This Long Thread

This Long Thread

Celebrate the diverse work of people of color in the craft community and explore the personal, political, and creative potential of textile arts and crafts. In early 2019, the craft community experienced a reckoning when crafters of color began sharing personal stories about exclusion and racial injustice in their field, pointing out the inequity and lack of visible diversity within the crafting world. Author Jen Hewett, who is one of a few prominent women of color in the fiber crafts community, now brings together this book as a direct response to the need to highlight the diverse voices of artists working in fiber arts and crafts. Weaving together interviews, first-person essays, and artist profiles, This Long Thread explores the work and contributions of people of color across the fiber arts and crafts community, representing a wide spectrum of race, age, region, cultural identity, education, and economic class. These conversations explore techniques and materials, belonging, identity, pride of place, cultural misappropriation, privilege, the value (or undervaluing) of craft, community support structures, recognition or exclusion, intergenerational dialogue, and much more. Be inspired by the work and stories of innovative people of color who are making exceptional contributions to the world of craft. The diverse range of textile artists and craftspeople featured include knitters, quilters, sewers, weavers, and more who are making inspiring and innovative work, yet who are often overlooked by mainstream media.

The Long Thread

1, 2, 3 Sew

Sewing can be as easy as 1-2-3 with this helpful building-block approach—includes thirty-three projects! In this creative teaching book, craft blogger Ellen Luckett Baker offers a wholly unique approach to sewing: She presents projects in groups of three, each building on the techniques used in the project before. Baker shows, for example, how to sew a glasses case, then build on those skills to create a zippered pouch, and from there, make a more advanced cosmetics bag. There are thirty-three delightful projects in all, ranging from clothing to decor and accessories. This very special ebook includes easy-to-follow instructions, how-to illustrations, and instructions for how to print the patterns, making it an essential resource for beginning and intermediate sewers alike.