Elaine Lipson

The story of hemp textiles and clothing began thousands of years ago, and continued well into the 20th century. But in countries throughout the world, legal prohibitions on growing Cannabis sativa put an end to this ancient story and took hemp textiles and apparel out of the market for many decades.
Today, as regulations on hemp farming change to allow growing and processing of Cannabis sativa (with THC and cannabinoids under a threshold) as hemp, textiles and apparel are back on the radar th...

A former President and leader of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Alex White Plume’s historic decades-long fight to grow hemp is as deeply rooted in spiritual tradition as it is in economic development goals for his people.
By Elaine Lipson
Seeking to build a business on the Pine Ridge Reservation where he was born, Alex White Plume planted hemp on his family land in the year 2000 — a legal act under Oglala Sioux Tribe sovereignty. But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) saw it differently....

This report covers the international retail market for “green” and sustainable apparel. Sustainable apparel is a new, emerging market that includes clothing made from fabrics considered to be more environmentally safe and/or renewable than conventional textiles. Organic cotton is the most established of this family of fibers and fabrics, which also includes organic wool, organic linen, hemp, recycled polyester fleece, some silk, and fabrics made from bamboo, corn, and soy. New fabrics are in development by companies eager to enter this market.

Textile artists and collectors know well that the humblest bits of fabric can yield the most beautiful things in the hands of the right maker. It’s the essence of patchwork, boro, and other textile traditions born of both scarcity and reverence for cloth. This exquisite book explores new and inventive ways that industrial and pre-consumer textile waste and scraps are being used to transform this forgotten consequence of modern industrial textile production...

As a continuation our book review series about vintage embroidery books, we explore Design in Embroidery by Kathleen Whyte with contributing writer and textile artist Elaine Lipson. See previous posts on The Art of Embroidery by Françoise Tellier-Loumagne and Design for Artists and Craftsmen by Louis Wolchonok.

Today’s explosion of interest in stitching owes a lot to the last embroidery and needlework renaissance in the 1960s and 70s, when experimental forms of modern design began to be integ...

Consumer education piece written for Organic Valley Cooperative on the federal organic standards and what they mean, written when the standards were first released after years of industry, community, and citizen input.

An interview with sustainable fashion pioneer Natalie Chanin, author of Embroidery: Threads and Stories (Abrams, 2022).

A must-have for every concerned consumer, this comprehensive reference explains the important health and environmental benefits of organic foods. It details where to find and buy them on a budget, and how "organic" differs from other "eco-labels." It also provides key information about current legislative activity as well as a complete resource guide.

In the best tradition of folk artists, Jude Hill is a storyteller. Her textile work blends piecing, appliqué, kantha stitching, and embroidery into strong, organic whole cloths rich in imagery and revelation. The materials—raw fragments of fabric, always with a history—and the motions of repetitive hand stitching, are intimate and familiar; the concepts mythical, imaginative, evocative. Jude calls her work spirit cloth, and writes a blog under the same name that has brought her technique and ...

We continue our book review series with contributing writer and textile artist, Elaine Lipson, with a look at a classic design tome, Design for Artists and Craftsmen.

What can a funky old hardbound Dover book, written by a man born in the 19th century, teach us about modern design? First published in 1953 (and available used and in libraries today), Design for Artists and Craftsmen is a workbook of design exercises that will push your skills and imagination in unexpected ways. If you’re searc...

New yoga devotees often talk in mystical terms about discovering a remarkable sense of well-being and health. “Yoga is opening my energy channels,” they’ll say, or they’ll describe a sense of “being in the body.” Practitioners also credit yoga for alleviating back problems, menstrual difficulties, arthritis, or chronic pain they once thought would limit their lives forever. These anecdotes are real and meaningful—but do they translate into quantifiable health improvements or the kind of credible scientific research that members of the medical community accept?