Slow Cloth - What It's All About

Hi dear readers - I haven't stopped blogging, things have just been very busy and a little strange the last couple of weeks. If you are new to this blog from the Facebook group or another blog, and wondering about Slow Cloth, here's a little history. I started writing this blog in December of 2007, partly in order to fully develop and organize my ideas about slow cloth. No one else that I was aware of had used the term before then. I've discussed it in many posts (visit the slow cloth category), but this post is the one in which I really set down the qualities that I think are essential to slow cloth. While enjoying taking your time with stitching is part of it, it's also much more to me.

For me, slow cloth is not just hand stitching, it's a relationship to textiles and craft in all forms, including machine sewing, business, fashion design, dyeing -- you name it. It is a progressive way of thinking about craft, a response to sameness, commodification, and fast, cheap production, whether in the personal craft world or the multinational clothing world.

If you're wondering who I am, I am an author, writer, editor, artist, speaker, and even occasionally a stitcher. At the moment I work full-time as a book editor for a publisher of textile art and craft books. I spent many years as a writer, advocate, author, and communications expert in the organic food industry and still work in that area at times, though my portfolio, such as it is, is somewhat broader now. My knowledge of the Slow Food movement and sustainability issues has informed my writing about slow cloth. I've also written extensively about the emergence and market for sustainable and organic textiles and apparel.

I hope you'll come back and read more about art, craft, cloth, and culture here. Many people seem to be adopting the term "slow cloth," but using it in different ways, and I can only hope it doesn't get diluted too much, as I think the concept is valuable. If you write about slow cloth as I've defined it, I appreciate you linking back and following correct attribution practices for any quotes or paraphrasing of ideas. My words and images here are fully copyrighted. If you have questions or would like to talk with me, I'm very easy to contact at the e-mail address in the sidebar. Thanks, all.

Comments

[jude]

thanks elaine, it is funny how something new always seems to create a bandwagon to jump on... a good thing in terms of community but too fast an approach for slow cloth as a concept....it is ironic that the very idea of it all involves taking some time to understand something in more depth, yet some folks haven't even taken the time to read through the basic premise and consider how to embrace it... sort of like interpreting slow food as simply plugging in a slow cooker.

[Ger]

It´s a very valuable concept indeed... I hope, too, that the recent rather inflationary use of the term doesn´t dilute it... I did join at Facebook, but then decided to cancel my account there (it´s not only a time killer, in my opinion, but makes me sick - no way about it...) - but I´ll come back here, of course...

[debraann]

I agree with your definition of Slow Cloth and am thrilled beyond words that there are so many of us who do what we do simply for the joy and the love.

[Michele]

As a newer quilter, I'm just discovering the slow cloth movement. How wonderful and liberating. Thank you for explaining it so beautifully.

[Lotta]

I am happy to have discovered you and the slow cloth "movement", I am looking forward to ongoing interactions and inspirations, and hope to stay engaged through the fb group and in any other way I can. Thank you!

[glennis]

yes, the term does seem to be getting used in unintended ways. but over time, true slow cloth emerges.

[julochka]

see, now this is the introduction-type post i was looking for in the FB group, when i initiated an "introductions" thread. helps a great deal to form a picture of whom one is in dialogue (or not as the case may be) with. thank you for this.

[Laurie]

I'm sure that the different uses of "slow cloth" is coming out of the broader uses of "slow" for slow art and slow living in general. There seems to be a slow movement for everything these days - slow food, slow medicine, slow money... But textiles are the perfect showcase for the qualities of "slow," and you have organized the concept and written about it elegantly. Hats off to you!

[Phyllis]

I had not come across the term until Jude mentioned it and then I came here from her blog. My belief is that once a person develops a consciousness it is nearly impossible to go back to an older, less informed way of thinking. I find that "slow cloth" is in my mind these days in whatever I do: run errands and enter stores, touch my textiles, sew by hand or machine, knit, read textile-related books and magazines and blogs. I want to embrace this concept and set it as a standard for these things in my life. I will surely credit you, Elaine, for this idea, and if I have not in the past, please forgive this error. I think the Facebook site is such a great idea!

[Sarah Miranda]

Elaine, thank you so much for the concept, the fb group and this invaluable blog. I've posted a link to your 1-13-08 post on my little tumblr blog. Keep on doing what you do!