10 Qualities of Slow Cloth

This must be the day that all of my dreams come true
So happy just to be alive
Underneath that sky of blue
On this new morning
New morning
On this new morning with you

(bob dylan)

It is that morning, the one that comes in the middle of winter but has the first tiny promise of spring in it. The quality of the light is different, the angle of the sun has changed, and though it's cold and the snowiest months are still ahead, spring will come.

When I began this blog and first introduced the term Slow Cloth, Sharon B asked me if I had a manifesto or definition for Slow Cloth. What follows is my working definition -- a basis for this concept.

You can have a Slow Cloth sensibility as an individual artist or artisan or as a commercial producer; it's about your approach. And it bears repeating that slow is not meant to be literal -- it's not about how long it takes to finish or whether you're stitching by hand or machine. There are companies that I think have a Slow Cloth approach to manufacturing clothing or textiles in commercial quantity, as well as many individuals.

With those caveats, Slow Cloth:

• Has the possibility of joy in the process. I often hear people say that they think they "should" learn to knit or sew, because they think they will save money (right) or that it's somehow virtuous. That's nonsense. Everybody should know how to sew on a button or mend a seam, but when it comes to doing more, if you don't love the process, there isn't much point. In other words, it's the journey, not the destination. If efficiency and sameness are the primary goals, it's not Slow Cloth.
• Offers the possibility of contemplation in the process. Not every moment of making is a serene mystical precious experience. But the totality of your work opens space for you. Like the old saw, you may not be able to define it but you know it when you see it or feel it.
• Involves skill and has the possibility of mastery. Rather than choosing easy or instant-gratification methods, you're aiming for an ever-expanding level of fluency and grace in the techniques you work with.
• Acknowledges the rich diversity and multicultural history of textile art. Textiles are an expression of culture and we live in a fantastically big and small world. Slow Cloth celebrates that diversity rather than eliminating it.
• Honors its teachers and lineage. Most of us began to learn our skills with cloth from an ancestor or friend, and there are many generations before us who used their inventiveness and creativity to expand possibilities in the world of cloth. Thank them, and pay it forward.
• Is thoughtful in its use of materials and respects their source. Take a moment to remember that it takes a lot of people to make your fabric or yarn or dye. I don't think Slow Cloth has to be only natural materials -- some of my favorite artists, like Mary Ruth Smith, work with some synthetics -- but be mindful of your footprint and choose well and appropriately.
• Honors quality. We want to make things that last and are well-made.
• Honors beauty. Beauty is a whole complicated subject all its own. I think that we all have a need for beauty, and that's driven the urge to make and decorate textiles for tens of thousands of years.
• Supports community. A Slow Cloth company respects all of its labor force; individual art and artists  acknowledge their relationship to other textile artists. I think part of this is being willing to share knowledge, preserve knowledge about traditional techniques, and teach others.
• Is expressive of individuals or cultures. Remember the old saying in art circles, "Anonymous was a woman"? Well, you could also say anonymous was a quilter or a batik artist in Indonesia. Throughout history, textiles and crafts have been mostly unsigned. Today we can do it differently if we want to; but either way, the human creative force is reflected and evident in the work.

*This post has been edited. I introduced the term Slow Cloth on this blog last year, and this is my original definition of it. This material is copyrighted. 

 

Comments

[Lainie]

Thank you Catherine! My to-do list includes making this list into a beautiful jpg/poster that people can share. Thank you so much for your kind words.

[Catherine Sanborn]

Thank you so much for posting this. I recently gave a talk about quilting to a group at my workplace. They were all very excited and interested but had two recurring questions "How long does it take to make a quilt?" and "How do you find the time?". My answer was that if you love the process, you don't calculate how long it takes and if you can find time to watch TV, you have time to quilt but now I think I would give them copies of your 10 Qualities instead. It explains it so precisely and elegantly and mirrors what I have been feeling for years. I work fulltime but quilting is my creative outlet, my playground, my social space and it expands and I have worked on gaining a mastery that is meaningful to me. You list is very afrirming.

[Leonore Alaniz]

Hello Elaine, what a beautiful and obvious parallel to slow food - which I admire as movement. How can we contribute essays to this forum? I imagine women the world over being validated for sticking to preferring their native cloth-ing, such as the "average" Tansanien women who know how to tie-dye cotton yardage for (her) apparel, or the indigenous Guatemalteka who back-strap weaves, while being also interested in computers! With dignity they wear their (luxurious) fashion that took many hours of ikat dyeing, warping, weaving. I propose that time-limits be erased in which "work was completed" prior to submission into art/craft shows. I took (not "it took me") 18 years from start to finish to complete two hand-woven, then painted and embroidered coats. By current submission standards, they are disqualified. Slow cloth, slow anything invites us to honor the journey and consciously create and elaborate on works in progress. thank you for initiating this. L.A.

[ale balanzario]

Great post, I thank you for sharing,you said it all about slow cloth.

[Donna Carty]

I totally agree. You've written so good a description of what I aim for in my work and what I look for in the work of textile designers I admire and keep track of. In fact, it's so good a description that I may well print it out and hang it on the wall of my studio (when I next have one) (giving you credit, of course).

[Karen Shavin]

Now I understand why I was compelled to spin, knit, and sew. I always understood that I needed a tactile connection to the objects I used. I always felt that everyday objects should be things of beauty. But I struggled and could not explain why I had to spend so much time and money when I could purchase even more beautiful things for less. Like a child who creates just to create, it was the process that compels me. Carding the fleece, spinning the yarn, watching the colors from natural products give it new life, creating patterns and shapes, and then wrapping myself or someone I love in the crude garment that embodies all my thoughts and feelings and those of past generations of knitters. Thank you.

[libby]

i've seen this term "slow cloth" a few times within the last few days. a fellow blogger recently asked me if a doll quilt that i was working on was a "slow cloth" and then it popped up again in a later visit within another blog. so i've googled it and landed here . . . love the interenet for just that purpose~!~

i think i will have to add you to my sidebar and make this a regular stop within my blogging world as we definately have similar ideas about the process of creating.

when i put my own hand stitches into a quilt i often think about the various thoughts that are being or have been incorporated into the work . . . regarding the purpose of the work (if there is one), the events happining within my own life and the world, feelings, musings, meditations, etc. i can often revisit a finished piece of handwork (as well as other artwork)and relate intimate memories and happenings that were in progress at the time the piece was being created. often i myself am not even aware of just how much is contained within until i return to the piece. i tell others (if i feel that they are interested in hearing it) that this is the "spirit" that has been breathed/stitched/woven/CREATED into the piece.
i've discovered that this idea also translates into my newest creative "baby"; photography. when i'm truly immersed in the moment while shooting i find that those photos are the ones that are special to me. the ones that will invoke a response via emotion and memory (in myself and others) long after i've snapped the shot.

interestingly i have just recently picked up a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbera Kingsolver which seems to be very much related to the "slow food" idea . . . still working my way through the book but it's already impacting my life and how i think about what i eat and where it comes from.

yes, maybe i just live a "slow life" . . . and recently this has been a serious concern of mine as it seems to mean (for me) that recordeable progress is quite slow sometimes. i often feel that many of the people and artists that i admire have prolific work habits and results and i am left choking in their dust . . . i'm beginning to realize that this slow way of working could be a good thing and part of my own artistic process and possibly worth embracing . . .

i am so very glad that i have stopped here and had a chance to mull these ideas over a bit more. thank you for sharing your "slow cloth" definition. i may very well have to do a future post on my own blog regarding the importance of process over product and what it means to me in particular . . . certainly i have lots to think about and fresh ways to think. if/when i do i'll be sure to link back to you as a valuable resource into the whole idea.

:)
libbyQ

[Cris Melo]

Where's the group for us that are *literally slow*?

[Clare W]

I'm all for the joy of this

[manya maratou]

thank you for this. My profession is storytelling, and this manifesto relates directly to what i am aiming for in my art, and how I wish to pass it on. I am coming to think that it can be applied to living- a mode of being in this world, and that is the message that is worth passing on. I am very pleased to meet you