Emily was born in Forest Gate. Her dad fought in the First World War but was injured in Ypres. Like many soldiers, he took up embroidery whilst he was recovering in hospital.
EMILY
The embroidery below shows the crest and motto of his army regiment, 'The Queens'. He never finished this piece but you can see the faint outline of the rest of his design.
Emily
WW1 Soldier's embroidery
"He never talked to us about it, I only wish he had done, I’m sure that if I’d have got him talking… and it would have been better for him cos’ I believe it’s better to get it out when things are worrying you. I didn’t even know what regiment that he was in, but you see look that it’s the ‘Queen’s."
Emily's Dad's embroidery
Lockdown crafting
“At the very beginning it was very much very small groups of children that were in, like key worker children and vulnerable. And because we had such small groups I spoke to my headteacher and said ‘Well, when I’m in, can I bring the woodburning tool in and work with the children?’. And she said, ‘Yeah, go for it!’. And so for those key worker children, they had a brilliant time and they made all their own little bookmarks and burned into all sorts and made their own designs.”
RUTH
Ruth
MADHU
Madhu
EXPLORE BELOW TO HEAR PERSONAL STORIES ABOUT CRAFTING AND WELLBEING
Asiya on crafting for mental health
"In times of trouble, get the knitting out"
- Sarah
Ro on how she learnt to knit
Ruth on crafting during lockdown
"My mum died of vascular dementia and prior to her death she was in a care home. I tried to encourage her to keep on knitting and I bought her needles and wool. Unbeknownst to me, she actually really couldn’t remember how to knit, so she rarely showed me anything, and then she didn’t know who I was."
- Julia
"Conversations about the past and what she was doing were actually rendered virtually impossible. When she died, I cleared her room and I found a large carrier bag full of wool and needles and attempts to cast on and lots and lots of tangled wool. I found this, and still find this, heartbreaking."
-Julia
Sarah on crafting through difficult times
"I was lonely at home. I came to my library to find out what we’ve got as an entertainment thing around here. They told me they’ve got crafts and all this stitching thing, knitting, so I brought myself here today to learn both and get my memories back into that as well."
- Kousar
"I used to love my life when I was younger. Those days we didn’t have much like phones and, um, you know, computers and all that sort of thing. In my time there was not those things. So we were reading and those sewing things. So yes, that was the reason."
- Kousar
