The Memory of Fabric
A Chronology of my fabric memory - a more detailed look
1993 - The first time I remember using clothing as a way to express myself and who I am. I insisted that all my shirts have smiley faces on them. A girl at summer camp asked me why all of my shirts have smiley faces on them. I replied, “because I like them.”
1997 - I learned how to knit while interning at Old Sturbridge Village, a 19th century living history museum. The first yarn I ever knit with was yarn grown and dyed at the village. It was green.
2003 - I made a large scarf in just garter stitch during my first semester at Mt. Holyoke College. It had been about 4 years since I made an accessory.
2004 - I hand-sewed a 19th century reticule with reproduction 19th century fabric. My first complete sewing project.
2005 - I moved back to New York City and remember going to the Union Square Market where I saw, for the first time, regional yarn being sold from the Hudson Valley. I bought two skeins: blue and green - naturally dyed with plants. I made a striped scarf and put it for sale at my college’s art department sale. My ceramics professor traded me a pot for the scarf.
2006 - I sewed a purse at a workshop in Hoboken, New Jersey. It was the first time I used a sewing machine.
2007 - I returned to Mt. Holyoke College after two years as a transfer student in NYC and worked at a local yarn store. One summer, I knit my first sweater. It resulted in disaster. This was before circular knitting needles were common and I had no idea how to adjust fit.
2008 - In Italy, I found a small yarn store in the town where I lived. I purchased a delicate cream-colored yarn and made a scarf.
2012 - I discovered Quince & Co in Maine and fell in love with their yarn. I sought out local yarn shops on my travels. I plunged into my knitting journey and made a sweater, a cardigan, 2 shawls, mittens, hats and socks. I began knitting more seriously, buying patterns and books and exploring construction.
2017 - I made 4 sweaters - all in color work. This is where I discovered that I loved color work. My skillset increased as I became aware of how to adjust knitting patterns for better fit. I also began to purchase second-hand 100% wool sweaters to study their construction and wear them. I stopped buying fast fashion sweaters and knitted garments.
2018 - I bought my first sewing machine. A singer tradition for $200 at Joann’s in Pittsfield, MA. I brought it to my godmother’s house with a pattern I found online from Sew Liberated: The strata top. The Strata top was the first garment I ever sewed. It took me hours.
2020 - During the pandemic I sewed more. I made two more strata tops and used linen, a fabric that became a bit of an obsession for me. I became inspired by Katrina Rodabaugh’s book Mending Matters and incorporated visible mending into my wardrobe.
2021 - I carved linocuts and block-printed fabric and up cycled clothing. I sold these at the farm store where I kept my goats and horse.
2022 - I made a 1940’s dress pattern from up cycled fabric I found at a charity shop. It was the first dress I made by myself.
2023 - I received a 1911 treadle sewing machine. This machine revolutionized my sewing practice. Ambitiously, I made my wedding dress in July for my August wedding.
2024 - I began to explore low waste sewing patterns. I developed my own sewing patterns and turned one into a mini zine. It is my Make Mend Series Crop Top. I designed my first knitwear accessories with local yarn from Bloom Woolens: Hearth Sugaring Hat and By the Fireplace Shawl. From a friend, I received woven yardage of wool and turned it into an art garment. I received funding to support my artistic project “Inside Out” and gained experience making historical garments with traditional sewing techniques using my treadle machine. This project resulted into “Getting into Treadle” and the zine I wrote to accompany the project and the artwork. Sewing, fabric, garments, construction became a big part of my creative work as an artist and historian. In 2024 I took the challenge to make all of my clothes. I succeeded 6 months ahead of schedule!
2025 - I am designing my first sweater and have refocused my creative work towards storytelling and archiving the stories of others related to the fiber arts. That is where this project begins and why I am documenting the memory of fabric in my life. I also bought my first loom - an inkle loom - to begin my weaving journey!
Learn how to participate in the Memory of Fabric here.
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Watch the introductory video about this project here. Scroll down to the end where there is a hyperlink for the My Fabric Timeline downloadable PDF!
About the Memory of Fabric Project
This project is part oral history and part documentary. Since 2023 I have been interested in how we related to our clothing and fabric. Where does it come from? What do we use it for? What does it mean to us? Not only am I interested in how it fits into our everyday lives, but also the history of how fabric has been a crucial part of our inherited and handmade stories.
I received a small grant of $350 from the Ashfield Cultural Council to record a series of Oral Histories focusing on the memories and stories people want to share that are related to the fiber arts: sewing, knitting, and weaving. The oral history video recordings will be stored at the Belding Memorial Public Library in Ashfield, MA, which has agreed to be the archival repository for these videos.
Originally named “Stitching Stories” in my grant proposal, this project has evolved to include all modes of needlework and has been renamed “The Memory of Fabric.” The final artistic project will be a documentary film of 5 minutes or less that I hope to submit to the Ashfield Film Festival and potentially other film festival projects.
Already the camera for this project has cost over $350. If you’re interested in supporting me, either with $5 for a cup of coffee or $50 towards offsetting the audio visual tech needs, you can either send me support on Venmo or purchase one of the items on my Amazon wishlist here.
Check out the Fabric Timeline Archive here.
Make your own fabric timeline!
Download this PDF template and fill in the dates and any details you'd like. Interested in sharing your timeline on this website as a part of an archive? Submit it by emailing me at andrea@thecuriousthimble.com.
