Marking Time with Fabric and Thread: Calendars, Diaries, and Journals within Your Fiber Craft

Unlock daily creativity with this guide for recording time by using fiber craft, from renowned weaver and educator Tommye McClure Scanlin

Foreword by weaver and artist Sarah C. Swett

Using weaving, stitching, quilting, or other fiber arts every day to better notice the passing of time offers you more than an arresting artwork. In fact, a creative daily practice transforms your making and is likely to become one of your favorite parts of the day. But time is complicated, so how to begin?

Renowned tapestry weaver Tommye McClure Scanlin answers that question for all makers who love working with fabric, fibers, and textiles. Well known for her tapestry diaries, she explores with you how to capture your own time in your artwork. 

• Enables fiber crafters of any kind to start and successfully benefit from a personal daily practice.

• Packed with practical ideas, in text and photos, for making a personal fiber art calendar, journal, or diary.

• Dozens of prompts to ward off the largest challenge: feeling creatively “stuck.”

• Stories from more than 25 makers explain the benefits of daily practice, sharing inspiring photos of their finished “time capsule” pieces.

• Fascinating facts and history, including why we humans have the urge to mark time visually.

• Foreword by weaver and beloved blogger Sarah C. Swett reminds us of the mix of adrenaline and power that’s available to fiber crafters who truly realize that everything they make is an attempt to capture time.

Praise for Marking Time with Fabric and Thread...

“Incredibly inspiriting. The art practices, and sentiments shared by the artists, are heartfelt and will convince anyone who reads them to consider launching a personal daily practice...and the value of a regular, contemplative practice can’t be underestimated.”
—Jane Dunnewold, author, artist, and founder of the Creative Strength Training community

“This book emphasizes to readers that threads can function as text.  The artists featured here demonstrate how their unique visions and memories unite with their mastery of complex structures and processes.”
—Virginia Gardner Troy, PhD, Professor of Art History, Berry College

Tommye McClure Scanlin weaves and educates. She is professor emerita, University of North Georgia, where she founded the weaving program in the 1970s. Her tapestries are widely exhibited and she maintains an active studio practice. Scanlin has been active in organizations including the American Tapestry Alliance, British Tapestry Group, and Handweavers Guild of America. She has served on the Board of Directors of John C. Campbell Folk School and of the Lillian E. Smith Center. Her other books include The Nature of Things: Essays of a Tapestry Weaver and Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond: Planning and Weaving with Confidence. She has created tapestry diaries as part of her daily practice since 2008.

Author and artist Sarah C. Swett shares stories from her life experiences through her tapestries, in her writings, and on social media. @sarahcswett