This Creative Riot comes from Katie Weldon, at Science Ceilidh. 

“From embroidered protest banners in support of the women’s suffrage movement to modern embroidery resistance projects like the Craftivist Collective, embroidery has a longstanding place in history for highlighting issues in a safe and creative way. Stitching a phrase or image to challenge issues in your community and the world allows us to reflect on the issue we have while producing an engaging piece of art to draw attention to this issue. In the true spirit of Fun Palaces, through embroidery we are encouraged to learn from the skills of others or to pass on knowledge of our own skills. 

Why not stitch your own gentle protest? You can do this either on your own as a way to unwind and reflect or with a group of friends or family or some neighbours and chat about what you’re stitching and why it’s important to you.”

You will need:

– A piece of fabric to embroider on (woven fabrics like cotton or linen work best for hand embroidery – you can also try a piece of card or canvas if you don’t have any fabric to hand)
– A needle 
– Some thread (any thread you have lying around will work) 
– An embroidery hoop (optional) 
– A pen to draw/write your protest 

Examples:

See the Craftivist Collective for ideas on how they are using embroidery to protest issues important to them. Common stitch guide instructions (if you’ve not embroidered before, these will show you what to do.)

Ideas for your embroidered protest:

– You could do your embroidery on a piece of clothing like a jumper or denim jacket and wear your protest!
-Post your embroidery to your local MP drawing their attention to the issue
-Hang your artwork in a window in your house
-Leave your embroidery in a public space for people to see and provoke their thoughts
-Share your #CreativeRiots with us on social media – don’t forget to use the # and tag us!

To share your own #CreativeRiots ideas email: amie@funpalaces.co.uk or call 0208 692 4446, ext 203.