Alive and Well in Doily Land

Have we identified the needlework gene yet? Is the love and ability for knitting, crochet, sewing, and embroidery encoded in our DNA?

Whether it was nature or nurture, I inherited the gift of needlework from both sides of the family. My dad's mother and sisters were crocheters and quilters. I'm the fourth of five known generations of knitters and needleworkers in my mom's family.

My mother, Anna, taught me to knit, crochet, and sew my own clothing. From high school, through college, and well into my working-woman days, I made my own dresses, tops, skirts, and sweaters. A lot of them were one-of-a-kind, and I was pretty pleased about that.

Typically for a person who thought a fun time was a trip to Cloth World or Hancock Fabrics, I asked my parents for a pair of left-handed sewing shears for my birthday one year. The handle of the right-handed pair I had been using, dug painfully into my thumb. They gave me the scissors I asked for, and my thumb is still grateful.

Making stuff was important to me, but I also loved reading about fiber crafts. The art and history of lace, weaving, quilting, and basketry were well-represented in the university and public libraries. The art and history of knitting and crocheting were not. That bothered me.

Demonstrating knitting and crochet at fairs and festivals with our local guild was one of my favorite activities. Festival-goers commented how nice it was to see young people knitting and crocheting. Others watched, as we worked with our yarn, hooks, and needles, and told us that these were dying arts.

A number of observers at festivals, and in everyday life, dismissed crochet and knitting as something anyone could do, including their elderly aunt—she was apparently not very smart or something? Or maybe it was more like, if someone in their family could knit or crochet, why would these mundane crafts be represented at a festival?

Hmph.

Well-established artists had been creating with textile and fiber for decades. They crocheted soft, organic sculpture and knitted subtly- or extravagantly-textured wall art, yet writers and thinkers argued whether textile art could be considered fine art, like painting and sculpture. Would any level of skill and artistry with textiles always be merely craft? "Merely" was my word, found between the lines of these discussions. I argued to myself and my friends, there was nothing mere about fiber crafts.

These moments in the early 1980s helped me figure out my life's purpose. It was to elevate the art and craft of knitting and crochet; to show the beauty, skill, art, and cultural importance of knitting and crochet to the general public, the art world, and the academic world.

That was a lot! Luckily other people had similar goals, and technology helped everything along.

Yarn companies realized they needed more knitters and crocheters, if they wanted to sell more product. Several United States yarn companies cooperated through the Craft Yarn Council to establish a teaching program that is still going today. Yarn manufacturers tapped into the old Red Cross ethic, still strong in the United States if not around the world: knitters and crocheters were ready and willing to make clothing, socks, toys, and blankets for people in need. Generous needleworkers stepped up and delivered—and bought yarn.

The internet grew. We could sit at home and see the work of knitters and crocheters all over the globe. We could buy yarn, find vintage and antique patterns to make or study, and communicate with fellow needleworkers who were far, far away. I think the internet's power magnified the trends that led to multitudes of new makers, designers, and indie yarn producers. Now, more people than ever appreciate the skill and art of my favorite needlecrafts. Not everyone, but we're making progress.

For my part, I designed patterns, wrote about crafts, and made art with knitting and crochet. The journey of experimentation and discovery was a joy!

A chance project showed me that quilting knitted fabric stabilized it enough to hang on the wall and bear the weight of heavy embellishment. Winterling, pictured here, is a good example of a knitted quilt, embellished with buttons, beads, and crochet. The crocheted flowers were from my own books, Crochet Bouquet and Crochet Garden.

My thinking was, if I wanted knitting and crochet to be considered art, I needed to place my work where people looked for art. The Bastrop (Texas) Art in Public Places (BAiPP) organization had a similar idea, placing art where people go, instead of expecting people to come to where the art is. I was pleased and proud that BAiPP chose my knitted art quilts, Antelope Horns and Puzzling Pinks, to hang in the Bastrop Public Library for a year each. Puzzling Pinks has had an extended stay, because of the Pandemic.

I answered calls-for-entry to many other art exhibits and competitions. Most of them rejected my work, but you know what? You have to put your work out there anyway, because if you don't enter your work at all, it most certainly won't be accepted into an exhibit. It's a matter of choosing your target exhibit carefully, knowing that rejection isn't personal, and being ready to move on to the next competition, no matter what the outcome.

When your work is finally accepted into an exhibit, it's time to savor the triumph. I was thrilled when my knitted poppy quilt, A Very Bright Spot in 2020, received special recognition in the online Light Space Time Gallery's annual Botanicals art competition earlier this year. Progress made!

Being a known crocheter/knitter in the community meant acquaintances told me about their family heirloom needlework, particularly thread crochet. Their sweet memories of the crocheters in their lives made me wonder how many other crochet stories were out there in the land, waiting for someone to record them. I could be that someone.

About the time this realization struck, I was starting to prepare for an exhibition of my wall hangings at a local gallery. Slowly, a new plan formed in my mind. My exhibit would feature quilted wall hangings with vintage doilies on them, and I would include stories and photos from local families about their thread-crocheted heirlooms.

Making my signature knitted quilts was very time-consuming. To make enough art pieces in the time I had, I turned to sewing patchwork quilts from purchased fabric. My dear left-handed sewing shears made room for a rotary cutter. Now I don't know how I ever managed without one.

The show, Celebrate Doilies, opened in 2017. It filled the gallery with quilted wall hangings and posters telling stories shared with me by doily-makers' families, friends, and neighbors. Now we had a small slice of the history and culture of crochet, gathered in one place for people to read. The poster exhibit was the first step toward another life goal.

After its debut, I drove the Celebrate Doilies exhibit to venues around Texas, with a break during the Pandemic. The poster exhibit grew to 45 pieces, now distributed by the Texas Lakes Trail Region office to museums, libraries, convention centers, and universities. The art quilt exhibit and the poster exhibit are available to travel.

A fellow crocheter and author, Gwen Blakley Kinsler, interviewed me about Celebrate Doilies and posted about it on her blog. Gwen founded the Crochet Guild of America and took every opportunity to promote the art and craft of crochet. In the course of our interview, she asked if I were a member of the Center for Knit and Crochet.

Well, I had never heard of the Center for Knit and Crochet (CKC). Off I went to the internet, where I learned the organization's mission was to "preserve and promote the art, craft, and scholarship of knitting, crochet, and related crafts." That sounded so familiar. CKC seemed like a group custom-made for a person whose life's purpose was to "elevate the art and craft of knitting and crochet; to show the beauty, skill, art, and cultural importance of knitting and crochet to the general public, the art world, and the academic world."

I joined, posted about Celebrate Doilies for CKC's blog, and found myself on the board of directors within a year. Through the CKC, I met others who had goals similar to mine. They used their expertise in material culture, technology, accounting, filmmaking, marketing, and writing, to work toward the group's mission. My job is tending to CKC's social media presence, so please follow us on Instagram and Twitter! Links and resources are at the end of this long history.

Doilies were the catalyst for fulfilling my dream of lifting up the culture and history of crochet and knitting, and bringing the wonder of these needlecrafts to more people than I thought possible. The United States is full of doilies and stories about their makers—it's truly a Doily Land. I like being in this place, and plan to be here a while, making textile art, seeking stories of doily culture and crocheters of the past and present, and recording my findings online and wherever else I can.

However, if the opportunity presented itself, I would definitely leave Doily Land, for instance to advocate for knitting and crochet to be taught to children in public schools (for many reasons including the health benefits of the crafts). I would encourage the incorporation of needlework into diplomatic efforts. I might even lobby for a U. S. Bureau of Crafts, which would record and study the crafting culture and history of the United States, and foster equitable craft education and commerce.

Or maybe these will become another person's life's purpose. Yours?

Suzann Thompson posts and writes about her artwork at www.textilefusion.com and on social media.

Links

Read about the making of Winterling at https://www.textilefusion.com/search/winterling.

Find A Very Bright Spot in 2020 poppy wall hanging in Light Space Time Gallery's 2021 Botanicals Exhibit: https://www.lightspacetime.art/botanicals-art-exhibition-2021-3-dimensional-category/

Find details about the Celebrate Doilies art quilt exhibit at http://www.textilefusion.com/celebrate-doilies-details-booking.pdf.

If you have a doily story to share, please fill out and return the form at http://www.textilefusion.com/doily-heritage-project.pdf.

To book the Texas Crochet Heritage traveling exhibit of 45 doily history and culture posters, contact the Texas Lakes Trail Region office at [email protected].

The Center for Knit and Crochet is at http://www.centerforknitandcrochet.org. On Instagram @centerforknitandcrochet, Twitter @ctrknitcrochet.

Bastrop Art in Public Places is at http://www.baipp.org.