She Makes Things

 My cloth journal class starts on Wednesday. I'm going to be so curious to see what participants create, discover what ideas they some up with, and to hear the stories they share. My plan is to encourage them from the start to create something they'll be happy with and to not try to follow along with what someone else is doing if it's not their vibe. I'm going to suggest that they make their journal in whatever format they want, whether that's a book, wall art, scroll, bunting, vessel, or some other thing. I also intend to tell them how I work, but that might not be how they want to work. For example, I'm not into buying a bunch of supplies--at least not new. I have my basic tools, of course. But I don't go fabric shopping for yardage. I shop in charity shops and use worn out clothing--like my Nana, the upcycling is an important part of my practice, whether it's yarn or cloth that I'm working with. If I want to embellish, I use deconstructed bits of charity shop jewellry or other things I have. So with that in mind, I created a journal that I can show and explain (briefly) at the start of the class. I tried to include many different types of pages which will hopefully spark ideas for their own work. They can create their journal around a theme if they want or they can have fun playing with cloth and stitch without a theme. Many types of things can be incorporated. When I was teaching knitting and crocheting at the yarn shop, so many of my older students told stories about learning when they were young--taught my grandma or auntie who would get angry with them as they told them they were doing it wrong, holding their hook wrong, or even slapping their hands! Or they'd tell them how terrible the work was and make them rip it out. After being terrorized like this, they had no interest in pursuing these activities until they were older when they thought they'd give it another try. There will be none of that with me. Of course with some things, one learns the basic techniques--then it's off to wherever they lead. No rules. If someone does something and they don't like it, they can take it apart or cover it up. We won't be using expensive materials. We'll just be having fun (hopefully!). My sample journal has a theme and that is 'She Makes Things.' The title comes from a childhood memory. I was in some school gathering or something like that and I was asked who I most admired. I said Nana. She was cool, I said, partly because she makes things. And she sure did--she grew food, she cooked amazing meals, and she sewed. She didn't sew fancy things and use fabric store materials. She went to rummage sales, bought drapes and made slipcovers. She made aprons and basic dresses, patchwork blankets, and Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Growing up in a family where shopping was recreation, making things seemed pretty cool to me. My other grandmother was a knitter. I remember her always following patterns. Nana always seemed to wing it, although I'm sure she created her own patterns. So I'm a mix of both of them--I tend to improvise in most areas of my life.  I love yarn. And it's important to me to upcycle. So that's the theme of my journal, which includes honoring the work of women--both known and unknown to me--from previous generations. I'll show it to you now and explain (briefly) the reason I made the choices I did and how they fit the theme. This post will have a lot of photos and be kind of long.

First off, the front cover, which I was making whilst away from home, using what limited supplies I had with me.

The pocket is a needle tatted doodle that I had in one of my stitching pouches. When I was teaching needle tatting at a local yarn shop, my students were always a couple of decades older than myself. They would talk about their grandmothers tatting with shuttles. They tried but couldn't get the hang of it. With the needle, they were able to finally do this and several of them through the years were literally in tears to feel that connection with their grandmother. I found that very moving. The photo is of Nana. The ribbon yarn was scrap from a kumihimo braid I made. The yarn was from a charity shop and given to me by a friend. The bead is from a charity shop necklace.

On the left is the inside of the cover--a piece of a leg from worn out jeans, a cross-stitch doodle from my pouch, and some scrap thread stitching. I stitched the rectangle and did a bunch of seed stitch inside it, then wove thread at random through the seed stitches. On the right is a sleeve from a sweater given to me by a dear friend. The sweater was made by his late wife and he thought maybe I could unravel it to get the yarn and use it. I did, but kept the sleeves so some of her work would be preserved. I made a bag with the other one and decided to use this one as a page in the journal. The stitch holder at the cuff and the stitch markers on the sleeve belonged to my mother-in-law, who gave me a pouch with some of her knitting tools many years ago. The stitch markers are quite fragile so I don't use them in knitting. The cuff is folded over from the back and serves as a closure with the stitch holder. It also serves as a pocket, so I can add things to it.

The knitting pin gauge belonged to the woman who made the sleeve. The UK numbers are different from US numbers and all my knitting needles are from the US. I have a gauge for those. The page on the right is part of a shirt a friend of mine gave me years ago. I wore it until it was shredded in places. I layered two pieces of that with a piece of a worn out T-shirt of Bill's and used odd bits of leftover thread to do a simple running stitch. It's wonky as is typical of my slow stitching. There is space to add embellishments if I want to at a later date.

The other side of the shirt page--I stitched around the embroidery. The doily on the right was made for me by a cousin's other grandmother. I was close to this cousin as a kid and often stayed for weeks at her house, where her grandmother also lived. Her other grandmother, Mrs. Marx (I don't think I ever knew her first name), was a small women with a heavy accent and a love of threadwork. I can still hear her laughing and see her sitting in her room with her hands flying. When Bill and I got married almost half a century ago, she gave us a set of these crocheted doilies that she'd made. I treasured them. I had no idea that a few years later, I'd become passionate about crocheting myself, although it took a while for me to be able to work with fine thread.

On the left you can just see a crochet hook attached to the doily. That belonged to Mrs. Marx. My aunt gave me a bunch of her hooks after Mrs. Marx had passed away and this one is slightly bent. On the right is a card from the friend who gave me the shirt, which I chose to use for the patchwork vibe on the elephant and the association of elephants with remembering.

Here is the center On the right, I cut down an envelope to fit and attached it, closing up the cut end with double-sided tape. A friend was going to throw away a box of the envelopes years ago, but I took them and use them. The floral bit on top is the inside of the front of another greeting card. On the left is a poem I wrote years ago in honor of Nana, who was unappreciated by my grandfather. Grandpa wanted his meals promptly at the times mentioned in the poem. If they were not there, he'd complain or think he was punishing her by choosing not to eat at all. Fine, go hungry, would be my response to that--or make your own lunch.

In/visibility

Invisible kitchen spirit

stands stirring oatmeal

at 6 a.m.

No one sees her there

stirring, poaching, brewing,

serving.

No one says

thank you.

No one notices

unless

the food does not appear

on the table before them

promptly at 6, 12, 5.

Invisible kitchen spirit

visible only

in your absence.

The back of the card with the inside of a candy wrapper glued on--I liked the pattern on the paper. And the doily. Again, there's space to add things if I ever want to.

More stitching on the right and a cross-stitched iris. Nana had purple iris in her yard and when we moved, my mother dug some up and took them to plant in our new home, over 1000 miles away. I always loved the irises.

A photo Bill took of Nana at work in her yard, buckets in hand. The house is no longer there--when she died the land was sold, everything knocked down, and yucky suburban houses built. I went there once and it looked like a completely different place--not a trace of Nana remained. I was kind of glad. It would've been worse somehow if just a little bit was left while the other stuff was thrown up around it.

The inside of the back cover, which is a shirt cuff that I sewed partway up, leaving the top opened so it can be used as a pocket and closed with the button.

The back cover--again made when we were away from home, using whatever I had. The fabric is from a pillowcase purchased at a charity shop. For both covers, I wanted a bit of sturdiness so the middle layer, between the pillowcase bits and the denim inside is pieces of a fleece scarf, also from the charity shop. The braid was a completed kumihimo braid I had with me, intending to make something else. I'll just have to make another one. 😀The spine was crocheted from some leftover thread.

So that's my sample journal. On this International Women's Day, I am happy to have this object to hold and look at as I honor the work of so many women who found creative ways to care for their loved ones. Often this was from necessity not from love of the work or joy in the doing. Thanks to so many women, I can stitch when I want to and with love and joy. I am grateful.

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