Crocheting, knitting, embroidery: Here’s why Gen Zs are getting ‘crafty’

IT cannot be denied that when people hear the words crocheting, knitting, and embroidery, they often think that those are hobbies that only old people — specifically grandmothers — would do.

These three needleworks were introduced to Filipinos a hundred years ago. Crocheting and embroidering was brought to the country during the Spanish colonization, while knitting was said to have originated from the Middle East before it was introduced in Spain.

Crocheting, knitting, and embroidering may be old crafts, but people today no longer associate them with their elders only. In fact, these three activities are among the hottest trends now, even among the Gen Zs.

But why are these needleworks making a buzz among the new generation?

A unique, interesting hobby

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many Filipinos to stay at home, as establishments were closed down and mobility was restricted.

Many were looking for something to be busy with, and 19-year-old college student Coleen Morales discovered crocheting.

Morales shared with republicasia that she got interested in crocheting when she saw her close friends making their own clothes using only yarn and a hook.

“I found it very appealing to learn how to make my own clothes. That really interested me, I didn’t think it was possible,” she said.

She continued, “I didn’t think it was something people could do from their homes, so that’s why I started investigating like ‘Oh, what is crochet? How do I do this?’”

Similar to Morales, 23-year-old full-time crocheter Jubilee Hidalgo was inspired by the works of a local crocheter named Cloudy Daydream, who she saw on social media. 

Hidalgo said she instantly fell in love with Cloudy Daydream’s crocheted products, which she found “fresh, comfy, dreamy, and cute.”

“I told myself, I’d like to make my own handmade brand and cute pieces as well,” she said.

Hidalgo is also a fan of knitted clothing, and she tried her hand at the activity after she saw the design of another knitter named Kara on Instagram.

“Naging curious ako kung paano nila ginawa yung mga knitted item. So, nagresearch ako and nung nalaman ko na yung process, that’s [when] my interest in knitting sparked,” she recalled.

Reis Luke Aquino, 30, has been interested in knitting and crocheting since he was seven years old. It was his mom that taught him how to do the needlework.

“She taught me how to use my hands with crochet and knitting just so I can get off her back because my mom was then a housewife,” he told republicasia.

Before, knitting was only a pastime for Aquino so that his mom could do other important things in the house. But the activity eventually grew on him and he started collecting magazines that have knitting patterns.

From making simple hats, Aquino improved his knitting skills in 2019 by learning how to make clothes.

“That’s when I decided to make a sweater, I was so interested in knitting a sweater so I delved more into knitting,” he said.

Discovering embroidery

Michelle Fontanilla, 26, has been into arts and crafts since she was a kid. 

As someone who likes to paint, Fontanilla took up a Fine Arts degree in college and was taught to work with a wide range of art mediums, forms, and techniques. But Fontanilla did not stop learning about art in school.

The 26-year-old artist began exploring embroidery when she saw her cousin’s embroidered works on social media. 

But she didn’t want to produce ordinary designs.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why not combine my new found skill and my painting skills?’” she said.

Crocheting, knitting, and embroidery become popular among the new generation because the products of these needleworks are in touch with the trends and their personal styles.

A variety of items can be made through crocheting and knitting. From curtains, blankets, and table mats, the members of the new generation have turned to producing unique designs for clothes and hats, bags, lanyards, and even kitschy accessories like key chains, trinkets, and amigurumi or crocheted stuffed toys.

Fontanilla’s works, on the other hand, show that embroidery is not just for clothing, but it can also be incorporated in other forms of art like painting.

A breather, medium for creativity

Aside from creating unique and modern crafts, these needleworks have become a way for the new generation to take a break from the world.

“Young people are taking interest in crocheting/knitting mainly because it helped most of them overcome stress and anxiety amidst the pandemic,” Hidalgo said.

Embroidery has also been a way to detox from technology, Fontanilla said.

“If I want to stop using my phone and not spend hours scrolling through my social media, I create art,” she said.

Knitting is a big help to individuals who want to slow things down, according to Aquino.

“This is one of the reasons I believe that people are coming to handicrafts, and a big benefit to that is also for their mental health also because doing something repetitive allows your mind to wonder,” he said. 

Knitting can be like meditation because it is a repetitive movement, but one that produces something beautiful in the end, he said. 

For Morales, such needleworks allow people to hone their creativity.

“Personally, I was not a very artistic person, but then with crochet, I really learned to kind of put my ideas into actions,” she said.

Crocheting has pushed her to become creative and innovative with fashion pieces that she designs, she said. 

A source of income

But crocheting, knitting, and embroidery are not just pastimes for Aquino, Fontanilla, Hidalgo, and Morales. These crafts have also become a source of income for them. 

Embroidery has become a huge help to Fontanilla, especially when she had no work during the pandemic. Up to this day, it has been helping her with her finances.

Aquino, on the other hand, did not initially think of making money out of his knitting skills. 

He made a Facebook page named Crafty Lukas in 2020 to serve as a journal and a tracker of his monthly knitting projects. But when he started posting his works, some netizens became interested in his designs, which is why he began selling knitted patterns to them.

Morales opened a TikTok account to serve only as her dump account. But netizens began to notice her when one of her crocheted items, a bucket hat, went viral on the video sharing platform just two months after she opened her account.

“Because that TikTok went viral, a lot of people wanted me to make this specific bucket hat, and they were strangers that I didn’t know [how] they found me through TikTok,” she said.

“I was actually able to grow more with a lot of customers from there,” she continued.

Hidalgo, meanwhile, opened a social media account for a different purpose. She established an online store to offer “ethical and sustainable fashion.”

She wanted to promote slow sustainable fashion because fast fashion could have adverse effects on the environment, she said.

“Fast fashion consumes one tenth of water to run factories and clean products. And it also uses synthetic materials which cause plastic microfibers that harm our marine ecosystems. We all know that plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade,” she said.

“Kapag out of style na ang mga damit, there’s a great proportion of our population, they opt to throw it in landfills than to donate them,” she added.

She hopes to use her brand not just to promote unique pieces, but also to help consumers to make a “sustainable decision.”

Artists dedicate a lot of their time and effort to making their hand-crafted works. 

When people purchase these creations, they’re not just paying for the actual items, but also the skill, dedication, and time that these artists put into their works.