This is the first of your newsletter posts I've read (I found you through an Instagram reel someone crossposted to tumblr) and I'm so excited to read more of your work. I love the way you write about textiles and I can already tell I'm going to learn so much from you. 🖤
Have you read Threads of Life by Clare Hunter? There are chapters in it that talk about the power of embroidery in allowing people to tell stories they had previously never been able to articulate before, a lot like you were discussing here.
Thank you so much for writing this amazing essay! I love the connecting threads you highlighted between Palestine and South Africa. From start to finish, this is a wonderful read.
Thank you for writing this! It's given me a lot to think about and look into, including the idea of recording history in cloth, MAKING history in cloth, using embroidery as a tool against oppression feels like a powerful thing, especially when you think about how traditionally people seem to think sewing is a passive thing that people who are in generally powerless roles (women) tend to do.
The thing about tatreez motifs being unique and individualistic and African embroidery having a story and mythology behind it makes me wonder if the cross-stitch motifs used in my region have a meaning too. I've not heard anyone ever mention it (except that they used a motif because it was pretty). But even if they don't have a meaning, maybe we can give them one? After all, no one ever said you can't MAKE history.
(Also, I only got substack because of you, every time you post something I get really happy because I know it's something I'll be thinking about for a long while).
A super poignant and lovely read.
Thank you, Thembi 💕
This is the first of your newsletter posts I've read (I found you through an Instagram reel someone crossposted to tumblr) and I'm so excited to read more of your work. I love the way you write about textiles and I can already tell I'm going to learn so much from you. 🖤
Have you read Threads of Life by Clare Hunter? There are chapters in it that talk about the power of embroidery in allowing people to tell stories they had previously never been able to articulate before, a lot like you were discussing here.
Thank you so much for writing this amazing essay! I love the connecting threads you highlighted between Palestine and South Africa. From start to finish, this is a wonderful read.
Thank you for writing this! It's given me a lot to think about and look into, including the idea of recording history in cloth, MAKING history in cloth, using embroidery as a tool against oppression feels like a powerful thing, especially when you think about how traditionally people seem to think sewing is a passive thing that people who are in generally powerless roles (women) tend to do.
The thing about tatreez motifs being unique and individualistic and African embroidery having a story and mythology behind it makes me wonder if the cross-stitch motifs used in my region have a meaning too. I've not heard anyone ever mention it (except that they used a motif because it was pretty). But even if they don't have a meaning, maybe we can give them one? After all, no one ever said you can't MAKE history.
(Also, I only got substack because of you, every time you post something I get really happy because I know it's something I'll be thinking about for a long while).