Stephanie Rohr - Self-Care Cross-Stitch: 40 Uplifting & Irreverent Patterns

In memory of Antoinette Anderson

I have been using cross-stitch as self-care since before I had ever heard of the term self-care. It happened without my even realizing. Something about the tactile sensations of stitching; the satisfaction of seeing a design slowly materialize in front of me; and the repetitive, meditative motions of stitching just made me feel good. It became something that could activate my mind and pull me out of a depressive funk. It also became something that could calm my racing and anxious thoughts. This seemingly magical property that allows it to be whatever I need at the moment is probably my favorite thing about the craft (and the art) of cross-stitch.

I discovered cross-stitch as a child. It was a hobby passed on to me from my mother and grandmother. I continued cross-stitch into my teenage years but eventually lost interest because I couldnt find designs that appealed to me anymore. (There was no Etsy in the late 90s or early aughts). When I again felt the urge to stitch in early adulthood, I realized that my desire to stitch exactly what I wanted meant that I should start designing pat-terns myself.

I started my cross-stitch business in 2010, and my designs were very much in line with the new subversive cross-stitch movement. They were focused on the ironic juxtaposition of adult language, with delicate hand-stitched flowers or the latest hilarious pop culture references. There is a place for funny, escapist cross-stitch, but my focus as a designer changed abruptly around 2016. In response to the political climateespecially in the United Statesmy designs took on a much more feminist bent, which led to Feminist Cross-Stitch, my first book of patterns. This shift makes sense, as art tends to be a reaction to and a reflection of the events of a time. It is no wonder, then, that in 2020 my designs zoomed in on the personal, interior world of self-care.

Not only did people around the globe find themselves suddenly quarantined and working (if they were lucky) remotely from home, but people also were looking for new hobbies to keep themselves occupied and sane in a very uncertain time. Cross-stitch remains one of the most accessible crafts there is. The supplies are affordable, the basic techniques are approachable and simple to learn, and the cross-stitch community online makes new patterns and ideas easy to find. I was thrilled to hear from people all over the world who told me that they took up cross-stitching during quarantine and that it calmed their anxiety, got them away from screens for a while, and gave them a sense of creativity and pride. It became part of their self-care.

Self-care has become a popular buzzword in recent years, but the concept has existed for much longer. It's hard to pin down exactly when the term came into popular use, but the practice can be traced back to at least to the 1960s, when the hippie counterculture embraced Eastern traditions like meditation and yoga. At the same time, the feminist movement began encouraging women to start considering their own wellness needs. Black leaders in the Civil Rights Movement recognized that self-preservation was a necessity within a system where inequality created huge gaps in medical care and other basic needs. For people in marginalized groups, self-care was, and still is, about survival. Self-care also became integral to community care, the idea being that caring for yourself goes hand in hand with being able to care for one another. The quote You cant pour from an empty cup comes to mind.

It is key to recognize these as the real roots of our current ideas around self-care, and it is important to also embrace what it has become now. In the 2000s, the concept became more about physical pampering and indulgence; the more surface-level forms of self-care. It calls to mind Treat Yo Self Day on the hit TV comedy Parks and Recreation, where characters encouraged each other to splurge on shopping trips and take spa days. What excites me about the current definition of self-care is that it can combine both its political and radical roots and its more frivolous and indulgent interpretations. I hope to strike a balance with the cross-stitch designs in this book, celebrating the evolution of self-care into something that includes physical pampering, community care, mental health, and creativity.

There is no better way to embrace all these things than through the soothing art of cross-stitch. It is my personal favorite form of self-care, and I hope you find comfort, humor, and inspiration in it too. Lets get stitching!