This Long Thread Book Review

Jen Hewett’s latest book, This Long Thread, was even more compelling and beautiful than I expected. In it, Hewett shares the stories and perspectives of women and nonbinary people of colour in the textile arts with interviews, essays, survey responses, and profiles. The formats flow from one to another seamlessly, making a page-turner experience that I don’t always get from non-fiction. After learning about one maker, I just wanted to know what the others had to say and I found myself very immersed.

Overhead view of a tablet with an ebook cover visible, next to a blue cabled knitting project in progress. The book cover says, "This Long Thread" and shows different shades of brown hands touching threads above them.

The structure of this book felt surprising, but very satisfying. Just as I was settling into the idea of an essay, it would wrap up and be immediately followed by some short survey responses, reminding me that there were so many other makers from many other places who’d had lots of different experiences. Reading about those differences and also searching for common threads felt very rich.

I had so many moments during the reading that I related strongly to how the makers felt about their crafts. That sense of camaraderie felt refreshing because textile arts are so often dismissed or misunderstood. Spending time with these stories made me feel like I was among people who get it! In Ebony Haight’s essay, My Body! My Way! My Self in This World. Why I Sew and Some Other Things, she talks about how dressing is like making art.

I collect disparate parts, then try to pull them together into something pleasing. Sure, clothes can be about looking good, but that’s also an assertion of what “good” looks like to me.

That sense that clothes are an artistic expression about power and control felt similar to how I’ve felt about getting dressed. I got a lot of inspiration from folks talking about their crafts and it really made me want to try new things like quilting!

The book was also a gift in the ways the makers in it expressed perspectives that I can’t possibly relate to because I live in the world with white privilege as a white woman. I appreciated the opportunity to learn from folks sharing how they have experienced the fibre arts community.

I read a bunch of reviews for this book and quite a few folks mentioned they would have liked the book to have more images. I can definitely see where they’re coming from because pretty much every time I started reading a profile or essay, I craved a visual — what does this person’s work look like? But there was something kind of wonderful about exploring that for myself rather than just being served photos within the book. Between chapters I often tore myself away from the text to look up the subject on Instagram or find their website. Finding their work in just the ways they’ve chosen to present it online felt like a fuller experience than I think one could give by just showing an image or two within the pages of the book. That being said, I really loved the sweet illustrations that were sprinkled throughout, giving clues as to the kinds of work or tools mentioned in text. And once I was finished, I discovered that there’s actually a directory at the end to help me find all the contributors, so I’m sure I’ll be spending time with that to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I enjoyed this book and since you’re here reading a knitting blog, I think you will too! That’s especially true if you’re white and want to have more insight into the experiences of people of colour in our community or if you’re a person of colour and are hungry for stories that may reflect your experience better than what’s often seen in the mainstream of the fibre industry. Fans of Clara Parkes and those who cherish deep dives into what it means to be a maker and how people think about crafts both professionally and personally will get a lot out of this book.

I encourage you to get it from your local yarn or book shop or from the author’s website.

Have you read it? Tell me about a maker you discovered and are now super inspired by in the comments!