Many of our modern associations with embroidery seem quaint–a cheeky cross-stitch pillow or needlepoint flowers. Yet embroidery is also a simple and powerful art form. Queen Elizabeth, I often embroidered with other female rulers, and many artists today are now using the craft in radical ways just as women have long used embroidery for their own power. Like Chilean women of the 70s and 80s who created bright arpilleras to memorialize vanished family members and express resistance against Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship.
In your own home, though, embroidery can be just as powerful. Not as a form of politics or power, but also as a form of art therapy and mental healthcare.
This guide walks you through embroidery as a form of art therapy, including various mental health benefits of the craft, how to get started, and the materials you need to try your hand at a new form of mindfulness.