via LongInt57 @ flickr
Next to me on my sofa are my toys: needles, scissors, and a canvas stitched with brightly colored perled thread. Yes, this harpy loves nothing more than settling in on a cold winter’s night with some needlepoint.
For centuries, needlepoint–and its equally fussy sisters, embroidery and cross-stitch–was an “accomplishment” for gently bred ladies. No fancy parlor was complete without a few needlepointed throw pillows or chair cushions, daintily worked by the lady of the house in her “spare time” (a term I use advisedly, since leisure barely existed in the bad old days before birth control, washing machines, ready-to-wear, and modern kitchens).
And yet, despite all its elitist, pre-feminist associations, I love my needlepoint. For starters, it’s the ultimate form of soothing entertainment for an overworked fidgeter like me. In a 1798 letter to his daughter, Martha, Thomas Jefferson wrote: ”In the life of America there are many moments when a woman can have recourse to nothing but her needle for enjoyment. In a dull company, and in a dull weather, for instance, it is ill manners to read; it is ill manners to leave them; no card playing there among genteel people, that is abandoned to the blackguards. The needle is then a valuable source.” The letter contains no clue as to whether TJ—a man of many hobbies and unusual accomplishments—ever resorted to a little needlework himself. But he hits squarely on the simple pleasure of needlework: busy hands let the mind drift to more enjoyable things without seeming rude or idle. There’s a Zen quality to the smooth pull of the needle through canvas, the calming slip of the thread through my fingers as my mind wanders and focuses somewhere else…or nowhere at all.
And there are practical benefits too. Needleworking taught me to stitch. When a fellow bridesmaid’s dress popped a seam at a wedding last year, I was the only one who knew how to repair the damage with the hotel’s teeny sewing kit. Crisis averted. A hundred years ago, every woman in the room would have known how to sew a straight line. Now, even simple stitching is a lost art. At the reception a few hours later, the bride opened my gift, a custom needlepointed pillow. It’s her favorite thing in her new living room. A year later, she hung a needlework design on the wall of her baby’s nursery—another gift from Auntie Becky. Now that everyone registers for gifts at Crate & Barrel or Babies R Us, it’s the handmade gift that gets all the attention. I can smile and preen as everyone admires my beautiful handiwork, even when the occasional backhanded compliment flies my way: “I didn’t think women did that anymore.” Well, this one does.
I’m a cross-stitcher. Such a therapeutic, calming activity for a pattern-obsessed data analyst like myself.
Ah now I wish this was something I enjoyed as my mother does it and it seems downright therapeutic. Unfortunately as I attended the sort of convent schools where sewing and needlework classes were compulsory, needlepoint is more likely to induce screaming nightmares of Sister Anne Marie picking apart my crooked seams and making me stay behind to do them again and again and again…
This woman does too. I cross-stitch, knit and can sew together simple dress patterns. Always enjoy giving away handmade gifts as the smiles that the receiver puts on gives me a good feeling. A, “you made this?” with a slight hint of amazement.
I’m saddened that even fixing a hem is a disappearing skill.
This is why I’ve always wanted to learn how to knit, the zen quality it seems like you could get from it. That’s also perhaps why I don’t learn to do it either, I fear I’d fall into a habit of knitting all the time. You should post some of your work, I’d love to see it.
I want to learn to sew/knit/quilt so bad, but I fear I am not patient enough to learn. I don’t like “learning” things, I just want to do it already!
Hi- new commenter here. I followed you over from PennyPlastic’s blog, and I’m a frequenter (not so much anymore) of Jezebel.
Anyway, on to the topic- I just learned how to knit. I’m only 21, so all my girlfriends love to make fun of me, but it’s so fun to do, and after having finally finished a scarf for my boyfriend, I feel so proud to see him wearing it! I’d love to teach others how.
I went through a big cross-stitching phase, and a beading-on-a-loom phase, and all the women in my mom’s family have been quilters so I did that as a child too. My mom learned to quilt but never embraced it the way her mom, grandmother and assorted cousins did (a fact my grandmother is trying to make up for by giving her a stack of baby quilts to last until the moon migration)
OK, trying to post this for the third time – apologies if it double or triple-posts!
@CrabbyAlissa: I have the opposite problem – the learning is the interesting bit for me; as soon as I know how to do something, I’m bored. No staying power.
I love subversive cross-stitch, though: http://subversivecrossstitch.com/index.html (Yes, I am juvenile.)
But I want to do one with Kurt Vonnegut’s “farting around” quote.
@crabbyalissa: I highly recommend needlepoint, b/c it is really the easiest of those to learn. Once you learn to stitch well–which doesn’t take long–it’s like paint-by-numbers. Also, there is no math/geometry/ counting involved, which was my downfall when I learned to quilt and crossstitch. Too many numbers! (yes, somewhere Larry Summers is smiling knowingly)
@diziet_sma: those subversive crosstitches are AWESOME. I may have to overcome my dislike of working on a grid just so I can make a few samplers.
@BeckySharper: They are giving away a free Obama ‘Hope’ pattern with any order up to the end of January: http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/obama.html
And I just thought of a great slogan for one – ineffable me’s ‘Oh, for the fuck of shit’.
I have the subversive cross-stitch book — awesome. I also have a very cool book of art deco-inspired patterns. I go through phases, though, and I haven’t been in a stitching phase of late. Maybe it’s time to pull out the old bag of materials…
I would like to learn needlepoint and/or knitting, too. The only thing bad about knitting is that I live in the southern U.S. where I have very little need for knitted goods! Maybe if/when I move elsewhere I’ll finally learn how…
Cross-stitch was fabulous for me during one of my attempts to quit smoking. Unfortunately, it didn’t take and I put the x-stitch up at some point as well, but it’s definitely time to find it and restart.
I do needlepoint, cross-stitch and knit.
It really is soothing. Like you said, you have to pay attention, but don’t have to think much, particularly with needlepoint, or doing a straight knit stitch (I do a lot of cowls, which are essentially tubes, and fingerless gloves, more tubes).
I used to cross stitch and sew all the time. It was a huge surprise to my college friends that I knew something so “girly.”
Lately, I’ve been more into baking and soap crafting — more (apparently) “girly” endeavors. But, I enjoy my hobbies. They’re relaxing, allow me a creative outlet and provide much needed un-winding from my job. Plus, I’ve found that as my friends and I get older, people really do enjoy handmade gifts.
i love to knit… it’s the most relaxing amazing thing EVER! I’m learning to crochet… and the best part of it… cheap christmas presents!
This is about knitting, but I think it’s also applicable:
http://www.apaonline.org/publications/newsletters/v08n1_Feminism_10.aspx
I’ve really been wanting to read the book No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting–though I hear that it’s not written from a very feminist perspective, so I’m more likely to read it for the historical documentation than the analysis.
I think that whether an artistic medium has been considered “women’s work” (knitting, needlepoint, sewing) or “men’s work” (painting, sculpture) can be pretty illuminating. But I don’t think that the historical connotations of a medium are in and of themselves enough to “decode” meaning behind practicing the same crafts today–some people might cross-stitch “subversively,” while others might cross-stitch with Traditional Female Roles very much in mind, while others might explore cross-stitch simply as another image reproduction method.
Since I took up blogging I have not had much chance to cross stitch but I enjoy it and find it relaxing. It allows me to zone right out and create something beautiful at the same time. I like to give it away as gifts. I love the joy that it brings people.
I sew garments! I’m not really patient enough to do much surface embellishment – I’ve done a little embroidery, but I would always be dissatisfied and take out my stitches, and then of course I would never get anywhere. With sewing, I can design my own clothes if I want to, instead of wearing the junk that’s out there. I labored until recently under the assumption that fellow radical feminists would find my pastime hopelessly retro, but of course, that was an unfounded fear.
I knit, sew, cross-stitch, and am learning embroidery and needle point. Fantastic, practical hobby really. Nothing brings me more joy than someone saying to me “This is beautiful! Where can I get one?” and I return it with “I made it.”
I just wanted to let you all know that this post inspired me to sign up for a knitting class at my local Joann Fabrics. If it goes well, I’m signing up for the beginning sewing class. Thanks ladies!
[...] it’s a Mr. Darcy cross-stitch, perfectly combining my love of needlework and Fitzwilliam Darcy (particularly as played by Colin Firth). Click on the image to order your own [...]