Abstract
This paper investigates how textile-based practices can open alternative modes of inquiry into research material. Through an exploratory workshop, a multidisciplinary group of creative professionals and design researchers engaged with photo-elicitation data by embroidering directly onto photographs printed on fabric and wallpaper. This tactile and embodied engagement enabled a slower, more reflective encounter with the material, where meaning emerged through touch, rhythm, and collective making rather than systematic analysis. By lifting threads, piercing fabrics, and tracing stories through stitches, participants enacted a form of textile thinking: one that performs epistemologically through material interaction. This approach situates embroidery as a methodological and philosophical practice that intertwines making and knowing, contributing to ongoing discussion about the role of textiles in expanding design theory and critical inquiry.
Keywords
embroidery inquiry, tangible methods, participatory design, design theory
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.746
Citation
Strineholm, A., and Schaeffer, J. (2026) Lifting threads, piercing fabrics, and tracing stories through stitches: An embroidery inquiry into analysing empirical material, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.746
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Lifting threads, piercing fabrics, and tracing stories through stitches: An embroidery inquiry into analysing empirical material
This paper investigates how textile-based practices can open alternative modes of inquiry into research material. Through an exploratory workshop, a multidisciplinary group of creative professionals and design researchers engaged with photo-elicitation data by embroidering directly onto photographs printed on fabric and wallpaper. This tactile and embodied engagement enabled a slower, more reflective encounter with the material, where meaning emerged through touch, rhythm, and collective making rather than systematic analysis. By lifting threads, piercing fabrics, and tracing stories through stitches, participants enacted a form of textile thinking: one that performs epistemologically through material interaction. This approach situates embroidery as a methodological and philosophical practice that intertwines making and knowing, contributing to ongoing discussion about the role of textiles in expanding design theory and critical inquiry.