty common where I live in the northeast US. The free hand embroiderers I know in person are ones that I've taught but I feel like I see so much online that there must be tons of us, all hiding for some reason!
I wonder if more people stitched in public if it would become more popular, or more recognized. When a culture of people is expected to stitch in every spare minute you probably develop a very different perspective. When I do any crafting in public I always get stared at and often get comments and questions about what I'm making.
Olá, Gabi. Sou brasileira e queria escrever antes sobre o post da "saudade" (muito bom), mas não me sinto à vontade escrevendo em inglês (sérios erros podem ocorrer!!!). Decidi escrever em português, tudo bem? Adoro bordar e acho que estou no segundo grupo de bordadeiras, mas gostaria de estar no primeiro, apesar de ter um grau de miopia um pouco elevado e suar as mãos (esta parte é muito engraçada!). Parabéns pelo trabalho.
I'm mostly the second and rarely the first. I much prefer to buy someone else's design and I always work in the evening after my kids go to bed. But if for some reason I can't find one, I do from time to time create one (though I prefer to adapt).
I prefer to be the second - I take pleasure in the craft, but I am NOT an artist.
Thank you for taking the time to translate and share such an interesting perspective. What touched me most is the value he clearly places on embroidery and the person creating it. I don't know that I feel like an embroiderer, or that I fit nicely into any of the categories... what I do know is that I relish the process of stitching. From the ideas that start to form in my mind, to selecting the perfect fabric, to sketching my design, to choosing the perfect colors, to threading the needle, and especially to the sound the floss makes as it pulls through the fabric... all the way to the last stitch when I set down my needle and look at what I've created. But it doesn't end there; and that's what is so exciting! The project is done but I'm not, I'm already thinking about the next time I get to stitch. Now that I really think about it, maybe I DO feel like an embroiderer!