It’s fascinating to see that in a world where technology is king, there is still a great love for handcrafting in the Detroit area and across the country.
Maybe it’s because you watched a parent or grandparent do it as a child, maybe you had a friend who did it, or maybe you just like the community it brings you, or quite honestly, maybe it’s just nice to do something with your hands. There are countless reasons why someone might learn a needle-based craft like crochet, knitting, or quilting. But these hobbies have a rich history, whether it’s origins in ancient Egypt or connections to African storytelling traditions.
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To address the rise of fiber art and the history behind it, The Metro was accompanied by two women from the world of handicrafts and quilting.
Sally Moore, owner of Parker Avenue Knits in Detroit, and textile artist and sculptor April Shipp shared their experiences and expertise on needlecrafting and quilting.
Textile art is a popular hobby for many people, including young and old, men and women. Shipp said she loves fabrics and quilting because of the textures, the representation of life and the free feeling she gets when crafting.
“First of all, the first thing you put on, the first thing you’re wrapped in is fabric, right? And when you die, that’s the last thing you’re wrapped in, also fabric. So fabric for me is just the feeling it has in my fingers, just incredible,” Shipp said. “I love textiles, and I think we weave so many love stories, and what we do is tell stories with my work, I tell stories. I tell stories, funny and serious, sad and happy. It’s all in the fabric.”
Shipp brought some of her favorite pieces to the WDET studios, including one where she picked up scraps of fabric from the floor and threw them together to create a beautiful collage.
But quilting and knitting are not just hobbies – they are a way to tell stories and keep memories, history and personal legacies alive.
“In the African community, handcraft is storytelling. It’s the oral tradition. Because we weren’t allowed to keep our story to ourselves. We weren’t allowed to write it down, or we didn’t – we were illiterate – we didn’t know how to write it down, but that didn’t mean it had to die,” Moore explained. “And in this day and age, with all the noise around us and the short attention span, it’s important to have that tool to quiet people down and bring them closer together.”
For African Americans and many other communities, handicrafts are a source of memories and heirlooms passed down through generations. The creativity in textile arts is timeless.
At Parker Avenue Knits, Moore created not just a community of African Americans, but a diverse collection of people interested in textile arts.
“Many of us were strangers before we came in, but fiber creates a level playing field and reminds us that we are all part of one big community,” Moore explained.
Their philosophy in opening the store was to give people a space to have all kinds of conversations, essentially creating a community of unique characters and making them all artists and friends. Crafts, whether someone is making quilts, clothing, home decor, or whatever springs from their imagination, create a community and spread love.
Moore offered some advice to people interested in this “sport”: “We figure it out. We commiserate, we tear it out. We do whatever needs to be done. But, April said, the only limit is your imagination. So don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress… just keep going.”
More headlines from The Metro for August 14, 2024:
- Mastodons roamed the earth between 23 million and 12,000 years ago. Hundreds of mastodon fossils have been found in Michigan. So many that it became Michigan’s state fossil in 2002. Yes, you heard right, mastodons are Michigan’s state fossil and could soon become the national fossil thanks to a bill sponsored by Michigan’s U.S. Senator Gary Peters. One place you can see our state fossil up close is the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. To talk about mastodons, Jake Downey, the museum’s docent, joined us. The Metro.
