A Brief, Erratic History of Fiber Arts

February 10, 2015

A long time ago Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden where they were happily running around naked (or so we are told). Legend has it that once they left they dressed in fig leaves. Imagine how itchy and uncomfortable that had to be, not to mention the lack of insulating properties of fig leaves.

Somewhere along the timeline of human history, people learned to take the skins off of animals and use those skins for clothing. That was pretty handy; the leather side was tough and the furry side was warm. In the process of making skins of animals cover skins of humans, someone invented sewing. Thin strips of something were poked through holes and smaller pieces became larger pieces of human-shaped body coverings.

Along came agriculture. When people had put so much effort into growing their animals, it seemed silly to raise them and kill them just for their meat and for their hides. After all, they could get milk, yogurt, baby animals, and wool from these animals. Someone noticed that when fibers were twisted together, they got stronger. They could also get longer. Probably the first thing made out of these longer and stronger fibers was twine or rope. Pretty soon someone had the genius idea to weave these fibers and clothing as we know it was born.

A felted hat with a knitted flower created by Lauren Isenhour

The fiber artists at Ptarmigan Arts don’t have to gather their fiber directly from the animal (although some do), but they continue the tradition of creating beautiful and useful objects using wool, cotton, bamboo rayon, and man made fibers. Some items are created from repurposed clothing; some are created from scratch.

This warm, fuzzy scarf is woven of Acrylic. A man-made fiber.

Chelsey Arno created this skirt from a repurposed garment.

Stop by Ptarmigan Arts and check out the modern interpretation of this most ancient craft.