Hanging on by a thread : Confronting mental illness and manifesting love through embroidery

In this paper I investigate the emotional benefits of textile crafts in general and embroidery in particular. How can embroidery be used to express love and care for others? Can embroidery be used as a therapeutic tool? Using my own embroidery project Flower heart as a starting point, my research goes into craft as a manifestation of love, from handmade gifts in the 18th century to contemporary art, and crafting as a therapeutic medium, from rehabilitation of soldiers after WW1, to a recent study on 92 Finnish craft makers. My material is based on research on (textile) craft, research on occupational therapy, interviews with contemporary embroidery artists Michelle Kingdom, Alexandra Drenth and Willemien de Villiers, as well as my own experiences with the project Flower heart. My conclusions are that there are many emotional benefits to textile crafts. Our crafts can comfort us from sorrow, help us deal with pain, both physical and mental, make us connect to one another, provide meaning to our lives, anchor us in the present and live on long after we are gone as a manifestation of our lives and our love