Atlanta has been bursting at the seams with rich textile stories and communities. Not many people may know about the ever-changing and deeply historical fiber arts community in Atlanta, but it has been a covert textile hub.
Beginning back in the 19th century, Georgia has been a leader in textile production. Georgia was a massive producer of cotton.
In many cotton plantations, there were loom houses where enslaved women were trained to produce fabrics. Almost all rural women in Georgia did fiber arts. They weaved clothes, handspun and dyed wool. Tench Coxe’s “Statement of the Arts and Manufactures,” published in 1810, reported 20,058 spinning wheels and 13,290 looms in operation in Georgia. In Georgia, hand-weaving was traditionally considered a domestic craft, rather than the art form it is today.
In the late 19th century, the technique of handtufting was revived in Dalton, Georgia. This technique was used to make widely popular chenille bedspreads. These bedspreads made their way to stores in many cities, including Atlanta. Dalton’s economy now relies on textiles. This is just a microcosm of fiber arts in Georgia.
One fiber art the area is particularly known for is quilting. During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 397 quilts were made as gifts for each participating country. Several quilters from across Georgia, including quilters from Athens, Eatonton, and Griffin, made these quilts. Today, organizations like the Brown Sugar Stitchers Guild continue the unique and rich legacy of quilting. Fiber Parts is a local craft shop that offers fiber arts classes, locally sourced fibers, and a variety of other supplies.
Jaime Rosegren is the owner and founder of Fiber Parts. She said, “Atlanta is such a big little city that you will inevitably connect with folks that know others in your circle. I think this is what makes the art and fiber art community so vibrant here,” she added, “I honestly don’t know. I have never found the I’ve built here in Atlanta; in any other place I’ve lived.”
Southeastern Fiber Arts Alliance is one of the only organizations of its kind. They offer classes, preserve, and showcase fiber arts. They are headquartered in Chamblee, Georgia. Suzi Gough is the former executive director of SEFAA.
When asked what place she thought fiber arts had in Atlanta’s culture, Gough said, “Not so much commercial, but we have a huge artisan community of quilters.” Gough mentions the embroidery society as an example, “ But I did find a report… called Lost Weavings,” Gough adds. The report highlights weavings made for Atlanta office buildings between 1970 and 2000. These were quite popular in the 70s, but many were removed and forgotten about once the building was remodeled or sold. “No one knows what happened to them,” Gough says.
Weaving might have had its time in the sun, but now crochet is trending, with over 260 million posts on TikTok featuring the hashtag #crochet. Crochet first gained popularity on TikTok during the pandemic, when many people sought new hobbies to keep them occupied.
Marleigh Robinson, a teen fiber artist from Westlake High School, became interested in the art form in 2020. “I started fiber arts around the pandemic time when I had nothing better to do and I was at home” Adding, “I definitely think social media has influenced my decision, at the time social media was my only point of social contact because we were in a pandemic so I saw people crocheting little animals all type of stuff like I could do that… and even to this day I get my ideas from social media.”
“I really do think social media has made fiber arts more accessible in terms of finding inspo different projects to make and having tutorials and the basics of different fiber arts techniques,” says Londyn Wesley, another teen fiber artist, who also feels social media makes it easy to gain inspiration or project ideas. “There are so many people posting their tutorials or a pattern to something, or if you’re trying to make a tapestry, then a chart grid they made on a website, it’s just an endless amount of possibilities.”
Georgia not only has a long history of a thriving fiber arts community, but also boasts a university that has awarded the most Fiber Arts degrees of any university in the United States. The Savannah College of Art and Design has a highly regarded Fiber Arts program among all colleges and higher-learning institutions that award degrees in Fiber Arts. SCAD accounts for 31.8% of all degrees awarded. The Peachtree Handspinners Guild is a guild that specializes in teaching and creating a community for handspinners. There are many communities for fiber artists in Georgia.
While Atlanta’s rich textile history may still be unknown to many, numerous fiber artists help weave together the stories of fiber arts in Atlanta today.
