Threads of Life
by Clare Hunter
published 2020
Clare Hunter was introduced to sewing, at an early age, by her Mother. As a banner maker, community textiles artist and curator she has learnt a lot about the place and purpose of needlework, through history and around the world. This book is part a memoir of her work and part a history of the needlework she has come across through her life and work. She sees it as a means of expression about the lives and experiences of people who would have gone unheeded and unheard, mainly women. She considers it to contain a language, known only to women, used to pass knowledge on from Mother to daughter, as such, the language is in danger of being lost.
Needlework was something I was taught at school, if there is a language, they failed to teach it to me, which makes me feel that I have missed something. Sewing was something used to produce garments, embroidery was not important, sidelined as something women did.
It is a good book, not easy reading, a few pictures might have helped or descriptions of the needlework.
