Red Thread Studio: Slow Cloth, New Cloth, Art Cloth

Circles of Cloth: More Virtual Textile Travel

I have travel on my mind . . . especially places near water. Here's a dream trip: The Textile Society of America is having its annual symposium in Hawaii in September this year, and the theme is textiles as cultural expression. This sounds like a fascinating event, probably well worth figuring out a way to go.

Other temptations: The Maiwa workshops, and the Organic Exchange conference in Portugal in October for the organic cotton industry.

And if nothing else -- though it's mostly been a homebound year so far, except in my mind, there is a chance that I could go to Brazil  in the fall to speak about sustainable textiles and apparel. I was lucky to go for the first time a few years ago to attend an organic and sustainable products conference there that's run by some wonderful people, and we stay in touch to this day. The conference that year was in Rio de Janeiro, a city of great wealth and beauty alongside great poverty; like most magical places, it's a little dangerous and very seductive.

At Bangles & Clay, a blog that's part of a nonprofit organization called Nest, there's a post about Coopa-Roca, a sewing cooperative in Rio founded by Maria-Teresa Leal (the English-language Web site for Coopa-Roca itself is here). Leal founded the cooperative as a way to utilize the sewing skills of women living in the profound poverty of one of Rio's worst favelas and create decent work opportunities for women raising families in violent slums. Now the clothes of Coopa-Roca are seen all over the world, and despite many challenges, it's been a success story in the midst of all-too-common despair in these neighborhoods.

There are stories like this in many places, and room and need for many more. Each one is different and unique, and each one comes down to a chance for people to celebrate their textile and craft heritage and skills, often at risk of being lost, and to have work and fair pay.

The Coopa-Roca women use recycled garments and fabrics and traditional knitting, crochet and patchwork techniques, including yo-yos -- fuxicos in Portuguese. I love seeing the resurgence of yo-yos -- like many children, learning to make a yo-yo was one of my first sewing lessons. And I love that it connects me to women and children worlds away through something as simple as a needle, thread and a circle of cloth.

Every Thread Has a Soul, and the Dance of Art and Nature

An article in the new issue of Selvedge quotes an Arab proverb: "Every thread has a soul." Awesome. I think I'll make that my official tag line for this blog, and maybe even its new name. In Googling it, I don't find any other references to this proverb, but maybe it's little-known in the West with origins in the mists of time, and that totally works for me.

I joined Stitchin' Fingers, Sharon B's terrific new fiber arts community. Anyone can join, and there are many sub-groups forming to cover just about every technique or interest. I keep thinking about starting a Slow Cloth group and/or a global textiles group . . . anyone interested?

I've also been thinking about, and wanting to do a post about various kinds of eco-art -- the intersection of art and the environment (I've written about art and agriculture on my other blog).  Nature and art are inextricably intertwined, of course, and nature has provided us with inspiration from the dawn of humankind. Making art from unprocessed natural materials or integrating art and natural spaces, a la the brilliant Andy Goldsworthy, is one kind of eco-art. There are many ways that fiber artists are connected to this sphere; after all, until recently, all fiber came from plants. Just a couple of links to explore:

• Abigail Doan is a mixed media and environmental artist who works with fiber. Her work is extremely intuitive on one hand, and the way she uses threads and fibers in nature makes emotional sense, yet it's also challenging work with an intellectual and ethical context.
• Though I've not personally worked with natural dyes, this is a place where art and nature do an intimate dance. As mentioned in my previous post, Permacouture is exploring this area; Cheryl Kolander at Aurora Silk and others have also been pioneers.
• Nicole Dextras is a Vancouver artist -- take a look at her Weedrobes series.
• Lots of people have blogged about the World Beach Project and the radical Crocheted Coral Reef project, but the links are worth repeating if you've not discovered them yet (you're in for a treat).

I think all the renewed interest in the arts of spinning and felting is related to the environmental movement. We've finally figured out that food comes from the soil and the farm -- now we're beginning to understand where fabric comes from, too. The closer we get to that understanding, the more people want to work with fiber in its raw form. Fiber is as ancient and as intrinsic to community as food. And making it beautiful and meaningful connects us to soul and spirit, and to each other.

And now, with all this talk of ethereal and natural things, I must get my body to the yoga mat. Go find some inspiration in nature today, and create.

photo by Streuwerk.

Time Waits for No One

My father used to call me "Miss-elaine-eous" and I must have been eleven or twelve years old before I realized that he was making a play on the word "miscellaneous." So here are my MissElaineous offerings for today . . .

• The Maiwa Textile Workshops for 2008 are up, and they look completely inspiring. Workshops are 2-3 days; the schedule begins in September and goes through early November, so there are a lot of opportunities to find your way to Vancouver. I'd love to take the blockprinting workshop and The Expressive Stitch. Well, really, I'd love to take almost all of them.
• Have I written yet about Permacouture Institute here? This is a new nonprofit organization with a very creative and activist sustainable textile and Slow Cloth orientation. I spoke by phone with founder and executive director Sasha Duerr today -- this woman is amazing and will make some positive waves in the textile world, I'm sure of that. She's an expert on natural dyeing and has a special interest in edible dye plants (cabbage, beets, onions, etc.) and all the possibilities inherent in being able to grow things that will both feed us and color our fiber without harm to the environment. We talked about her work and about some of my ideas for taking the Slow Cloth concept to new levels. . . . everything is possible, right?
• I've been meaning to link to a blog post by UK biologist and textile artist Mags Ramsay on The Character of Cloth. I love the work she's doing with indigenous African textiles -- very beautiful and with a great "spirit cloth" sensibility.

That's what I've got today. Off topic, this week has been a continuation of a pretty intense and unrelenting healing journey -- I've been prescribed physical therapy for my neck, and Monday was the first visit. I wasn't quite prepared for the tremendous amount of grief and sadness stored in that area that the bodywork released. Though in practical terms the therapy is necessary for some dental work to be successful, on another level it's evidently part of a lot of ongoing work I'm doing on old emotional issues - according to Dr. Christiane Northrup, at 50 all of your unfinished business from childhood MUST be resolved if you're to stay healthy, and it will rear up like an immovable elephant in the room if you don't. I'm finding that to be all too true, and it turns out my unfinished business is a doozy.

Finally, I have a colonoscopy scheduled on Friday as the follow-up to March's illness. I tell you this not to give you Too Much Information, but to encourage you to get this test if you are around 50, and not be embarrassed or put it off. I know, I don't feel old enough for it either. On the inside, I'm about 16 -- rebellious, darkly romantic and trying to figure out what to be when I grow up. But on the outside, time waits for no one (or Tom Waits for No One, as we fans say) and we must attend to our bodies. We are all of the nature to age, as the Buddhists say, even if 50 is the new 30. I hope the procedure will be as dignified and painless as possible.

And hey, where are the Fiber Artists for Obama? They seem to have let their blog go dormant. They ought to be celebrating today. Fiber art in the White House! I'm sad for the way Hillary has sometimes been treated, and  proud of her for the most part despite some missteps. But we do need a change, and no one has set a fire in young voters like Obama has since Bobby Kennedy, and I'm all for that (I was and still am a John Edwards fan, too, and I truly hope there's a place for him in Obama's cabinet after a November victory). Like me, this country has a lot of healing to do -- the old ways just aren't working.

I hope you, cherished readers and all who find their way here, are also healing from anything that ails you. Onward we go.

Mental Gridlock

My next scheduled post on the Slow Cloth list is the topic of Beauty. I was all rarin' to go on it last week, and e-mailed someone with a very popular and charming blog about using one of her photos. Though she said yes, she was so curt and unappreciative about it that the photo's beauty was diminished for me, and I no longer want to use it. There are other beautiful images to choose from, but it derailed me, so here I am a week later. The topic of beauty is coming, and in the meantime, in the words of the walrus, let's talk of many things.

I've had a sense of mental gridlock with this blog lately. I want to write about so many things, but it seems now as if it should be two separate blogs -- one on sustainable and organic textiles, clothing, and companies (that would probably replace the dormant Organic Confidential), and a second for art, craft, culture, and the Slow Cloth concept. What do you think? That would mean two new blog names -- there actually is another Red Thread Studio, and in any case, I think that name is no longer quite right for the me of today, rather than the me of some years ago when I first heard the legend of the red thread.

On the green side of things: My report, The International Market for Sustainable Apparel, was published; you can read the press release here and the abstract and table of contents here. These reports sell to businesses for alarming amounts of money, but have no fear, the money goes to the publisher, not me (though I was paid to write it and grateful for it!). It's out of the price range for individuals, but if you have specific questions I am more than happy to answer them and recommend other resources that are accessible. In any case, I hope it may help in my search for the right work.

Sadly, one of the most innovative and risk-taking sustainable apparel companies folded this week, unable to secure enough financing. NAU was trying to achieve very high levels of aesthetic beauty, high performance, and sustainable materials and production, all packaged in a Slow Fashion design philosophy, but they may not have been flashy enough for today's standards. There is a long way to go in this market, despite the indisputable successes and media attention of 2007.

And then the NY Times had a silly article about Sarah Jessica Parker's clothing line, in which nothing sells for more than $8.98, but of course they claim there are no sweatshops involved because the factories are monitored. By whom? According to whose standards? How often? I think the reporter failed to do the job on this story, as he keeps asking how clothes can be made at this price but never really answers the question. And it's a good question. I'm not sure it's possible without some exploitation of resources and/or people.

On the art and craft side, I found the True Stitches blog, another kindred spirit. I especially loved her post about the level of critique on craft blogs and the unspoken rule that you can't ever say you don't like something. I'm so glad someone spoke up about this. I'd much rather have someone respond honestly to my work than just tell me it's great all the time. As I said in my comment to this post, aren't we smart enough and tough enough for real dialogue? I'm a marshmallow underneath my curmudgeonly exterior, but as long as it's not a personal attack, I'm fine with people not liking everything I do and with collaborative process and conversation.

Finally, thanks to Judy Martin, who linked to me on her wonderful Judy's Journal blog (she has more than one, actually, with very intriguing and inspiring work), and welcome to new readers coming here through Judy. I love connecting to all these Canadians, as I am Canadian-born, though raised in the U.S.,  and just may end up back there or somewhere else if the election doesn't bring some new hope to this country. And off topic, I know (or maybe it's not,  but that's another post) but don't even get me started on more news this week about horrific acts of violence and abuse toward women and children. Surely we can do better.

Tomorrow -- back to art and fabric and beauty. Thank you for coming by, and for your patience with me with this long post, and the time between posts. I'd like to be posting daily, with more pictures, and I'm working on it.

The Odometer Rolls Over

I've had 10,000 page views on this blog since December. I realize that's peanuts to a lot of people in the big global Internet blogging world, but it sounds pretty good to me, especially since I've not yet made a custom banner, attached the blog to an easy URL, set up an RSS feed, a blogroll (which will be voluminous, and I have to figure out how to organize it properly) or any of that stuff. So I really want to thank everyone who has visited and especially everyone who has commented. I feel lucky to know you, and I do feel connected to a global community of extraordinarily creative and interesting people.

As far as I can tell, viewer #10,000 was someone googling for John Robshaw Textiles , a company I've written about.  I was just at that site the other day, wishing I could buy one his exquisite duvet covers and looking to see if they were hiring for any marketing/pr/global textile explorer positions. Sadly, they are not.

Meanwhile, I saw this week that the current issues of both Vogue Knitting and Vogue Patterns magazine have feature articles on sustainable and "green" materials and supplies. They're both good resource articles. Some of the hyperbole (i.e. bamboo, the perfect fiber) gives me a green headache and green fatigue -- weren't we all exhausted with Earth Day hype and ready to go smoke cigarettes and litter and boldly throw a glass jar in the regular trash by the time it was over this week? And tired of celebrities claiming that they've always been really green, for decades, and deeply concerned about the planet? Really? Anyway, it worries me that too many exaggerated claims will ultimately leave people disillusioned.

But most of the information in the VP and VK articles is very good, and I'm thrilled to see it in the knitting and sewing mainstream. I'm writing an article on organic and sustainable fabrics myself, for a new sewing magazine to be out this summer that I think will be very creative and inspiring.

I also received my review copy of Sustainable Fashion: Why Now?, a book of essays edited and conceived of by the brilliant Janet Hethorn, a professor at the University of Delaware (which offers a graduate certificate program in the business of sustainable fashion) and Connie Ulasewicz of San Francisco State University. This is intended as a textbook (with a big textbook price) but it looks very readable and very enlightening for anyone thinking about a clothing business or just a better understanding of clothing and textiles in our lives today. I will read and review.

Now, though, I'm going to go finish a skirt that's been on the worktable forever so I can move on. I have a long list of projects and need to complete some craft and make some art.

One more thing before I go -- I've been resisting watching The Last Lecture because, you know, it's become such a thing, and also I knew it would hit close to home -- my father was a scientist who died of cancer at 63, and we lived in Pittsburgh for a few years, though he didn't teach at Carnegie Mellon but at the University of Pittsburgh. This morning I read the transcript. It is, as everyone says, very poignant, sweet, funny and smart, and truly well worth viewing or reading. Share it with your kids and take the time to watch. I promise you will laugh and cry. Randy Pausch is still with us, and though his prognosis is still terminal, I hope he's here for a long time. Now go be well and follow your dreams.

Arte Y Pico Award and Blog Love

The lovely Arlee at DesignJournal blog has selected me for an Arte Y Pico award for creativity, design, interesting material and contributing to the blogging community. This is just so nice -- thank you, Arlee. I appreciate it so much.

There are 5 rules attached to this award and they are :

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4) The Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award (blogger in Uruguay).
5) To show these rules.

So now it's my turn to pass this award along to five other bloggers. You may know these already, but if not do visit.

1. Sara at The Fabric of Meditation. First of all, I'm in awe of anyone who can blog so well in two languages. Second, her work is always a wonderful surprise.
2. Harmony's The Journey is the Prize blog about organic fabrics and the world of sustainable textiles. Harmony is a highly creative fabric designer, great businessperson, and all-over nice person who walks her talk very gracefully.
3. Dijanne's Musings of a Textile Itinerant never, ever fails to inspire and move me. She'll probably get this award many times over. Dijanne truly works from the heart and makes you feel like a close friend, though she has many thousands of readers.
4. Deidre's Abstractions blog -- as noted here, I've been a fan of Deidre's paintings on quilted surfaces for a long time, and now her blog is a chance to learn more about her thinking and process.
5. Pilar's Deux Frontieres blog is a brilliant journal of culture, art, textiles, design and life in Paris. Ahhhh. In some of my favorite alternate universes I'm living in Paris or London or another great capital of culture and society, but not today, at least not in this dimension of reality -- so I'm thankful for the blogs that take me there.

In other blog news: As I've mentioned, I write posts for EcoSalon.com. EcoSalon has been picked up by the blog aggregator Alltop.com, so I've spent some time using Alltop. They have pages for the top blogs in many topics, including green news and products, fashion, design, art, books, and a new page for crafts where both In A Minute Ago and Spirit Cloth are featured.

Finally, I've added an abbreviated version of my 10 Qualities of Slow Cloth to the sidebar. As promised, I'll begin my series of posts expanding on this list next week.

Life at the Crossroads

Just give me many chances
I'll see you through it all
Just give me time to learn to crawl.
        -- Rickie Lee Jones, Stewart's Coat

The universe keeps delivering amazing messages to me -- articles, Web sites, artists. Some of them have to do with healing the past and others with creating a new future. My word for 2008 is magic, but much of the year 'til now hasn't felt very magical (though last month I did do a lot of pondering on the magic of antibiotics and thankgodI'mlivinginthe 21stcentury). Maybe, though, it's all about recognizing magic in all its disguises. Onward we go, in search of it.

On the Slow Cloth/Slow Craft front, one of my online discoveries is the work of Laura Morelli, an author and traveler who seeks out the finest artisan crafts and craftspersons around the world. Morelli has a blog and writes a column for National Geographic Traveler called, "The Genuine Article: In Search of Authentic Crafts." I found her via this wonderful column on saris and fabrics from Rajasthan in India, and I'm hooked. I think this woman has the coolest job in the world -- to travel and immerse herself in the world's craft and textile traditions and share them through books, articles and lectures (she has a Ph.D. in art history from Yale). I also love that she seems to share my penchant for cowboy boots and authentic clothing from the American West. 

(*photo of sari silk by Celeste33  -  Creative Commons noncommercial license)

On the Slow Fashion/sustainable textiles front, I came across Project Refashion, a blog by Claire James, "renegade fashion scholar," all about sustainable apparel, focusing in particular on clothing made from waste fabric or old garments. [EDITED to add: I'm not sure what's wrong with the ProjectRefashion.com link -- it was working on Saturday but seems to be down now. I'll keep checking and update when it's live again.] I admit that this is, for me, the least accessible niche in sustainable fashion. From a maker's standpoint, I'm not that interested in using old garments. I can see that it's an incredibly creative and challenging thing from a design standpoint, and it most definitely is environmentally friendly and admirable; I just haven't seen much, up until now, that I thought really had both aesthetic quality and skill.

A feature on refashioned designs and designers in the current issue of Yoga Journal caught my eye, though, with some well-done garments, and then I found Project Refashion. Claire James calls refashioning "do-it-yourself reconstructed clothing as a contemporary urban art form." I can get behind that; that puts refashioning in a context I can relate to, and James has a lot of interesting things to say on her blog.

Back to work. Whenever I'm near the end of a big project, the entropy around me starts to mushroom and my apartment looks like a tornado hit it. I've mostly kept up until this week, but now, I, the world's most reluctant housekeeper, can't wait to get this market study done so I can clean up.

Word Theft (and Recovery)

* This post has been edited, since the situation's been rectified. In short, I stumbled across unattributed use of some of my work from this blog on a major site.

So, just a reminder -- all of my work is copyright-protected. I'm thrilled and grateful to be quoted as long as there is proper attribution, and if possible there should be a link back to the original post. I am very easy to contact if you have questions about this. My intellectual and creative property is my livelihood, and using it without attribution amounts to stealing from me, even if that's not the intention. I always assume that there is great honesty and trust in the textile, craft and sustainability community, and I believe that's true, but you know what they say -- you still have to tie up the horses.

Organic Knitting Yarns

Knitting with environmentally responsible yarns is quite the rage . . . it's the cover feature on the new issue of Vogue Knitting, and eco-knitting has been featured in most of the knitting magazines. Knitters have some choices now in organic wool and cotton, as well as other treats in the "sustainable" family like bamboo and recycled Tibetan or sari silk. (I always want to have an asterisk next to bamboo, since most of it doesn't really make the sustainability cut yet in my book -- the process of turning bamboo into soft fabric or yarn is very chemical- and water-intensive.) 

A quick review: organic has a specific legal meaning in the United States. In broad strokes, it means that no toxic or synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers are used. Genetically modified crops, animal growth hormones, and antibiotics are prohibited. Livestock must be fed organic feed and have access to pasture. All of these practices must be verified by an independent third-party certifier. And responsible manufacturers don't just use organic fiber; they also use recommended dyeing and finishing practices to maintain the integrity of the organic product. Bamboo, considered a wood product, does not have organic standards; though it doesn't require a lot of pesticides to grow and is highly renewable,  pesticides are sometimes used and the entire process has limited transparency, since most of the production takes place in China. And then there's the issue of the chemicals used to make this hard, brittle plant soft and fluffy.

That said  . . . ahhhh. There are some really lovely organic yarns that are not prohibitively expensive. The natural shades are always beautiful and classic; for those of us who live for color, there's plenty of that too.

• I am besotted with the heathery, clean colors of O-Wool Balance, 50 percent organic merino wool and 50 percent organic cotton. It's in a worsted gauge and may be the perfect yarn. A few of the colors are below. PurlSoho sells this yarn for $8/skein.
• 
• The Fibre Co. makes gorgeous artisan yarns. Organik is a blend of 70% organic wool with silk and baby alpaca in some amazing colors.
• 
• Also by The Fibre Co., Savannah is hand-dyed 20 percent organic cotton blended with merino wool, soy fiber and linen.
• 
• Blue Sky Alpacas has led the way with organic cotton knitting yarns, both undyed in naturally color-grown shades and dyed with low-impact dyes (below).
• 
• Rowan is offering naturally dyed organic cotton yarn in eight shades. 
• Tierra Wools is a cooperative in New Mexico making beautiful naturally dyed yarns for weavers and knitters using wool from organically raised sheep. This company has provided right livelihood for many people in this underserved region, allowing them to stay on the land and use time-honored artisan skills in their work.  It's a fascinating and lovely place; most definitely worth a visit if you're driving through New Mexico flying your cowgirl flag high.
  
• Finally, many small wool producers are using very responsible and humane practices even if not certified organic; these are often sold to small independent spinners and dyers and handpainters. Supporting these cottage industries is a great idea.
• Buy from a local yarn store if you can; there are also excellent yarn retailers online. I like Purl Soho, Jimmy Bean's Wool, and Yarnmarket, and there are many more. NearSeaNaturals sells both organic and sustainably produced yarns and fabrics.
  

What Do Green Textiles Have to do with Italian Fashion?

(photo by Matthew Fang)

I have long intended to make a quilt or series of quilts called All Greens Go Together in honor of a friend's Italian Fashion Rules, learned living in Milan in the 90s (another was Everything Should Be Sexy). All greens do go together, but not all greens are the same. So it is in nature, in fashion, and in the "greens" of environmentalism, where not everything being labeled green is equally good or appropriate. In the comment thread from the previous post, Deb Fair makes the very valid point of consumerism -- whether it's organic cotton or conventional cotton, solar panels or a new furnace, if you don't need it, it's not very green. I promised to find a link to this article by Monica Hesse, originally printed in the Washington Post, and reprinted in today's San Francisco Chronicle, hammering home that very point.

I should also have made more clear that the organic label does have meaning -- quite a lot.  In the United States, and now most other countries, agricultural products must meet very specific conditions by law to be labeled organic. That includes organic cotton, wool and linen. The current regulations don't include dyes and finishes, but there is an emerging Global Organic Textile Standard that does. It's the sustainable claim that as yet has no definition. The word organic gets misused nonetheless, but not here!

I had a bit of a medical crisis this week (and spent my first night in a hospital, ever) -- all is on the mend but I'm not sure how much I'll post this week. I want to write more on sustainable textile resources, and thought I'd write in more depth on my 10 Qualities of Slow Cloth. And of course, there are project updates and inspirations and more. Please do come back soon.