How my craft journey began

Renee Taylor Foles is a textile artist with over 25 years of experience as a knitter, crocheter, paper cutter, embroiderer, quilter, cross stitcher and sewist.

It all started with being juror #?? in her Catholic high school’s production of Twelve Angry Men . . . AND WOMEN. She had to crochet and for some reason yell-act, “but I’m from the ghetto, that’s not how you stab someone.” Apart from a poorly knit wig, this was a low point in her crafting journey.

But really my crafting journey started with my mother who could sew me dresses from Laura Ashley patterns that looked just like the ones the rich kids in my class wore. This meant hours at the local fabric barn, Mary Jo’s, but it was well worth it. Mom would give me left over fabric to make matching scrunchies on her sewing machine. I felt grown. [Narrator: She was, in fact, not grown.]

But maybe it began with my maternal grandmother who crocheted an entire table cloth from cotton thread. It still comes out on my mom’s dining room table on special occasions. When she wasn’t crocheting, Grandmother Juanita was also a seamstress making costumes for exotic dancers in New Orleans in the 50s. Tell me a cooler craft journey than Juanita’s. I’ll wait.

Of course there are generations of my ancestors who made beauty with their hands. Most of their work I will never see or hold. But I can feel it when my hands touch a set of wooden knitting needles or a wooden spoon to mix up a salve or a needle to stitch across a piece of linen.

Craft is my way of connecting to my ancestors. It is my mission to connect others to their ancestors in the same way; to claim the birthright passed down to them. For BIPOC crafters like me, none of the art of craft is new to our heritage. We need to claim that.

Craft is also my way of centering myself. It is a meditation and a pathway towards healing for people dealing with anxiety, chronic illness and other ailments. The combination of loose concentration, repetitive motion with my hands and the activation of my creativity put a still and centered present. It is something I wish for you and every crafter.