Rinnakkaistallenteet Filosofinen tiedekunta
2019
Hand-made well-being: Textile crafts as a source of eudaimonic well-being
Pöllänen, Sinikka Hannele
Informa UK Limited
Tieteelliset aikakauslehtiartikkelit
© Informa UK Limited All rights reserved
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2019.1688738
https://erepo.uef.fi/handle/123456789/7871
Downloaded from University of Eastern Finland's eRepository
Hand-made well-being: Textile crafts as a source of eudaimonic well-being
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine how textile crafts are described as a psychological well- being-enhancing leisure activity in female textile craft makers’ narratives. To this, the stories of Rose, Ann, Mary and Sheila are depicted to represent how the eudaimonic intrinsic needs of doing, belonging, becoming and being were expressed in crafting. The qualitative study is based on written narratives of 65 female textile crafters aged 31 to 88 years. The data were analysed using content analysis drawing on Wilcock’s (2007) theory of eudaimonic well- being. The narratives revealed that crafting improved the participants’ well-being in different ways. The results showed that the focus was not on seeking pleasure and satisfaction or on manufacturing need-based products but, above all, on crafting a richer and more purposeful life through self-actualization and excellence in doing, social connectedness in belonging, self-empowerment in becoming, and relief from stress in being.
Keywords: Eudaimonic well-being, crafts, leisure activity, psychological well-being, textile crafts
Introduction
Today, crafting is no longer a necessity for obtaining needed everyday items and clothing, yet an inner desire to create things by hand lives on in leisure activities as a human-based natural need (e.g., Burke & Spencer-Wood, 2019; Gandolfo & Grace, 2010). Over the last decade, the self-making culture has re-emerged, increasing the number of handicraft enthusiasts throughout the Western world (von Busch, 2013; Grace & Gandolfo, 2014). Women, in particular, are spending considerable amounts of time and energy on various forms of textile- based craft making (Kenning, 2015) even though, especially for younger crafters, this
requires negotiating space for their leisure activities (Stalp, 2006). These activities include any type of craft where they work with fabric and yarn, for example, by sewing, knitting, crocheting and weaving. There seems to be a need for embodied interaction with the material world and to make things by hand as a departure from conventional paid work and domestic duties (Grace & Gandolfo, 2014; Jackson, 2010). It has also been found that the majority of craft practitioners continue their leisure through all stages of life and into old age (Kenning, 2015; Lamont & Ranaweera, 2019; Maidment & Macfarlane, 2011).
Merely making crafts or participating in handicraft activities in itself is not enough to achieve enhanced well-being. The craft activity must be relevant and meaningful to the crafter. Several studies have shown that the common key factor for improved well-being seems to be the elements that the act of crafting entails (e.g., Burt & Atkinson, 2012; Collier, 2011; Collier & Wayment, 2017; Gandolfo & Grace, 2010; Grace & Gandolfo, 2014; Lamont
& Ranaweera, 2019). In crafting, the entire craft process, sensory aspects of the activity including the meanings that are incorporated into the making as well as the finished product, are important (Pöllänen, 2015a; Genoe & Liechty, 2017; Jackson, 2010). Both of these aspects act as a channel for the craft maker’s self-development and structures their place in the ever-changing word (Collier, 2011).
Crafting and crafted objects bring pleasure, but, most of all, they carry the symbolism of the maker and relationships with other people, providing links between and within groups, generations and traditions (Grace & Gandolfo, 2014; Kenning, 2015). Crafting is thus an empowering exercise of social agency that, for the crafter, creates pride in their skills and accomplishments (Burke & Spencer-Wood, 2019; Corkhill, Hemmings, Maddock, & Riley, 2014; Maidment & Macfarlane, 2011) and provides a sense of continuity and support during life changes (Kenning, 2015). As a result, the act of crafting is experienced by the craft maker as psychologically and emotionally fulfilling, relaxing and healing, for both mind and body (Pöllänen, 2015b; Collier & Wayment, 2017; Riley, Corkhill, & Morris, 2013). Accordingly, craft making has been recognized as a means of self-expression that contributes to a person’s sense of self and identity, and as a means of reflecting on lived experiences, self-
understanding and empowering the individual to become who they are (Grace & Gandolfo, 2014; Riley, 2008) and who they want to be (Burke & Spencer-Wood, 2019).
Today, the material and tactile processes of crafting are becoming increasingly integrated with digital practices and technology. The integration of crafts as a leisure activity with social media has provided a channel for community building and a source of mutual support, recognition, idea sharing and inspiration (von Busch, 2013; Orton-Johnson, 2014).
Several studies have shown (e.g., Maidment & Macfarlane, 2011; Orton-Johnson, 2014;
Riley et al., 2013) that face-to-face and online communities nurture interaction in both real and virtual forums, inspire collaboration and discussion, and enable pleasure shared meanings and understandings of craft making. Such joint domains of interest help individual and
collective identities to be developed (Johnson & Wilson, 2005; Riley, 2008), expand personal engagement (Kenning, 2015) and, ultimately, nurture the maker’s well-being (Gandolfo &
Grace, 2010; Maidment & Macfarlane, 2011). Taken as a whole, it may be concluded that
also craft making as a leisure activity, as similarly noted by Stebbins (2016), creates
opportunities to use one’s capabilities in the service of something greater than oneself, thus supporting the development of a meaningful life.
Early research has clearly shown a connection, in particular between leisure and well- being (e.g., Bailey & Fernando, 2012; Bittman & Wajcman, 2000; Stebbins, 2015, 2016;
Warner-Smith & Brown, 2002) and between creative and self-expressive forms of leisure activities (e.g., Genoe & Liechty, 2017; Whiting & Hannam, 2015). There are some notions of how leisure activities with meaningful engagement, self-realization, self-development and social connectedness increase psychological well-being (Anić, 2014; Stebbins, 2016).
Nonetheless, previous research on crafts and well-being has focused on general well-being or mainly on the concept of subjective well-being (e.g., Pöllänen, 2015a, b; Burt & Atkinson, 2012; Collier, 2011; Collier & Wayment, 2017; Corkhill et al., 2014; Gandolfo & Grace, 2010; Gauntlett, 2011; Riley et al., 2013). Still, there seems to be limited research on crafts from the leisure perspective and a lack of research into the ways that crafting, especially textile crafts, as an active and creative making process, improves craft makers’ psychological well-being (Pöllänen, 2015b; Kenning, 2015). Because textile crafts are the most popular form of leisure activities among women in Finland (Statistics Finland, 2015) and there are differences in leisure time between the genders (Bittman & Wajcman, 2000), we considered it justified to examine the relation between textile crafts and well-being among women in more depth.
Thereby, the aim of this study is to examine how craft making is described as a psychological well-being-enhancing leisure activity in the female textile craft makers’
narratives. More concretely, our aim is to depict how the eudaimonic intrinsic needs of doing, belonging, becoming, and being are expressed in crafting.
Eudaimonic well-being as good life
Aristotle (1985) saw the greatest good as eudaimonia, a happiness consisting of pleasure and virtue comprising a good life. This formula of happiness as eudaimonic well-being has been contrasted with the traditional understanding of happiness as hedonia (Keyes & Annas, 2009;
Ryan & Deci, 2001). The hedonic approach to research on well-being has focused, according to Ryan and Deci (2000), on experiences of happiness as an internal state predominated by the attainment of pleasure and comfort, whereas the eudaimonic approach has focused on meaningfulness and self-realization. The hedonic tone of an individual’s life has been conceptualized as subjective well-being, whereas the focus is on psychological well-being when the emphasis is placed primarily on eudaimonism (Tov, 2018).
Waterman (2007) posited that a hedonic view of a life of pleasure and satisfaction is necessary but is not the most relevant or sufficient component alone for describing the good life. The eudaimonic view of well-being is considered practical (Waterman, 2008; Waterman, et al., 2010), whereas not all desires that a person may value, even though they may be
pleasure producing (hedonistic), are good for people and do not, thereby, bring well-being (Huta & Ryan, 2010; Ryan & Deci, 2001). Whereas hedonia focuses on the more inactive sides of the good life, eudaimonia, according to Deci and Ryan (2008), has its focus on realizing one’s full personal potential and being in development toward expressing one’s true nature. In this regard, Keyes and Annas (2009) described hedonic well-being using the key construct of feelings toward one’s life and eudaimonic well-being as functioning (well) in life. Eudaimonia emerges when individuals’ life activities are compatible with their values and they are living in accordance with their daimon, their true self. In this regard, the conceptual definition of eudaimonic well-being refers to the quality of life that is derived from the development and realization of a person’s inner potential through expressive and self-concordant goals (Waterman 2008, 2007; Waterman, Schwartz, & Conti, 2008).
Categories defining eudaimonic well-being as nomological for living a good life are mostly characterized, for example, by self-determination and meaningful engagement, and by personal growth with humanistic ideas of self-actualization (Waterman et al., 2010), social connectedness (Huta & Ryan, 2010; Ryan & Deci, 2000) and excellence (Annas, 2004).
Researchers (Huta & Waterman, 2014; Thorsteinsen & Vittersø, 2018; Tov, 2018; Waterman, 2007; Waterman et al., 2010) have described that eudaimonic activities are associated with opportunities to fulfil personal potentials, investing a great deal of effort, having clear goals and a high level of concentration, feeling stretched in one’s skills and abilities, striving for excellence, and knowing how well one is doing. This means optimal functioning and
identifying one’s potential strengths and limitations and choosing goals that provide personal meanings and purpose in life (Huta & Waterman, 2014; Waterman et al., 2010).
Consequently, the good life is a dynamic process that requires deeper cognitive reflection on the person’s own life (Henderson & Knight, 2012).
Wilcock (2006, 1998) has proposed that well-being-enhancing activities should be a synthesis of doing, being, and becoming. According to him, ‘doing’ refers to being involved in human nature and doing maintains and develops physical and mental capacities on which health is dependent – also acting as a means of successful aging, as Maidment and
Macfarlane (2011) have argued. In Wilcock’s (2006) synthesis ‘being’ refers to an
introspective or meditative contemplation on the self and ‘becoming’ to possibility, growth, and the ongoing evolution of personal identity. Hammel (2004) amplified the formulation by adding the concept of belonging among the three-part synthesis. Her description of belonging consists of connectedness, i.e., engagement with social interaction and connections; mutual support and reciprocity, i.e., a sense of being valued and socially included; and the ability and opportunity to contribute to others. Belonging also included elements of connectedness to nature, culture and ancestors, and doing with and for others (Hammel, 2014). Activities of
doing, being, becoming and belonging are seen to provide important preconditions for eudaimonic well-being (Wilcock, 2007).
Stebbins (2016) suggested that hedonic and eudaimonic features can also be found in the domains of leisure, based on the features of the individual’s engagement in leisure activities. According to Stebbins (2015), the serious leisure of the hobbyist, meaning the systematic pursuit of activity that is highly substantial, interesting and in which one can find a career in acquiring and expressing a combination of special skills, knowledge, and
experience, and social connections, fulfils the criteria of eudaimonically motivated activity.
These kinds of activities are challenging, expressive and based on the feelings of self- realization, self-efficacy and personal agency (Thorsteinsen & Vittersø, 2018; Waterman et al., 2008). Serious leisure activities may be simultaneously a source of pleasure and good feelings (hedonia), but more importantly they develop the participant’s skills, expand their knowledge, and increase their comprehensive sense of purpose and meaning in life (Anić, 2014; Stebbins, 2016). Boskovic and Jengic (2008) reasoned that eudaimonia has
connotations of ‘success’ and thereby it is possible to understand that ‘living well’ also means
‘doing well’ with respect to good living and achieving personal satisfaction and happiness.
Research methodology
Participants and data collection
This qualitative study is part of a larger study based on written narratives as personal experiences (Riessman, 2005) of craft making. The first-person narratives were responses to a loosely formulated and open-ended request to write about craft making which was published in one regional newspaper in all 19 provinces in Finland. Thus, the recruitment of the participants was self-selected by opting to send a narrative. The craft makers were asked to write down their thoughts and experiences about the meanings of craft making in their life course. They were asked to describe, for example, what kind of crafts they make, where and when they craft, as well as why they have chosen such crafts. They were
also asked to describe if this activity had increased their well-being, how and in which circumstances.
Thus, the perspective was not supposed to be in life course reflection, but the writers were supposed to describe freely their crafting experiences across their lives. The participants were asked to include their demographics, at least their age, location, and occupation, in the narratives they submitted. The narratives also revealed other background information, such as the family form, when describing the participants’ crafting as a part of their lives.
As a result of this high circulation, we received 800 narratives both as letters and e- mails from different parts of the country, from different ages of crafters, on different forms of crafting, and from both men and women. Based on the number of narratives and initial
reading of them, we decided to select certain perspectives for further analysis and to focus first on the textile crafts under investigation (Kenning, 2015). Textile crafts are, in practice, a popular leisure activity (Statistics Finland, 2015) and were also most often mentioned as a source of well-being in the data corpus. The narratives examined in this study were therefore chosen as follows: Firstly, we randomly picked 200 narratives from the data corpus and then selected a discrete data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of female textile crafters’ texts. The content analysis of the texts emphasized “what” was said more than “how” it is said
(Riessman, 2005) and facilitated inclusion of those narratives in which women had engaged in textile crafts as a leisure activity and had described in depth both their textile craft-related experiences and well-being on a personal level.
These female craft makers’ narratives were included in the data set because they were many-layered and detailed descriptions of crafting and well-being. Thus, in this study all men’s texts and those texts that dealt with the writer’s life course and well-being without reflections on textile crafts or those that discussed general well-being and lists of crafted objects were excluded.
Finally, the written narratives of 65 female textile crafters were used as the data for this study. The ages of the participants ranged from 31 to 88 years: 77% were between age 40 and 50, with an average age of 49 years. The participants lived in different parts of urban and rural Finland across a considerable geographical area. The participants represented a variety of occupations, but none worked professionally in the field of crafts; participants over age 65 were retired. The participants had children of different ages and represented a variety of family forms.
As a whole, the data consisted of 161 pages of written text (New Times Roman 12 font with single line spacing). Although the selected narratives varied in length, they provided rich and thick descriptions (Fusch & Ness, 2015) of the participants’ unique experiences with multiple perspectives and meanings that crafting held in their lives (Moen, 2006). These narratives were written in the form of personal stories about the participants’ experiences of their interpreted worlds, gathering together diverse events and actions and their interpretations and feelings about their lives and crafting as narratives (see Moen, 2006). Relatedly, the participants themselves called crafting a personally meaningful serious leisure activity (see Stebbins, 2015).
Frequently, the end of the story remained open in the narratives. Such a story may, at first glance, appear fragmented, yet a fragmented story with thin descriptions often conveys a more ‘dense experience’ than an end-to-end story (Hyvärinen, 2006). This kind of
experientiality is the most important characteristic of the narratives: it describes the individual’s way of structuring the world and their own place in it (Moen, 2006). Several narratives covered the author's entire life span from their earliest craft making memories and described the path of their own craftsmanship including both positive and negative life experiences. The narratives also included some narration about the future – major life goals, dreams, and plans (Bauer, McAdams, & Pals, 2008), but also fears of losing the opportunity
to craft. Thereby, as Bauer et al. (2008) noted, written data can help researchers understand participants’ feelings, thoughts, memories, and plans in greater depth than the writers may themselves have initially been aware.
Regarding sample saturation, we based our data collection on the understanding that in qualitative studies the aim should be to reach a point where the research question can be answered with sufficient confidence, and further data collection does not add anything new to the overall story (Fusch & Ness, 2015). Thereby, a priori thematic saturation was identified in the degree of themes that were exemplified in the data and data saturation in the degree of the repetition in relation to the previous literature (Saunders et al., 2018). However, it is obvious that another data cropping, as well as different assignment and context, would have resulted in a different kind of data (Moen, 2006).
Analysis and interpretation
The data in this study were analysed using qualitative content analysis and a hermeneutic approach as its methodological basis (Mayring, 2014). The narratives were chosen for the study because the participants had described in depth both well-being and textile crafts in their texts. In practice, we read the data in a circular way in order to comprehend the meaning of the parts, to reveal the whole.
In the first step of the analysis, each narrative was read in order to become familiar with the experiences of each participant and to develop a profile of her crafting. This
involved displaying data, analysing written phrases as open-ended dialogue, finding themes, and interpreting relevant items. That is, we studied both what the participants wrote about textile crafts as a leisure activity and how they described it as a well-being-enhancing element. This thematic analysis was a search for certain themes across the entire data set in
relation to the research question (Braun & Clarke, 2006). After that, the text was re-read several times to identify shared meaning units and non-dominant ways of understanding.
After the preliminary step of making sense of the data, the analysis was continued with a theory-based approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This has proved to be useful when certain views, previous research findings, theories, or conceptual frameworks regarding the phenomenon of interest exist (Mayring, 2014). In this study, theory-driven reasoning allowed us more detailed analysis and deeper understanding of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006;
Bazeley, 2013). We drew on the pre-existing dimensions posed by the theory of eudaimonic well-being (Wilcock, 2007) and previous research findings on leisure activities (Stebbins, 2016). Thereafter, the analysis helped us see between the lines and beyond explicit, self- explanatory phrases to grasp what the story really meant to say. With this analysis approach, theory typically emerges from repeated reviewing and classification of the raw data, and, therefore, the final analysis and the interpretation of the results could be derived by merging the data with theory-driven reasoning only at the end of analysis (Bazeley, 2013). Meanings attributed to crafting (themes) were categorized using Wilcock’s (2007) four-dimensional model of doing, belonging, becoming and being as seen in Table 1. Finally, a typology of narratives was organised as the typical representational strategy, vignettes providing illustration. Also, privacy-honoured quotations were selected to illustrate the interpretation of vignettes.
[Table 1 near here]
The dimensions were not completely separate from each other, but each had their own unique characteristics (Bazeley, 2013). The key differences were in why the participant was making textile crafts and what kind of well-being was emphasized in that narrative. The dimension of being was the most general with introspective reflections and therefore could
also serve as an upper concept of being human. However, it could also be separated from others for meditative reflections of the self and the descriptions of relaxing and the corporeality of lived moments with crafts.
The dimensions helped us identify how the participants’ crafting habits differed from each other, while also summing up the most important elements of craft as a well-being- enhancing leisure activity. As a result, the narratives could be typified with typical characteristics and meanings of crafting. This kind of typification by means of narrative identity (Bauer et al., 2008) deepened the understanding of the phenomenon and helped generalize the data into illustrative types to describe crafts as a meaningful serious leisure activity. Thereby, the stories of Rose, Ann, Mary and Sheila are not authentic narratives of individuals, but composites of describing well-being-enhancing craft making and the meanings of handcrafting to the maker. In the final step, we tested and retested the final findings against the data in a rigorous cycle of analysis. Thus, the narratives were read again in relation to the craft makers’ life context to verify these dimensions.
The eudaimonic well-being embodying dimensions of handcrafting were identified through critical reading of the descriptions and discovering the unifying factors of the
narratives. We recognize that the sample was self-selected; however, the sample was elicited by a method that has been proven by other qualitative researchers in pursuit of participants who are the best experts in the matter at hand (e.g., Reynolds, 1997). We should also take into account that narratives may contain bias because memory is always selective and the participants may overstate their experiences (Edwards & Ribbens, 1998). Finally, the results of this study are an interpretation of interpretations (Riessman, 2005), which means that the details of the narratives affect the whole, and the whole affects the interpretation of the details. However, although the present study’s findings are not transferable to other contexts
or to all craft makers, they do provide valuable general information on the meanings of textile crafts as a leisure activity (Blom & Nygren, 2010).
Results
The aim of this study was to examine how textile crafts are described as a psychological well- being-enhancing leisure activity in the female textile craft makers’ narratives. More
concretely, we depict how the eudaimonic intrinsic needs of doing, belonging, becoming, and being are expressed in crafting. The findings are presented in the following illustrative
crafting stories describing eudaimonic well-being: Rose, who is crafting an active life (doing); Ann, for whom crafting builds interpersonal relationships (belonging); Mary, for whom crafting implies self-empowerment (becoming), and Sheila, who is crafting her own space (being).
Doing: Rose, crafting an active life
Rose recounts that she was born in the country into a large family. She remembers how her mother, aunts and grandmothers handcrafted every day. They clothed the family members with self-made clothes and made other usable items. To get yarn they grew flax and sheared wool from their own sheep; the women spun, weaved, knitted and sewed. Living was frugal, and it was cheaper to do everything yourself. Therefore, crafts were an integral part of everyday life and children learned from an early age to do useful work. Rose described that she was nine years old when her mother taught her to knit – and she has been knitting socks for her family ever since.
As a young girl, Rose sewed almost all of her own clothes and also made them for her siblings and friends. Handcrafting with her friends was enjoyable but also a well-organized and beneficial use of time. When she later married, she made clothes for her husband and
children. She was proud of the self-made and economical products that she made for her home and her family. Apart from saving money, her active craft making was, first and foremost, something she had an internal need for. She described how crafting gave her meaning and purpose, how she fulfilled herself by making something sustainable and visible.
During her working years Rose handcrafted as much as she could – both for her own well-being and to meet the need for various everyday items. She has never had leisure time problems: crafting has always been a part of her life. Today, after her retirement, handicrafts are part of everyday life and give structure to the day; they are a joy, but also an organizer, providing daily rhythm. She always has some sort of craft work on the go, and when it is nearly ready, she already starts planning the next one. She is proud of her ability and recognizes that she is a skilled and productive crafter mastering several challenging
techniques, such as embroidery, lace making, weaving, sewing clothes and toys, crocheting, and knitting. She usually works alone but has learned some useful techniques from local adult education courses and church groups. Now in her later years, Rose also sees crafting as an activity that preserves her memory and skills through active making and problem solving.
Today, Rose continues a three-generation tradition of crafting, and her daughters are also skilled crafters. Regrettably, she has noticed that young people no longer have the patience to learn skills that take time and concentration, like handicraft. Today, crafters can get hold of materials much more easily than in the past; shops and flea markets are full of useful things, but Rose does not always need to buy her crafting materials. She never throws anything away without considering what could be made from it. Thus, over the years her crafting has also had a positive environmental impact: materials have always been used up and nothing useful thrown away. She does not understand over-consumption or the
production of short-lived items, so she repairs, reuses and upcycles used items, such as old
garments. She hopes to keep on making sustainable, good-quality craft items for as long as she is able.
The analysis revealed that craft makers like Rose perceive craft making as a self- evident necessity fulfilling a human need, not only as a pleasant and meaningful part of everyday life bringing joy and psychological well-being, but also producing concrete and economical products for the home and family. Previously, making functional products by hand served in part to save money, but with older age craft making was willingly embraced as a basis for human activity and to preserve physical and mental function. Common to these craft makers was that they had grown up among skilled family members in rural areas where craft culture was part of everyday living and domestic activity. However, the women’s crafting practices had changed over the years along with changes in their living conditions and family circumstances: whereas previously they had to craft needed artefacts, today they could make whatever they wished, also just for pleasure. Crafting meant living sustainably, however these counter-consumerist practices led to creative self-expressive design processes requiring skilfulness. Thus, the crafted objects were concrete forms of personal expression and mastery.
I think my life has been just crafting. This has been my dearest hobby, like work. I have been making all kind of crafts, every day, sometimes also at night… It’s fun to use different existing materials; not everything needs to be bought at store. (N 101, 84 yrs)
Belonging: Ann, crafting interpersonal relationships
Crafting is a great passion for Ann, who gets the most enjoyment from delighting others with her crafted products. Ann learned crafting from her mother and from her childhood nanny.
Ann made clothes for her own children when they were small. Over the years, she has also taught her children and neighbours to knit.
Now, as a grandmother she considers it an honour to pass down the skills taught to her. The handicrafts made by her mother are beloved treasures to her and she hopes that her children and grandchildren will also appreciate them when she leaves them to them. The different handmade items convey all kinds of memories and associations for her. For
instance, she depicted affectionately how a neighbour had made a christening robe from tulle and cotton cloth with pink silk ribbons when she was born, her own daughter also wore it when she was baptized and, most recently, the dress was used again when her daughter had her baby. Three generations have now been baptized in the christening robe and Ann’s daughter-in-law has promised to save it for her own children. Ann was relieved – the robe will be used and also saved as a memento connecting the past, present and future.
Ann is an active participant in group-based craft activities, such as adult education courses and charity work, where she feels she belongs to a group of likeminded craft makers where everyone understands the personal need for crafting, have common interests and topics of conversation, and willingly share their ideas and knowledge with each other. Nowadays she still crafts for other people, including her grandchildren for who she has knitted and sewn toys and party dresses. She feels that hand-crafted decorations and ornaments create a
pleasant home atmosphere and tie family members together; they make the house a home, giving sense to the lives of those who live there. Ann prefers to give self-made gifts and considers conventional purchased products impersonal. Ann sees making self-made crafted objects as a way of fostering friendships and passing important traditions on to future generations. She uses various craft magazines and online guidelines when making products for loved ones according to their wishes. She also knits actively for charity and missionary work, for example, children’s coats for developing countries or stockings for homeless
people. Her written account demonstrates that good will toward others promotes meaningfulness and well-being.
The analysis showed that for crafters like Ann, crafting self-made and time- demanding artefacts were personalized reminders of the maker and visible evidence of kinship and love that strengthened intergenerational affiliation and cohesion. Crafts provided opportunities to pursue personal values and family traditions, providing a sense of continuity.
Self-made gifts conveyed familial warmth and a tangible form of care as a demonstration of the ethics of mothering. Although crafting took time, it contributed to the well-being of the entire family. For Ann, crafted objects conveyed love, memories and life histories. The narratives showed crafting to be tied to social activity, and that this imparted a sense of meaning and purpose throughout life. Crafting provided opportunities to be socially active, share common interests, and nurture interaction and social connectedness between group members. The group identified itself with a particular domain of crafting, but their discourse was not limited to craft work. Clearly, mutual aid in a collective atmosphere nurtured feelings of togetherness. Crafting thus improved the quality of life of the crafters, in addition to which altruistic attitudes were also evident in expressions of compassion and concern for the
welfare of others. Crafts with collaborative meanings gave existential well-being outcomes with feelings of belongingness spanning generations and cultures.
Last Christmas, my granddaughter made her first item for her mother with me. The granddaughter experienced something unique, the happiness of giving a loved one a self-made gift. My daughter was moved to tears… At the moment, all three
generations received a gift from each other that cannot be taken away and would not disappear over the years. (N 98, 59 yrs)
Becoming: Mary, crafting self-empowerment
Mary described how crafting has supported her and helped her to empower herself. She normally works alone with her own thoughts and according to her own wishes. When she started crafting as a novice, she took on the challenge of sewing a large embroidered
patchwork quilt in the midst of a life crisis. It was a new beginning, and crafting continues to be a source of support for her day to day.
Mary explained that as a younger person she was shy and unsure of herself and that, during the worst times, she did not know who she really was. Crafting, at first, gave her a purpose and a sense of meaning. Then, stitch by stitch, she gained a sense of capability as the work advanced. She wrote that during those worst days she transferred the perseverance needed for the embroidery to her own life. Mary also noticed how her difficult life situation also inspired her to take on more and more challenging craft projects. Crafting provided an opportunity to undertake new challenges, try new techniques and materials and fix errors. She describes how these hidden, often unpractical or inefficient moments had allowed space for her own thoughts and, furthermore, that through this process of coping, she came to realize that she can order her own life. Nowadays, she has gained courage to challenge herself and developed skills transferrable to other areas of life.
Mary profiles herself as a passionate handcrafter who enjoys learning new techniques and the feeling of creative flow through crafting. She describes her greatest fear as no longer being able to do crafts. Sewing is a particular passion for Mary. She has begun to sew clothes for herself and considers that craft has helped her to find herself as well as good looking, well-fitting, personal clothes. Sewing brought her self-confidence and a new identity. She describes how the responsibility for the majority of working processes in crafts and the sense of competence gained by achieving self-set goals, as well as feedback on her talent, have been the most important sources of satisfaction.
Mary has found an important forum of similar thinkers online and mastering new tools and technologies has enabled her to photograph and blog about her projects. Virtual forums, networks and communities have helped her share ideas and thoughts and also search for podcasts to get new skills, crafting solutions and inspiration.
Like many others, Mary described crafting as a tool for self-reflection, self-acceptance and personal growth in a difficult life situation. Crafting helped generate hope and faith in the future, which strengthened her sense of autonomy. Crafting also nurtured the development of physical and cognitive skills and personal identities and helped her learn to cope with stressful life situations. Handicraft and reflection on life events and identities are intertwined
throughout the narratives. The analysis reveals how making by hand and continuous learning increased the crafters’ sense of capability and positive thinking through experiential ways of knowing. In difficult life situations, the crafters used the corporal act of doing crafts
unconsciously as a self-protection mechanism. Feelings of achievement faded out unpleasant realities, allowing the mind to begin, in small steps, to analyse the disordered state of affairs according to the capability of the ego. Producing physical products empowered the maker, concretizing their cognition and emotions in a tangible form. This type of knowing by doing through creative craft making led to narrative reflection and thereby allowed a greater understanding of oneself and one’s life. Success in crafting brought emotional relief and empowered the self to a higher or new plane. Concretely, it enabled the shaping of personal aims and estimation of their outcomes. The crafters described how expressiveness brought new perspectives on life, thereby helping them to handle difficult life situations, as well as, in due course, optimism and ingredients for narrative reconstruction, leading, in some cases, to personal transformation. For many of the craft makers, techno-cultural development has enabled new ways of exploring and implementing crafting as a mix of personal and networked social activity.
It is nice to create something beautiful – unique and well-fitting garments. Something self-made and unique that cannot be bought at a store – it makes me feel good… I have learned to trust myself, to be confident. (N 24, 40 yrs)
Being: Sheila, crafting her own space
According to Sheila, craft was an important part of her well-being; she could not live without crafting. It was her own realm and one of her greatest pleasures in life. Crafting meant time for herself with her own hopes, aims and thoughts. She described how bodily engagement helps her concentrate on only one thing in the moment and forget everything else.
She began crafting after graduating and the birth of her children, using ready-made instructions and templates. She found these projects easy to start and continue with. More important than the artefacts produced was the realization that the concrete act of making and experiential knowing-by-doing enhanced her personal growth. She noticed that crafting calmed her and helped her better understand life and relationships. Crafting also eased her concerns about her income, health and family. As a result, she was more understanding, wise, and patient as a mother and spouse.
Nowadays, craft making mostly means recreation and relaxation to Sheila – a
departure from her demanding, knowledge-based career, in which she always felt a sense of incompletion of her work at the end of each day; and, of course, at home there were always the household chores demanding her continuous time and attention. She found crafting a manageable and easily handled activity, even when she felt tired, weary, angry or stressed.
She forgot her negative feelings when she was knitting or embroidering. She describes how the mind relaxes during the rhythmic and sensory act of crafting, and how sometimes she would release her emotions through dense, fast-paced knitting.
Sheila has several projects ongoing and always new ideas for crafting. She does routine craftwork to help her slow down, but also relishes new challenges that demand her complete attention, where she can lose all sense of space and time. She thus uses crafting both to relax and also for stimulation and mind-refreshing inspiration, for example, by learning new techniques. Most importantly, she was free to decide on her own terms what to make and how.
In the above narratives, crafting was conceptualized primarily as the maker’s own space or realm, especially during the years the children were young. Craft activities meant distraction from worries and unpleasant thoughts as well as relief from timetables, rush, and duties, giving a sense of control and privacy – autonomy and a departure from psychological discomfort. Personal free time was the most important factor for stay-at-home mothers and women employed outside the home in demanding jobs. As a counterweight to other life demands, crafting brought a balance between challenge and accessibility, with continuous problem solving and design and immediately visible outputs. The experience of flow achieved through crafting was described as meditative contemplation of the self and being fully engaged in the embodied act of making. Thus, crafts offered controllable opportunities to make something easily manageable over a short duration or something creative that resulted in a mental state of flow. The different crafts were described by the women as recreation activities that equipped them with resources that supported their roles as provider and employee. Thereby, craft as recreation was a coping strategy that helped them focus on themselves and break free from other roles and pressures. The analysis shows crafting as a form of self-care, bringing a sense of self-determination and allowing the crafter to organize their thoughts and feelings.
I do crafts, first and foremost, because I forget everything else – crafting is my realm.
I have stressful times, but I can concentrate on crafting when I come home. Crafting
gives a concrete idea of the progress of my own work, of my own success, whereas work and other duties are not so tangible. Making with my hands gives my brain a chance to relax and recover in silence. (N 24, 35 yrs)
Discussion
Theoretical implications
According to Whiting and Hannam (2015), leisure practices are mostly viewed as passive leisure consumption. Also, the links between creativity, self-expression and leisure are unnoticed and underexplored within leisure literature (Kenning, 2015). Crafting as a creative leisure activity has been connected to well-being (e.g., Pöllänen, 2015a, b; Burt & Atkinson, 2012; Collier, 2011; Collier & Wayment, 2017; Corkhill et al., 2014; Gandolfo & Grace, 2010; Gauntlett, 2011; Riley et al., 2013), but there has not been research focusing on textile crafts and psychological well-being. Through qualitative study, the findings of this study provide a clear picture of crafting as an active and long-term basis leisure activity that can enhance the craft maker’s well-being. To gain a deeper understanding of those psychological well-being-enhancing elements of textile crafts, this study has opened the dimensions of eudaimonic well-being.The findings show that the focus in textile crafts was not on short- term hedonistic satisfaction but, above all, on crafting eudaimonic well-being (Wilcock, 2007). Crafting was a continuous process of setting personal aims, controlling the external conditions and completing the process successfully (Pöllänen, 2015a; Bailey & Fernando, 2012; Genoe & Liechty, 2017). Participants had a clear sense of identity in relation to their activity through personal expressiveness and competence (Lamont & Ranaweera, 2019).
They themselves described crafting as a serious leisure (Stebbins, 2015) that helped them fulfil personal potential by investing effort and concentration towards achieving clear goals in a way that stretched the participants’ skills and abilities to strive for excellence and personal
development (e.g., Pöllänen, 2015a; Corkhill, et al., 2014; Genoe & Liechty, 2017; Maidment
& Macfarlane, 2011).
As Genoe and Liechty (2017) have stated, also the results of this study showed how creative leisure activities can provide a social and physical space to try new things, explore different aspects of themselves, give and get advice, share successes and failures and gain skills and confidence. More importantly, crafting increased self-efficacy and personal agency through embodied interaction with the material world. These notions show the ongoing value of crafting in all stages of life and into old age in order to promote well-being and impart a sense of meaning and purpose (Burt & Atkinson, 2012; Gandolfo & Grace, 2010; Kenning, 2015; Maidment & Macfarlane, 2011). Thereby, the findings of this study gave indications that crafts may be instrumental in helping contribute to a person’s sense of self and identity, to undergo challenges, and to structure one’s own place in the word (Collier, 2011; Genoe &
Liechty, 2017), and to achieve balance by attaching to crafting lived experiences, own history, genre, generations, and traditions (e.g., Burke & Spencer-Wood, 2019; Gauntlett, 2011; Grace & Gandolfo, 2014; Kenning, 2015; Lamont & Ranaweera, 2019; Riley, 2008).
This extends the leisure and well-being literature, in particular Stebbins’ (2016, 2015) and Wilcock’s (2007) work, by increasing understanding on textile crafts and by opening the dimensions of eudaimonic well-being from the perspective of creative and self-expressive leisure practices.
Practical implications
Because there is a wide interest in crafts (von Busch, 2013; Statistic Finland 2015), education organizations have every year several courses on hobby-based handicrafts. However, there is no concrete implication to offer craft-based courses and programmes as a therapeutic tool to improve a participant’s well-being. As noted (e.g., Bailey & Fernando, 2012; Bittman &
Wajcman, 2000; Stebbins, 2016, 2015; Warner-Smith & Brown, 2002), leisure activities bring direct health benefits, they provide social connections, develop skills and contribute to the person’s own cultural identity, as well as that of their community. Thereby, textile crafts as a concrete embodied interaction with the material world can enhance a person’s own well- being, but also community cohesion by programmes targeted at individuals experiencing stressful events (Kenning, 2015). Those programmes can also be designed, managed and emphasized more intentionally to rebalance participants’ well-being as needed.
Because crafts, like other leisure practices (Whiting & Hannam, 2015), are mainly seen as short-term and entertainment-based hobbies, the findings of this study may provide implications for policy makers and professionals in the discussion of the validity of crafts while enhancing well-being. Professionals may also take into account the dimensions of eudaimonic well-being in crafts while designing meaningful courses and activities in adult education, in social services as well as at different levels of education, such as teacher education and in leisure and occupational therapy training. In this regard, the findings of this study may have practical implications also on individual, group, community and societal levels.
Conclusion
This study shows that craft as a creative and expressive leisure can enhance multiple
resources for crafters in different situations throughout life. Craft activities as material culture go beyond the instantaneous and hedonic pleasure to sustain psychological well-being and build a good life on a long-term basis (Burke & Spencer-Wood, 2019; Waterman et al., 2008). Thus, craft-based leisure as an embodied interaction with a craft material (Grace &
Gandolfo, 2014; Jackson, 2010) should be valued as a platform for mastery, empowerment, community, and recreation that can help a person learn about them self and life and reduce
the potential negative experiences and outcomes of the different roles in work and family through all stages of life (Genoe & Liechty, 2017; Kenning, 2015; Lamont & Ranaweera, 2019; Maidment & Mcfarlane, 2011; Orton-Johnson, 2014; Riley et al., 2013; Stalp, 2006).
The female textile craft makers in this study were crafting a richer and more purposeful life through self-actualization and excellence in doing, social connectedness in belonging, self- empowerment in becoming and relief from stress in being.
However, further research is needed to gain a deeper understanding of the sense of making and meaning making in individuals’ everyday lives. Finally, the research results indicate that there is a need for further research on the meanings of craft-based leisure activities as face-to-face and virtual community meetings and as a resource of individual and community well-being.
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Table 1. Dimensions of doing, belonging, becoming, and being
Themes Dimensions
- activity; engagement in doing, preserving physical and mental function
- crafts as an element of everyday life; sustainable crafts through mastery
Doing
- crafting as a link between past, present and future - social meaning of crafts; developing and maintaining
connections with others
Belonging
- crafts as self-care, empowering - growth
- learning new things
Becoming
- crafting as a way of being human - the pleasure of crafts, relaxing
- corporeality, meditative contemplation of the self
Being
