Imaginary Ladies
Art? Craft? Mental health? Whatever, once again embroidery rocks
“Hence, when we create with our hands our brains are happy, which makes our bodies happy in turn.” — Elin Petronella of Charles and Elie
In our increasingly stressful world, hand crafts like crochet, knitting, and embroidery are regaining popularity. I did all those things in my childhood years, badly enough that it stuns me to see the artistry of these “crafts” today, such as this one that showed up on my who-knows-what-to-call-it feed:
Her stunning work sent me on an adventure to find out more about her. On her website she says this about herself:
Hello, my name is Gemma Matthews - The Sewing Songbird and I am an embroidery artist.
I live in Nottingham, England with my husband and our 4 children and I started my embroidery journey in 2018 as something to keep my hands busy and my creativity flowing.
I create freehand stitched pieces onto upcycled denim and I am heavily inspired by nature, books and the arts.
Here’s her website home page:
And. here are some more of her ladies:
Now, my curiosity was definitely aroused … was she part of a trend? A quick search took me to Charles and Elin and a love story about two artistic souls who found each other and went commercial. And, of course, they now have a YouTube channel with 34K subscribers. (You can see their story if you click here.) Modern love.
Elin is the source of the opening quote and offers this bit of history:
A quick glance at the history of embroidery, it’s an ancient art-form to say the least. It traces back to 30 000 B.C., from which archaeologists have found fossils of heavily hand-stitched clothes and boots. Other ancient works have been prominently found in China and India, consisting of chain stitch on silk. Traveling from ancient to modern history, we can find embroidery appliqué all over the world. Whether for decorative or practical purposes, embroidery is practised across cultures and classes. The upper-class fine ladies, would be taught decorative embroidery, whereas the working class women were mostly taught mending, quilting and especially marking.
I am drawn to the beauty of the embroidery but also to the mental health aspect of hand crafts. I am an avid Substack author (obviously, since we’re both here), reader and fan. One of favorite substackers
writes about how crochet saved her life, not only on her Substack but in her book (available on amazon). She writes:Crochet saves lives. It saved mine. In the worst throes of depression I found myself sobbing on the bathroom floor, the tip of a kitchen knife pointed into my wrist. I was aching to break the flesh and bring the pain to an end. Through sheer force of will, I pried my own desperate hands open and replaced the knife with a crochet hook. Then I crocheted to save my life.
So, for art or mental health, maybe it’s time to rethink those old hand crafts. Let’s do a poll …
Substackers who have shifted my thinking in 2023:
Introducing a handful of unique Substackers worth reading IMHO … although far from a comprehensive list, these folks will launch you beyond the BIG Names and into the “WOW, I’m glad I found you” stands. Each author will be the focus on the date referenced … but just in case you want to skip ahead (or back) or subscribe now rather than later, here’s who’s highlighted in the last 7 weeks of 2023.
11/18/23
writing in Create Me Free about mental health and art.11/29/23
writing in The New Now about the power of manifestos.12/2/23
writes about Great Things with humor and illustrations.12/9/23 Goatfury Writesby Andrew Smith writing about anything that crosses his curious and unique mind.
12/16/23
writes Stunning Sentences. If you’re a writer, you may never again look at (or write) sentences in the same way.12/23/23
writes Cosmographia, a map-based travel adventure like no other.12/30/23Unfixedby Kimberly Warner presented me with a life lesson I’m still chewing on.
Happy Substack 2023 …. stay tuned for 2024!
Thank you for highlighting embroidery, and The Sewing Songbird - her work is so beautifully vibrant. I have done embroidery on and off throughout my life, alongside other crafts. I never thought it helped my mental health, but I now realise that it has been a huge help in times of stress.
I also realise that my embroidery is linked to my love of documenting our lives. I embroider words on my quilts and once embroidered a family tree on a christening gown, of all the people who had worn the gown.
Thank you also for the links.
What gorgeous inspiration! thank you so much! I tried pasting a pic of an old embroidery - one part of a yoke I did on a top i made many years ago - but it didn't work. that yoke took over 600 hrs to complete. I traveled by bus all over North America with it for several months, and it took me 3 years, between life's other callings. I always had a hand project with me in those days. Now at 70, my hands have painful arthritis and my thumb joints are wearing out from years of hard but beloved manual labor as a gardener, and hand work.
These ladies make me want to get back into it, though! Maybe looser weave fabric would work! I LOVE and adore these embroideries you've shared with us - and your post.