Mental Health Benefits of Embroidery and Crafting

Photo by Vladimir Proskurovskiy on Unsplash

Mental health across the board is not looking too great. In almost every conversation I have been having with friends and colleagues, stress, depression, and anxiety are common. Obviously, there is a good reason for all these stresses. We are currently living in a totally fucked time. The three big C's that cause me stress are Covid-19, climate change, and capitalism. Thankfully, there is another C that comes to the rescue when things feel too much: crafting.

As a hardcore working-class millennial who was always on the grind and busy, the past few years have been awful because I had to stop for the first time in my life. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was in and out of quarantines because of my proximity to immunocompromised people. I live alone, so there were literally no other distractions. The forced slowdown of 2020 has forever changed how I view my mental health and creative process. I lost one of my jobs in the restaurant industry. I suddenly could not escape to my university campus to wander around the library while procrastinating on writing my master's thesis. I was thoroughly blessed with the abundance of time that I had always wanted, but it felt like a burden until I started embroidering seriously. I began to structure my days around it as a coping mechanism. When I would "clock out" from university work, I would pick up the needle and thread and begin stitching until it was time to go to bed. The effects of just not being on my phone in the evenings was a considerable shift in my mental health journey and something that I recommend everyone do. (seriously, social media and phone addictions are intense. However, that is another rant for another forum.)

Crafting is an excellent way to destress and reconnect with yourself. I have noticed a definite shift in my own life since becoming a routine embroiderer. I embroider almost daily. Even if just for a few hours in the evening while watching t.v. This daily practice has snuggled itself quite nicely into the mindfulness routines that I practice for self-care and self-exploration.

Crafting, like embroidery, knitting, pottery, collage, and crocheting, is an excellent way to practice mindfulness. What exactly is mindfulness? It has been such a big buzzword for the past few years that it is easy to lose sight of what it does for us. Mindful.org describes mindfulness as: "the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us."

Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash

Many people use meditation to practice mindfulness, and embroidery and crafting are great ways to practice meditation. I have a hard time sitting still, so having something to do with my hands allows me to get into the headspace where I can be present with my thoughts and surroundings and not be so damn hard on myself.

But more than that, crafting imbues the creator with a sense of wellness. I am not the only one who has come to this conclusion. Ruth Singer spearheaded the "Textiles in Lockdown" research project with the Gawthorpe Textiles Collections. Signer researched the effects of textile making and its effects on mental health in 2020 and found that an overwhelming majority of respondents felt that crafting increased their sense of wellbeing. Check out the full document here.

Additionally, the UK has carried out some pretty intensive surveys linking crafting to an increased sense of wellbeing. The Crafts Council notes that engaging with the arts boosts mental wellbeing, helps with anxiety, creates community, and can even help those living with complications from strokes and dementia.

In my research, I came across an interesting academic essay about crafting and mental health written by Sinikka Pöllänen in 2006. In this publication, Pöllänen collected 60 essays from women between the ages of 19-84. These essays discussed the importance of crafting for functional mental health, but the part that struck me the most was

"the women describe how craft help them understand life, the future and the past over generations. The purpose of life usually appears in everyday situations and inadvertently, not in abstract discussions (Saarenheimo, 2003). To perceive and analyse reality is also to evaluate one's own life and values. Evaluation provides an opportunity for shaping personal aims, estimating their outcome and, finally, searching for explanations for the cause of events. Crafts had prepared these women for the subsequent attainment of their goals, guided their future actions and helped achieve a sense of control and management of their lives and environment. Crafts helped them feel fully functional as a person, especially where all other areas of life had been uncontrollable." (Sinikka Pöllänen, ‘Craft as a way to functional mental health’)

Honestly, when I read this, I was floored. Pöllänen managed to say what I have been feeling for years in relation to my fibre arts practice. Especially since crafting is seen as "women's work" and is not valued as highly as "masculine" art practices like painting. Working with embroidery has made me a calmer, more grounded person because I am giving myself time to process events in my life. Embroidery also allows me to connect with generations of fibre artists who came before me. This craft is one with such a rich and varied history that sometimes it is hard not to imagine all the threads of time being woven together. There is also a deep sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing an embroidery project that I have never felt with painting, drawing, or writing.

I highly suggest picking up a craft of some sort. It is a great way to connect with yourself and others. It helps reduce stress and anxiety. It works as a moving mindfulness meditation and fills you with a sense of accomplishment. You might even discover the meaning of life, the universe, and everything while you are at it.

xo,
Sadie