Close Knit

EPISODE 46 :: Sara Trail of the Social Justice Sewing Academy - Intergenerational Textile Art Activism

In Episode 45, I spoke to Adrienne Antonson of State the Label. Following on my interest in production and where that’s led me in terms of guest  lately, I wanted to speak to Adrienne about how she began and continues to run her clothing label, State. So part of this curiosity for me is how a person gets interested in and finds themselves working in fiber and clothing production. Adrienne talks me through her entire journey of working with fiber and clothing-making - beginning as a middle schooler sewing simple clothing, to working on an alpaca farm and sewing garments and felting by night, to putting into place some of the bones of State as we know it today.Adrienne shares the process of growing and scaling the business, from figuring out how to work with a factory to hiring a small team to support production, locally. Her approach is and has always been scrappy, and many parts of her process are not scalable. She revels in the small details and talks me through what it’s like to design and produce a collection of surface-designed goods (spoiler: it’s a lot more logistically complex than you might imagine) Adrienne reveals an exciting upcoming launch for state, which I imagine a LOT of listeners will be very excited about. I love the arc of Adrienne’s story - how really genuine and approachable it all feels - how the pieces of State have come together over time and with a lot of effort, but also with a lot of just sticking to your gut.

I wanted to take a minute to revisit the close knit podcast mission. The close knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation to be had about the ways we use fiber to process life and world events.What I meant when I wrote that was that this podcast is the vessel, and the guest brings the story - the connecting thread between all guests is fiber in some form. Intentionally broad, this enabled me to speak to all kinds of people about all manner of things.In practical terms, it has looked like a majority white, majority women-identified line up. When it was entirely this - early on, I paused, readjusted, and tried to publicly challenge myself to do better. I shared this process publicly because I believe in transparency of process, whenever possible. Owning mistakes, instead of letting them own you, and moving forward. Over the course of the life of this podcast, I hope to speak to as many people from as many backgrounds as possible - whose stories may be connected only insofar as their interest in fiber, and I hope that each listener finds themselves represented here, in some way. Whether that is a person whose ethnic identity resembles your own, or gender identity, or approach to making, or ethics on living their lives. I hope that you find someone who feels like ‘home’ to you here. I know that I can always do better - and though I spend more time than your average person researching people in the fiber community to interview, those interviews don’t always pull through, or they don’t happen in the way I imagine they will. I am constantly learning the process of letting go of the outcome as a podcast maker - I can only ask the guest in, and hold as safe a space as I am able - I cannot falsely create stories or force a conversation in a direction it’s not able to go. More so, I cannot expect a certain type of conversation to happen simply because of a common narrative around assumptions I’m no doubt making about my guest.I want to keep at this. I want to make this podcast for a long ass time - maybe even for the entire time I’m on this planet. so it’s gonna take time, and the guest list will evolve. and I hope, as the knitting and wider fiber community begins to take more seriously issues of representation - we may more easily be able to find a diverse body of people to speak to and hear from.This being said, know that I am always scouring the internet for new stories, following along on instagram and trying to track down the voices of people who don’t look like me. Sometimes, I do okay it, and other times, not as much. I don’t expect anyone to do that work for me, but I am open to suggestions - I am open to feedback. If there’s someone that you love or YOU are that someone - who is doing interesting work with fiber, who maybe doesn’t have the type of stage that makes it easy to find them, by all means - please let me know.  I’m here to listen, to keep working on creating a really safe space for people to share.  I’m processing - in my own private life, sometimes quietly - through hours of conversation with people that I know, and hours of knitting. I’m working on a sock right now - which of course, what else would I be working on, and I don’t know if I’m doing it ‘right’ this whole thing, but I know that I’m giving it what I’ve got. & at the very least, I feel hopeful that we have this vessel - our making, our place for quiet internal reflection, and our connection of fiber. Our place to find each other - our thing to connect over. I’m glad that there is this soft vessel to perhaps help us find each other. 

In Episode 44, I spoke to Isadora Alvarez of Back Beat Rags. Lately I’ve been particularly intrigued by production - how a person gets into clothing and textile production and design, what this process looks like and the many complexities within it. I’ve been admiring Isadora’s laid back style and commitment to natural fibers for some time, then I read an interview piece with her and was struck by her voice - the way she told her story with integrity and tons of honesty and a sense of humor. Bringing her on the podcast, I was excited to dig into the ‘why’ behind her commitment to natural fibers and to understand more about her local production. She walks us through what production looks like for Back Beat so thoroughly and with so much thoughtful detail. I think this episode is really exciting for anyone who wants to more deeply understand how many steps are involved in textile production and how much thought and intention goes into this process for Isadora.  She’s has always had a super scrappy, DIY approach to her business. Hearing all about her journey from the Philippines to the US to study and eventually start Back Beat Rags is deeply interesting and inspiring. 

This week I spoke to Anny Crane. Anny is a process artist, working mainly in embroidery. Anna’s process struck me visually because she embroiders onto paper, usually that she’s made - so there’s a lot to take in, textures, colors, embellishments. I loved getting to talk to Anny about how she got started with the sort of art she creates, something she found as her grandmother was passing & how her process has changed and stayed the same. We discuss her move to Michigan, her current job situation & how sometimes settling into success can feel intimidating. Be sure to stay tuned to the end - we really get into some big feelings around social media and how our use of it has changed over time. A huge thank you to this episode’s sponsor - Making Things. Last episode, I got to introduce you to Making Things, so for this episode, I wanted to tell you more about their soon-to-launch platform. Making Things is like Netflix- but better, because for knitting & crochet - it’s unlimited access to all your favourite patterns in one place. All the pattern have been tech edited and tested so you know that you’re getting the best quality resources. Not only that, but there’s a whole digital toolbox to bring these interactive patterns to life - counters, row highlighters, chart grids, editable notes & live pattern support - all designed by and for the knitting and crochet community. You can follow Making Things’ journey as they go live on instagram at @themakingthingsapp and online at makingthingsapp.com Shownotes for this episode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode41

Liz really walks me through her educational experience relating to fiber art and how it led her to where she is today - from the London College of Fashion to working as a seamstress. Liz had what she refers to as a “backwards approach” to natural dyeing, beginning with gardening natural dye plants before ever dyeing with them. She has experienced many forms of fiber and many ways of relating to the medium, but she feels like natural dyeing is the one that’s really stuck and is one she continues to practice and learn more about every day. Liz explains how she’s made her practice work, from a small apartment in Brooklyn to a family home in Riverside - alongside raising children and teaching in academic institutions. What I really appreciate about talking to Liz is her honesty and sincerity - it’s so clear how much Liz loves and is fascinated by natural dyeing, and I loved how she really tells us about how she’s made it work for her and how she and her family plan to make it work in the future. She’s certainly a person whose work inspires me endlessly, so I’m excited to share with all of you what she had to say! Liz really walks me through her educational experience relating to fiber art and how it led her to where she is today - from the London College of Fashion to working as a seamstress. Liz had what she refers to as a “backwards approach” to natural dyeing, beginning with gardening natural dye plants before ever dyeing with them. She has experienced many forms of fiber and many ways of relating to the medium, but she feels like natural dyeing is the one that’s really stuck and is one she continues to practice and learn more about every day. Liz explains how she’s made her practice work, from a small apartment in Brooklyn to a family home in Riverside - alongside raising children and teaching in academic institutions. What I really appreciate about talking to Liz is her honesty and sincerity - it’s so clear how much Liz loves and is fascinated by natural dyeing, and I loved how she really tells us about how she’s made it work for her and how she and her family plan to make it work in the future. She’s certainly a person whose work inspires me endlessly, so I’m excited to share with all of you what she had to say! Liz really walks me through her educational experience relating to fiber art and how it led her to where she is today - from the London College of Fashion to working as a seamstress. Liz had what she refers to as a “backwards approach” to natural dyeing, beginning with gardening natural dye plants before ever dyeing with them. She has experienced many forms of fiber and many ways of relating to the medium, but she feels like natural dyeing is the one that’s really stuck and is one she continues to practice and learn more about every day. Liz explains how she’s made her practice work, from a small apartment in Brooklyn to a family home in Riverside - alongside raising children and teaching in academic institutions. What I really appreciate about talking to Liz is her honesty and sincerity - it’s so clear how much Liz loves and is fascinated by natural dyeing, and I loved how she really tells us about how she’s made it work for her and how she and her family plan to make it work in the future. She’s certainly a person whose work inspires me endlessly, so I’m excited to share with all of you what she had to say! Liz really walks me through her educational experience relating to fiber art and how it led her to where she is today - from the London College of Fashion to working as a seamstress. Liz had what she refers to as a “backwards approach” to natural dyeing, beginning with gardening natural dye plants before ever dyeing with them. She has experienced many forms of fiber and many ways of relating to the medium, but she feels like natural dyeing is the one that’s really stuck and is one she continues to practice and learn more about every day. Liz explains how she’s made her practice work, from a small apartment in Brooklyn to a family home in Riverside - alongside raising children and teaching in academic institutions. What I really appreciate about talking to Liz is her honesty and sincerity - it’s so clear how much Liz loves and is fascinated by natural dyeing, and I loved how she really tells us about how she’s made it work for her and how she and her family plan to make it work in the future. She’s certainly a person whose work inspires me endlessly, so I’m excited to share with all of you what she had to say! Shownotes for this episode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode40

Shownotes for this episode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode39

Shownotes for this episode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode38

In episode 37, Ani speaks to Claire Moskal and Jess Schreibstein of Mild Woman, a modern, minimalist knitting pattern company. Shownotes for this episode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode37

This week I spoke to a couple of people who inspire me so much. aaaaand spoiler also inspire each other because they’re MARRIED. These people are - Lily Schlosser of Eli and Barry and James Davis of Engaged Weaving. You won’t believe it, but I didn’t know that the two of them had anything to do with each other, I was separately following each of them, and just about died when I found out how they were related. In this open and vulnerable chat, James and Lily talk about how important fibre arts and the fibre arts community have been for them in processing their life events and supporting their mental health. James opens up about how his weaving practice has been a vehicle for processing and healing from grief and loss and Lily discusses her journey with anxiety and how supportive her practice of clothes making has been and how sharing her struggles with anxiety openly has given her a new and fuller way of connecting with her audience. There’s so much in this chat - so many ways that Lily and James show up to vulnerability wholeheartedly, and I am incredibly grateful that they were willing to share in this way.  shownotes for this episode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode36

This week I spoke to Tal Fitzpatrick, a textile artist working primarily in appliqué quilting. Tal’s story is one that I’m so excited to share, as she found textile and fibre art later in life than many guests I’ve spoken to on the podcast, (though you’ll learn she has a family history of pretty amazing fibre art) Tal explains how working in natural disaster community resilience projects eventually led her to pursing her PhD and how she looks at Crafitvism in her active, participatory research. Tal has been working on a number of incredible, large-scale social engaged craftivism projects in addition to her PhD, and she talks us through her research on craftivism, her working definition, and how she sees craftivism as a mode of DIY citizenship. This conversation with Tal was one that had me reeling for days after - I was trying to explain the conversation to other people in my life, family members and friends, how everything Tal mentioned just resonated so deeply for me. I can’t wait to hear what the podcast community thinks of this episode! I also want to mention that Tal’s PhD Exhibition will be on display from 7-10 March at the Kings Artist Run Initiative on King St in Melbourne. For all those Aus based listeners, I’d highly recommend checking it out! And please someone take some pictures for me! shownotes for this epsiode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode35

This episode (minisode kind of, though it's still like 40 min long so not that mini?) is a little different.  If you have not, first listen to episode 34 (part 1) to get to know Abbey and Sam and then come back and listen to this chat, which is the second half of my floor sitting Hobart conversation with Abbey and Sam from last year.  We talk about  + internet friendships, how we met each other and became friends + how we navigate internet personas and IRL personas (spoiler we dont have any boundaries between them, and we all have a lot of feelings)  + sam tells us about her first business making t-shirts as a 16 year old  + we have a pee break (which I edited out because it got too weird to share on the internet)  + Australianisms vs Americanisms - how our voices have changed over time (Sam and Ani are American and lived or are living in Aus)  + Our embarrassing nicknames from different points in our lives 

In Episode 33 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Sam Ives of Maker and Mineral and Abbey Rich. A giant thanks to this week's episode sponor: Sincere Sheep. shownotes for this epsiode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode34

In Episode 33 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Nate Bryant of Loop N Threads, and Our Maker Life. Nate shares with us the story of how he found his way to knitting, rather unexpectedly and how that love of knitting became something more than a side hobby for him, at first out of necessity, and then out of love. We discuss some of the details of how he chooses to run his business alongside a day job, and how he manages his time between these things. Nate also helps to run an organisation called Our Maker Life, alongside other makers, who get together yearly to share experiences and ideas and work together on their craft. Nate describes for me his experience of working in the knitting world as a man and how his expression of his gender shapes his work and how others might view his work as a result of gender expression. Nate has this really calming voice, and it was a treat to get to chat to him about the many things that make him uniquely him. A giant thanks to this week's episode sponors: Threads of Peru & 100 Acts of Sewing! shownotes for this epsiode are available at closeknit.com.au/podcast/episode33

PUSSYHATS FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD :: 15th Sept 2017 - The What, The Where (& a note on intersection/integration)