I picked up an embroidery hoop for the first-time in my quarantined free time last spring. Upon returning to campus, I realized that I was in quite good company as a newly fledged embroiderer. Embroidery requires very few supplies. With a hoop, a needle, several thread colors, an article of clothing or fabric, and a bit of creative inspiration, an embroider is well on their way to a finished product. Embroidery projects can be quick several minute affairs or elaborate weeks long projects.
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Carleton College has provided several venues for students to gain access to embroidery materials. The makerspace keeps a bin stocked with all essential embroidery materials. Ruken Bastimer (‘22), SAO’s Art Program Assistant, led the DENIMbroidery workshop fall term with resounding success. Thinking around 15-20 students would register, Ruken was shocked when, “80 plus people signed up for our event, within the span of two days.” A novice embroiderer herself, Ruken picked up an embroidery hoop for the first time and, “signed up for my own event and took a hoop into my own hands for the very first time.” As a pastime activity, Ruken says, “it’s very soothing but very difficult to control that needle!”.
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Photo courtesy of Ruken Bastimar.
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Some highlights from the DENIMbroidery contest.
Photo submissions by Ruken Bastimar (left), Zach Lewis (middle) & Nell Schafer (right).
Embroidery is not only a pleasant way to pass time but also a way of putting messages and imagery of personal meaning on clothing. I taught a Fashion, Media, and Self-expression class for middle schoolers this summer and we used embroidery to affix messages and motifs of protest and self-expression to old items of clothing. With sustainability-oriented fashion in mind, embroidery allows people to give new life and purpose to clothing they otherwise might discard.
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Repair and embroidery are two closely related activities, both requiring a needle and some thread in their simplest forms; both allow people to transform items that otherwise might end up in a landfill into cared for, creatively modified articles. In combating fast fashion, the most potent act a single person can do is simply keep their clothing for longer. Perhaps in years to come embroidered clothing will be a softer remnant of a time (hopefully) long passed. Quarantine-induced embroidery (and diy craft) may serve as a marker of this current period of confinement, a melancholic but warm reminder of time spent inside in contemplation.
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