#piecework

A)Got its memories erased before the start of book 1

B)Dehumanizes and degenders all other cyborgs by calling them "it" with no regard to their own identity

C)Thinks murdering other cyborgs is totally fine and great

D)Peicework referred to them all as having been murdered. Murderbot spends most of book 1 refering to all meatshield cyborgs as murderbots.

So today I sat down to deconstruct+make a pattern from it.

Farwell, horrible 2012-esque galaxy print.

And hello to the new piecework frankenbag!!!

I don't really know how to express all my feelings about how it makes me feel beyond being seen as someone who has these hobbies for enjoyment and self expressions. It's sort of deeply feminist, simply because it's centering pursuits primarily seen as women's work or hobbies and the women who make these little pieces of art in their spare time or as a means of income. It discusses history in a way that centers the women who made and designed these tiny pieces of art and sees them as deeply important in ways women of history seldom get to be.

In a lot of ways, Piecework is a love letter to all these different little arts that might not merit their own magazine, but are deeply fascinating in their own right. It sees these things as art worthy of being discussed, means of income and fundraising, and important reflections of life in different time periods. It reminds us that many of these arts are still being practiced, even if they aren't common. And I think it reminds us why we do what we do, because it brings a little bit of beauty into our everyday life.

Everyone in history sewed to some degree, if only to mend their own clothes. However, women frequently elevated it into decoration and expression that makes it more than just functional, but into an art form that we're only now starting to appreciate on an institutional level.

Piecework Fall 2023, Or What Have They Done to the Capelet? 

This issue has several projects all of which you see here. These include a knitted colorwork hat inspired by a stained glass window designed by Hazel Tindall, a Cherry blossom embroidery done in stumpwork by Jane Nicholas, and a bag in blackwork by Melinda Shebring. And then we have the knitted capelet on the cover by Shirley Paden with an ornate lace and beads design.

Once upon a time, the evening capelet was a small cape. Like a cape, it opened in the front, often tied at the throat and might have a collar or ruff at the neckline. Its charm lay in its grace, the way it could be untied and swept off the shoulders as our heroine came in from the chill and onto the dance floor. It could be made of fabric or fur, or knitted or crocheted.  

Then, somebody came up with the silly idea of the knitted capelet as a tube on pulled over the head. Why? Possibly because it was easier to knit certain ornate stitch patterns circularly rather than back and forth. But whatever is gained in the knitting is lost in the wearing. To take off a tube capelet means raising your arms as you would to take off a t-shirt, hardly the most graceful of movements. It also means pulling an ornate, possibly fuzzy knitwear over your elaborate earrings, your delicate up-do, and perhaps your hat if you are really dressed up. Imagine for a moment what happens if an earring catches a strand of yarn as you pull this capelet over your head. Yikes! Doffing a tube capelet it at best awkward and risks chaos. In short, a silly design. Although here the lace pattern is so interesting that it is worth taking and using on something else.

In addition to these projects, there are several historical articles on Portuguese embroidery, on metallic yarns and fabrics, on Louisa May Alcott, and more.

"An Embroidery Travel Diary" 👉 https://bit.ly/34d9p2f