The art of storytelling through textiles, exploring the many ways in which narrative can be expressed through cloth and needle.

Strange Material explores the relationship between handmade textiles and storytelling. Through text, the act of weaving a tale or dropping a thread takes on new meaning for those who previously have seen textiles--quilts, blankets, articles of clothing, and more--only as functional objects. This book showcases crafters who take storytelling off the page and into the mediums of batik, stitching, dyeing, fabric painting, knitting, crochet, and weaving, creating objects that bear their messages proudly, from personal memoir and cultural fables to pictorial histories and wearable fictions.

Full-colour throughout, the book includes chapters on various aspects of textile storytelling, from "Textiles of Protest, Politics, and Power" to "The Fabric of Remembrance"; it spotlights well-known projects, such as the profoundly moving Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, as well as unique undertakings such as Climbing PoeTree's S.T.I.T.C.H.E.D, Mark Newport's Knitted Superheroes, Tracy Widdess's Knitted Monsters, as well as poetry blankets and stitched travel diaries. Offbeat, poetic, and subversive, Strange Material will inspire readers to re-imagine the possibilities of creating through needle and fabric.

Leanne Prain is the co-author (with Mandy Moore) of Yarn Bombing (2009), now in its third printing, and the author of Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery (2011). Her third book, Strange Material: Storytelling through Textiles, will be published in fall 2014. She co-founded a stitch and bitch called Knitting and Beer in order to expand her skills while knitting at the pub. A professional graphic designer, Leanne holds degrees in creative writing, art history, and publishing. She lives and knits in Vancouver.

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This book is full of history and possibilities. It will prompt your own projects and even has templates for creating an 'Amelia mobile' out of felt, to play with the memory of groundbreaking pilot Amelia Earhart. -Herizons

Prain reminds us that the stories which fill our lives are not only spoken and written, but they are also made by hand and thread. These material stories are no less meaningful but they can suffer from under-acknowledgement. Perhaps they are so imbedded in daily life that they are easy to overlook? Whatever the reason, this book reminds us of the sheer variety of stories - new and old - told through textiles. -Jessica Hemmings, editor of In the Loop: Knitting Now

We all know that stories matter, and how their meanings intertwine with the material. But Leanne Prain's cunning and useful book has much more to say: We hear directly from a fascinating array of highly original creators whose handmade work expresses narratives, ideas, politics, humor, imagination, and memory. Even better, Prain prompts -- or invites -- the rest of us to participate, with intellectual nudges and practical projects designed to convert reader to storyteller. Edifying ... and inspirational. -Rob Walker, co-founder of SignificantObjects.com and Unconsumption.tumblr.com

Whether the artists are being irreverent, capturing memories, speaking truths, creating political tools or building community, Strange Material makes a strong case that some stories are best told through craft. -Rabble.ca

The book strikes a balance in proposing a strategy and then providing a framework to use in thinking about the role of narrative in art. -Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot