In her TED talk, Craftivist Collective founder Sara Corbett describes using handkerchiefs to, as their tagline says, “change the world one stitch at a time.”
A group advocating a living wage had tried everything to connect with the board of the British department store chain Marks & Spencer, without success. Turning to the Craftivist Collective as a last resort, Corbett designed a campaign, purchased handkerchiefs from the chain and enlisted crafters around the country to devise a personalized appeal. The crafters were assigned a board member and embroidered a handkerchief with a message and other embellishments individualized for each person. Presenting them as gifts at the company’s annual meeting, the board was so impressed that they agreed to meet and discuss a living wage for their staff, which they enacted in 2015.
A craftivist uses their work as a form of protest or to advance social causes for the greater good. Most often they use skills that are traditionally assigned to “domestic arts” like knitting, crocheting, quilting, embroidery and other needle crafts. As women’s work, these crafts have historically been undervalued and underappreciated.
Stitching as self-expression is not new. Women have been telling their stories with needles and thread for centuries. In examples around the world, like tapestries in Europe and quilts in America, historians have discovered within them uniquely female stories that weren’t told in the official accounts of their time. For example, one theory proposes that quilts designed by plantation seamstresses were used as maps providing directions that guided slaves to freedom.
Two of the most prominent champions of craftivism are:
Betsy Greer – Writer and author of Knitting for Good, she coined the word craftivism in 2003, defining it as “a way of looking at life where voicing opinions through creativity makes your voice stronger, your compassion deeper and your quest for justice more infinite.” Her projects include You Are So Very Beautiful which encourages crafters to create works with body positive messages.
Sara Corbett – Founder of the Craftivist Collective, she grew up attending demonstrations with her parents and worked for many organizations before embracing the art of the gentle protest. She gathers friends and strangers from around the world to participate in projects like stitch-ins to create thoughtful activism by embracing positivity and finding common ground to achieve change.
Even before the term was popularized, artists used these tools to humanize their causes, like Judy Chicago’s feminist Dinner Party and the Aids Memorial Quilt Project. Artist Faith Ringgold became famous for her narrative quilts that expressed her civil rights and gender equality views. Modern, saucier examples are the pink hats worn by those in the Women’s March and Subversive Cross Stitch where you can get ideas that run the gamut from the free VOTE pattern above to sentiments we can’t print here.
Most recently, the Million Mask Challenge, billed as Craftivists versus COVID-19, started as a way to combat the shortage of masks and other PPE for health care workers. Stuck at home, these woman met on social media and came together to provide the patterns and encouragement for others to pitch in and help. It’s an example of how craftivism encourages everyone to come together and work to change the world.