Safiya writes:

I was watching the news the other day. After reporting on the humanitarian crisis in Syria and another European economy collapse, there was a piece on a young woman of a similar age to myself. She had been kept prisoner in a house in the UK for a number of years and been repeatedly raped and tortured. I had to turn the TV off. I just couldn’t believe that I lived in a world where these sorts of things happen in the first place, are then reported on the news almost as if it’s entertainment, and there’s very little I can do about it.

I remembered Sarah (an old colleague of mine) and the project she founded, the Craftivist Collective, which is actually doing something to tackle all the unjust and unacceptable things about the world we’re living in at the moment. I went along to a Stitch In, bought myself a mini protest banner kit and got to work.

I decided to stitch Ghandi’s ‘Be the change you wanted to see in the world’ – not just because it was short and I wasn’t sure if I had any sewing skills – but Sarah has this tattooed on her skin, and to me she is a personification of exactly what Ghandi meant. I was reminded of another brilliant quote from the Dalai Lama: ‘it’s not enough to be compassionate – you must act’. That’s exactly what the Craftivist Collective is all about.

I hung my piece of Craftivism on a statue of Trevor Huddleston in Bedford Town Centre. Trevor was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa during the 1940s and 50s – another person who tried to ‘be the change’.

Words by Barley Massey, the owner of craft shop Fabrications, London:

A giant love letter has elegantly floated into Fabrications window this month in time for Valentines day. It is stopping passers by in their tracks, my favorite reaction was 2 small boys who stood, pointed and smiled lots.

They ran off and brought back their parents to read it – brilliant! Keep
recruiting boys!!

Originally created by Sarah Corbett (founder of the Craftivist Colective)
for a public craftivism workshop during Tracy Emin’s ‘Love is what you want’
show at the Hayward Gallery last summer. The letter and workshop urged
participants to “show their love through action to their global neighbour
struggling in this unjust world”. Participants pledged different acts of
love they would carry out locally or globally by writing down their action
on a luggage label.
This giant letter has become a chain letter, having recently travelled back
from independent bookshop’s window ‘News from Nowhere’ window in Liverpool and now is at Fabrications urging passers by to stop, think and act!

It has also been a great display that promotes 2 special craftivism events,
we are hosting here:

This Thursday 9th February, 6 – 9pm:
Open studio and ‘Hijacking valentines preparation session’.
All are welcome to join the London craftivists in this fun and friendly
session in creating valentine’s cards and crafted gifts which will be left
out in the street in various nooks and crannies to be found by unsuspecting
members of the public, beautiful and gentle reminders to ‘show some love’.
You don’t need to be in a relationship to receive one of these!

During the evening you will also be able to meet Sarah Corbett, a real
inspiration and a very friendly lady! She is running a
‘mini protest banner making’ workshop at Fabrications on
Sunday 19th March, 2 – 4.30pm which focuses on the history of craftivism,
it’s benefits and how it can create change through thought provoking, non
threatening, crafty action. She will also be teaching practical skills in
how to interpret text and design in cross stitch and embroidery to create
slogans with impact. If you’re interested in attending please contact us to
book in!

Fuelled by ginger nuts and earl grey, we were all eager to get started on the project and tear open our craftivist workshop packs, but before we did it was really good to hear Sarah share the ideas behind what we’d be doing and be reminded what craftivism is all about. Sarah talked animatedly and honestly about her personal journey into craftivism, which helped to set into context how her own craftivism and our soon-to-be-created stitches would form part of a bigger picture of the relationship between craft and activism.

At the start of a new year, as the concept of a ‘craft revival’ continues to gain in popularity within mainstream media, it was interesting to reflect on how the relationship between craft and protest, art and activism, has a rich tradition and is in fact far more ancient than any of the old clothes sat around us in the shop. It was fantastic to hear of predecessors around the world that inspired this project, from the powerful patchwork of the Chilean Apilleras, which I hadn’t heard of before but shall definitely be looking into further, to the stitched signatures of the Suffragettes. Last weekend I was moved to see first hand an embroidered Suffragette handkerchief at the Museum of London and it emphasised how it’s the physical, hand made material nature of these projects that is so important and the personal element that makes them potentially so much more powerful than a simple email or typed letter could be.

As Sarah recently shared, Betsy Greer says ‘craftivism is starting a conversation’ and I really enjoyed starting conversations with lots of fresh faces, as well as some familiar fellow craftivist friends.

Probably like several people there, I’m not the most outgoing or confident person when it comes to meeting new people and making new friends but somehow it’s always much easier and enjoyable to say hello to people and get beyond small talk when you’ve both got a needle and thread in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. This evening was no exception and I came away having made connections with some lovely people who I hope I can enjoy sharing more evenings with in future and continue the conversations that were started, inspired that it is possible to build a sense of community within the city and encouraged that I’m not the only one who want make a difference and that together we have the chance to. I’m certainly no expert at embroidery, but having been part of the Craftivist Collective for a couple of years now, I was happy to be able to help share with those joining us for the first time a bit about what craftivism means to me, what we get up to and simple advice on how to thread a needle or my own shortcuts in stitching! I love how we can share skills and ideas with each other and all muddle along together!

I also enjoyed the opportunity to share with curious onlookers at Paper Dress a bit about what we were up to. Whilst we hadn’t expected to share the space with a free gig booked that started later into the evening, there was plenty of room for everyone and I quite enjoyed observing people trying to work out what this band of busy stitchers were up to. Chatting to people who were there enjoy a bit of free music and a beer, letting them know a bit about what were doing and inviting them along to future events,  opened up further conversations with potential new craftivists (or ‘craptivists’ perhaps, as the ace pin badges say!)

We were also challenged to take some time out from chatting and sharing who we were sending our hankies to and this provided a great balance, as we spent some of the workshop in silence. Taking time out from talking to focus on what message we were stitching and who we were addressing was a welcome break and chance to reflect. It seemed quite quickly that the workshop was over and it was time for us all to head off and continue our hankies on the bus and back at home.

I’m looking forward to carrying on with my hanky message at the Craftivist Collective’s Thursday monthly gatherings at Southbank Centre and seeing how some of the other’s are getting along with theirs too. I can’t wait for more craftivism, more conversations and more creative community this year.

Each year we try and hijack valentines day and remind people to “Show some love” for their global neighbours as well as the usual smushy stuff. We would love it if you joined in our craftivism project this year.

For the last 3 years we have had people all over the globe make as many cards as they can and leave them around their area on Valentines day. Each includes a handmade keyring designed by cult jewellers Tatty Devine. In the last 3 years we have left 100 letters across the UK (London, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Banger, Newcastle, Cornwall, Coventry and more- see photos here) as well as America and Canada. Each letter will contain an alternative valentine’s letter (see template letter here), a handmade gift that Tatty Devine are designing for us (see design here) and a love heart sweet. Hand delivered to gaps in walls, cash machine slots, shop shelves etc- You don’t have to be in a relationship to have one of these!

Any one can deliver this project on their own or in a group.

London craftivists are meeting Thursday 6pm to 9pm 9th February in Fabrications craft shop open studio. All are welcome to come for the whole time or just drop in for a cuppa tea, biscuit and to make as many as you can. We are encouraging people to give a donation of £5 to cover costs (shrink plastic is expensive sadly). More info on Facebook here.

Find the letter template here and the design for the keyring here, the video instructions here and the press release here

There are so many distractions wherever we live, particularly on Valentines Day. Hopefully these cards are a friendly reminder of the difficult circumstances our global neighbours are in and the gifts are there to encourage a conversation to start even after Valentine’s Day.

We are always reminding people that they don’t have to be in London or in a group to be a craftivist and we hope this film will encourage people to join in with our projects and show how easy it is

We work really hard at providing resources to our craftivists so that they can deliver our projects wherever they are in the world, as an individual or to do as a group. We create instruction videos, templates, kits, images and workshops. Plus we make sure our projects are accessible to all whether you are new to craft or new to activism. Please let us know how we can improve if you still feel unsupported or unclear on how you can get involved.

Being a relatively new Craftivist there were lots of people to talk to, some I recognised from other events put on by the Collective and many I hadn’t met yet. We settled down into the comfy sofas and discussed what we would each be stitching.

We had decided to make some mini protest banners in support of the Robin Hood Tax. People had come along with some different facts, quotes and messages to stitch and inspiration sheets had been produced for those not sure what to write. There was plenty of talk about cuts, tax and bonuses. We talked about support for the robin hood, or Tobin tax being so high. The most popular tax in history?

I had got a head start on mine and brought a quote from the governor of the Bank of England already stitched onto some fabric. I had gone with “Never has so much money been owed by so few to so many” Mervyn King paraphrasing Churchill’s famous “Never was so much owed by so many to so few” . I had stitched most of the wording on my train to work which had garnered a few more supporters of the tax as people asked what I was making and why.

Despite finishing the quote there was still plenty to do and I’m by no means the fastest stitcher in east end. I had to attach my fabric to a backing (which hid all my stray threads) and choose some finishing off bits which included a Craftivist Collective label and a Robin Hood badge.

It was only really once I was getting into the sewing that I started to think about our special guests of the evening: a crew from the French TV station Canal+. What would they be like? Would they want us to do anything special? Do I know enough about the Robin Hood Tax to answer questions I might be asked? A team of three arrived – presenter Alexandra, producer Carole and cameraman (eek, we can’t remember his name!). At the sight of cameras I went pink under my green felt Robin Hood hat. My fellow craftsters and merry women were also a little nervous so it was lucky for all of us that Alexandra and her team were professional and approachable. They thought the creative style of campaigning that Craftivist Collective used was really interesting and just wanted to hear more about it. Founder Sarah Corbett gave Alexandra a run through of who the Collective were and what we did and we all filled her in on what had attracted us to the Collective and what we hoped to achieve with our craft.

Finally we ventured back outdoors and down to Bank station, the perfect location for a mini protest banner on the RHT. Our band of merry women caused plenty of turned heads and smiles along the way. We found some great spots around Bank where we could attach our banners. Railings, benches and barriers were adorned with brightly coloured messages of greater equality, attached by cable ties – but only when we could be sure no one was looking!

I think putting up your piece on display has to be the best bit of making the banners for me. Where should it go and why. By the time we finished filming the banners going up in the street it was late and we were all tired and hungry but happy from a great evenings craftivism.

Betsy Greer coined the term ‘Craftivism’ in 2003 and from the start we have always checked in with Betsy to make sure our projects are still a form of craftivism and not something else (like upcycling or just craft). She is an amazing supporter, adviser and friend as well as a huge inspiration for our craftivists. One of the many talents Betsy has is explaining acts of craftivism in a clear and concise way (much better than us, sorry!) so when she blogged about a Facebook post we send regarding the print (above) we sold we really wanted to share her thoughtful words with you. Her blog also explains why we don’t prioritise going to Occupations to do craftivism stitch-ins even though people presume we should be there.

Craftivism is starting a conversation

Dec 15th, 2011

The quote below was written by Sarah Corbett regarding the work of the always inspiring Craftivist Collective, which she posted on her Facebook page yesterday.

Just heard that one of the Craftivist Collective prints was bought for a banker and the banker emailed the giver to say thanks providing a good discussion starter with his wife. Hopefully, those discussions will turn into action and challenging the bank system from within.

This is the heart of craftivism.

Changing the thoughts of those against you, moving outside of preaching to the choir.

In keeping with a metaphor: When you’re preaching to the choir, no one new gets to heaven. I.e., you may be working, but not working hard enough.

As Craftivists, crafters, artists, one of our roles is to make people think. All kinds of people, especially those that disagree with us. As the CC quote mentions above, our pieces can work as “conversation starters,” meaning it allows both sides to enter a conversation, not a shouting match.”

Thanks for putting into words what we struggle to Betsy. Dear read, if you haven’t already please subscribe to www.craftivism.com/blog 

BTW: the print that was bought was the one below. You can see the original image here

I haven’t written a personal blog for quite a long time now and so much has been going on I wanted to share it with you and get your thoughts. So…

As you know I’m much better at creating images than words so I thought I would start off with this photo (there’s me- person in the left of the picture!) to let you know that I’m going down to part time in my job from mid January 2012 so that I can turn the collective into a social enterprise (eek!). I’ve spoken to quite a few hardcore craftivists from across the UK as well as LA, Berlin and as far as Melbourne to see if people are happy with this and everyone seems really keen and excited. In 2 years we’ve gone from our first meeting of 6 people in the British Library cafe to having members across the world, our name in print in 3 books, national and international media publications, working with the likes of Tatty Devine, the Tate and Hayward Gallery plus being part of an Extreme Craft exhibition and more. It’s been crazy and most of what has happened has fallen in our laps and we’ve just reacted to offers rather than proactively planned what we want to do and where we want to be. I truly believe there is so much potential to reach more people and show them the benefits of craftivism plus, sadly I can’t go on working full time and then lead the collective on top of that- I’m going to turn into a burnt out craftivist which will be ironic!!

So here is the plan or us being a social enterprise. There will be 4 focuses

1. products to sell online and offline in shops – create more products especially kits
2. workshops, events and talks- this could be organisations/people booking me in or we set up ourselves. I’m also keen to be a bit of a travelling craftivist (think pop up shop but more of a pop up person) where I tweet were I am plus book in days in particular venues around the UK and people come and join me to do some craftivism or just have a chat- what do you think? It could be a cafe, train, circle line tube, park bench, craft shop… again people/places could book me in and I go where there is a demand
3. ‘special projects’ – which might be a funded projects with partners, might be a campaign we really love and want to work on like we did with the Railway Adventure and Sew to Bed or just something we want to do that isn’t covered in the first 2 streams. I’m thinking a craftivism bootcamp would be amazing and I could make certificates for the attendees at the end plus we could ask them to then train other craftivists/set up events etc so I don’t do everything.
4. still creating hi res photographs for our blogger fans (and maybe media if I get more confident pitching stuff) to use to raise awareness of global injustices and trying to do it even quicker now to react to current news such as Osborne’s budget announcement in March if it will be fuelling inequality

Plus improving our website, improving our instruction videos and adding to them, creating new craftivism projects (yay!) and so much more.

Luckily I’m getting help with the business plan from 4 people who asked to be my mentor (random I know but amazing!) and are advising in different ways (funding, media, social enterprise business plan and strategy) so I’m really excited about the future but also nervous too and wish there was more time to do what they need from me.

Really hoping I can find more people willing to help me with particular jobs such as improving this site, updating the blog, designing some kits, improve and update our online shops, researching facts we need for new kits, book keeping and more otherwise I can’t do it all :’(

I’m currently making a Survey Monkey so I can offer it to you (yes you!) to find out what you would like from the Craftivist Collective in the future, and get your thoughts and ideas on our plans. It would be really helpful to get your honest feedback.

Any way, right now I’ve gotta go and make 10 kits to give to 123 Bethnal Green Road concept store who want to sell them as stocking fillers before Christmas!

I hope to hear from you soon and maybe see some of you at the January workshop here