Author: Betsy

Stitching Through History

| Betsy

One of my favorite things to do is search the Library of Congress photo archives. In simply looking up “sewing,” I came across a wealth of photos from all sorts of situations. While the first photo took my imagination (what is written on that notecard with the safety pins?), the caption of the second photo, “every soldier his own sewing society,” was the most poignant of them all.

Captions for the rest of the photos are noted at the bottom of each picture. I love how they show people in quiet moments (although the LOC archives also has lots of photos of people sewing in factories!) and working to fix something, whether it’s a uniform, a community or a country. That’s one of the best gifts of craft, I think, that we all belong to a long legacy and that every stitch we take has been done by thousands of individuals before us.

(And as for the last two, there were some pretty interesting photos I found along the way, too, including what has to be the hottest photo taken in 1875 and a puppy sewing.)

Navy sewing kit

every solider his own sewing society

alice pavl sewing

Miss Alice Pavl is shown sewing the thirty-sixth star on the suffrage ratification banner, the stars having been added from time to time as the various states ratified. (1920)

bedding 1918

Legion of Loyal Women, Mrs. Mary Logan Tucker, Sewing on Bedding for Hospitals (1918)

iowa sewing quilt

Wife of Iowa corn farmer sewing choir robes for Methodist church. Greene County, Iowa (1940)

arts and crafts

Philadelphia, Penna., Mar. 1941, girls engaged in knitting and the making of toy animals in the handicraft class of the St. Simon’s Youth Center of the National Youth Administration (1941)

sewing seat cushion

Wife of migrant auto wrecker sewing seat cushion of wrecked auto, Corpus Christi, Texas (1939)

FHA

In the sewing class, a WPA (Work Projects Administration) project, at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) labor camp. Caldwell, Idaho (1941)

moravian

Lititz, Pennsylvania. The Moravian sewing circle quilts for anyone at one cent a yard of thread and donates the money to the church (1942)

sewing copy

Another button off (1875) (No, really, that was the caption.)

puppy sewing

Patch-work (1914) (If you do one thing today, please click on this photo… It is a puppy sewing the pants of another puppy on its lap.)

Threads of War, moving south, and other adventures

| Betsy

Sometimes, even though you’ve been online since the beginning of the century, you turn away from the internet. Not to shy away, not to disappear, not to bunk off without a trace. When I got back from tour with Kim and Leanne in late October I was tasked with putting together the final touches of Threads of War at Artspace, which was an exciting process, but definitely a learning one.

Having this opportunity to try my hand at curating was an invaluable experience; therefore, I am both thankful for the kind support of the Artspace staff as well as the willingness of Hanne Bang, the Combat Paper Project, Bonnie Peterson, and Alexandra Walters to share their amazing work for this show. While I have shown my own work in a number of shows over the years, it’s a whole different experience to have someone else agree to share their work with you!

Here are a few photos of the show itself and its installation.

TOW

boots

cpp

alex

view

All of these photos were first shown over on Instagram, should you wish to follow me over there.

The show will be up until January 31st. Olisa Corcoran, who participated in Hanne’s In a War Someone Has to Die project and stitched a handkerchief that is in the show, has written a lovely blog post about it here.

As for what’s next for me and my brand of craftivism (as while I did start the whole shebang, I’m definitely not the only one writing about it, which you can see here), well, first of all, in just a few weeks I’m moving to Durham, North Carolina! While I was installing Threads of War and then hanging out with my little niece and nephew over Christmas, I realized that I needed to go back home and make the time to do more freelance projects (editing, writing, making), all the while embedding myself in a smaller (yet thriving) arts community.

I’m excited about this next chapter in my life, and while doing 365 projects may seem like all the rage these days (and why not- they’re great), I’m going to let this blog and my work grow in ways that it needs to. I want to take more photos and write more essays and make more things. I want to get back to where I was before 4 years of spending 1.5 hours a day commuting, although I’ll miss crossing the Potomac on my way.

I want to produce work just like the quote below goes, not because I aim to get anywhere in particular. (The photo below is from @wrdsmith’s feed on Instagram, which is simply amazing!) I want to dive into things deeper as opposed to trying to learn 10,000 things at once and really “aim” for “good,” instead of aiming to know all the things. I’m looking forward to the journey and would love to have you come along with me.

wrdsmth

Tour notes, job changes, and other fun things.

| Betsy

Sometimes you come back from tour and things that were routine in your life suddenly change. Sometimes people say one thing and then change their minds later. Sometimes you find yourself at a crossroads where it’s either get another job or look into going back to school. And sometimes that crossroads is a pretty scary and weird place. Playing games like 해외토토 can help you de-stress in those trying times.

badges

Finally! I had craftivism badges made thanks to the lovely people at Six Cent Press! If you’d like one, please comment here or email me, as I’ve been sharing them with people that weren’t able to come see us on tour. This pic was taken on my friends’ kitchen chair that was just the best shade of blue.

IMG_8598

This little buttoned-up beauty was part of a workshop that Kim Werker, Leanne Prain, and I ran at Makeshift Society in San Francisco. I had a little extra help from some yummy coffee from Ritual in Hayes Valley, where the barista was listening to some crusty punk that was sweet music to my tired ears.

astros

Earlier that today the amazing Sonya Philip had taken us to SCRAP SF, where I found my new spirit animal, who I later found via an online friend is actually Stratos from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Apparently, he is a ruler of the Bird People, can fire “bolts and streams of energy from his hands,” and learned how to fly from an egg, so naturally, he’s my kind of dude.

lucky

I also found marquee letters at SCRAP, which I discovered are kind of the best.

dreamers

This gem of a quote was on the wall of Tillamook Station, where we held a workshop thanks to Isaac Watson of Maker’s Nation. You can read an account of what it was like to actually take the workshop from Lisa Walker England here. If that sounds like fun to you, we’re definitely up to doing more, so get in touch!

All of these photos were originally posted over on Instagram, so if you’d like to be ahead of the curve, come follow me over here.

Additionally, should you have any job opportunities for a writer or editor, I’d love to hear about them.

Book tour update

| Betsy

So, I’m on a book tour! And writing this from a hotel in Toronto, where we just had an event at the Textile Museum of Canada! Whoa!

Wi-fi is super spotty in this hotel and I’m super tired so am typing this on my phone, but I wanted to share something I posted on Facebook the other day about our West Coast tour leg.

Awesomely, Facebook is not letting me copy and paste text to post here, but if you’d like to read it, you can find it here.

In short, it’s a little love letter to the whole tour experience. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be an author on a book tour when I was little reading galleys that my Aunt Becky would bring me when she visited from New York or in any years subsequent. And given the trials of the past few years, am humbled beyond belief that I get to have this whole experience. It’s been worth public disclosure of my disorder (which has had many rewards actually, except maybe when my dates Google me) and all the fighting I’ve done to get better.

It’s a treasure, an adventure, a true pinch yourself experience. Thanks for your support, for reading this post, as without you, none of this would be possible. xx

P.S. The amazing Amelia’s Magazine interviewed me recently, you can see the interview here!

The Book Tour is here!

| Betsy

So the book tour with Kim Werker and Leanne Prain is here! I’m writing this at Révielle Coffee in San Francisco, where I am still nursing a wicked good cup of coffee and just finished an amazing salad that was as big as my head.

levi

I’m staying with an old friend and his partner in the Castro, a neighborhood that I had forgotten how much I loved. The photo is of their dog, who very kindly greeted me and showed off his tricks yesterday when I arrived. AND there’s no humidity, which is kinda like heaven.

I’m super excited to get this tour started, and if you’re in or near San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City or DC, come see us and see hi. Full details here!

On this tour, I’ll be talking about Craftivism: The Art of Craft and Activism, craftivism in general, why applied craft is important, among other things.

When I get back, I’m going to start focusing more on a few PTSD research projects and the Voices of PTSD Quilt, along with getting the Threads of War show I am curating at Artspace (Gallery Two) in Raleigh, which will be up from December 5 – January 31, 2015. I’ll also be giving a talk at Judith Heartsong’s salon on October 30; feel free to email me for details.

Also, if we met at Crafty Bastards and you participated in my Craftivist Swap,* I will be getting your pictures up soon! It was so great to meet you!

Check out the awesome body positive messages that one participant put up on university mirrors! Heck yeah!

bodypositivemessages

*I asked for people to pledge to do craftivist acts (or general acts of kindness) in exchange for free craft supplies!