Healing art of textiles.
Humans thrive doing hand-crafted activities.
If you'd like to know how creative interests like knitting and sewing can help in psychological transformation, listen to my guest this week on the Brave New Girls podcast: Nicole Nehrig, clinical and research psychologist. Nicole has helped individuals and couples process trauma, PTSD, and depression, strengthen relationships, find meaning and purpose in life, and live more creatively and authentically.
Her work, and her own lived experience, inspired her book, With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving Their Stories. In it, she integrates psychological theory with history and firsthand stories, illuminating the meaningful role textile work has played in women’s lives for centuries.
Nicole explains that textiles have been far more than fabric. They were survival, keeping families clothed and warm. They were culture, expressing identity, tradition, and artistry. And they were voice, stitches that told stories, held grief, carried protest, or celebrated love. Across time, women have woven, stitched, knitted and embroidered their way into history, often when their spoken words were silenced.
What’s striking in Nicole’s work is how relevant these insights are today. She shows that textile work is not just about the past, it’s about how we live and heal now. The rhythmic, meditative act of knitting or sewing can soothe the nervous system. The tangible process of creating something from nothing helps us build resilience and self-worth.
Creativity, Nicole argues, is vital to wellbeing.
Nicole’s own journey reflects this truth. In her clinical practice, she has seen creativity unlock pathways to healing. In her personal life, she found that making with her hands became a grounding ritual during uncertain times. Through With Her Own Hands, she shares how women across centuries have transformed trauma, loneliness, and struggle into fabric imbued with hope and meaning.
So how do we take these lessons and apply them in our own lives? Read the ten tips below:
Brave New Girl- How to Be Fearless.
10 Actionable Steps for a better future.
Start small – Pick up a simple project: a knitted square, a patch, a line of embroidery. The act of beginning matters more than the result.
Make it a ritual – Set aside a regular time each week for your craft, treating it as a form of mindful self-care.
Use colour with intention – Choose shades that reflect or uplift your emotional state.
Tell your story – Design a piece that marks a personal milestone, memory, or challenge.
Find your circle – Join a sewing group or knitting circle; community adds connection and meaning.
Pair with reflection – Keep a journal alongside your craft to process thoughts and emotions as you create.
Work mindfully – Focus on the rhythm of stitching to calm your mind and reduce stress.
Teach and share – Pass on your skills to children, friends, or community members. Sharing deepens purpose.
Create with impact – Contribute to causes—like quilts for hospitals or garments for charities—aligning creativity with activism.
Celebrate process over perfection – Every uneven stitch holds its own beauty. Value progress, not flawlessness.
Nicole’s insights remind us that creativity enriches not only our outer world but also our inner life. Whether we knit, weave, paint, or write, these acts of making anchor us to our identities, connect us with others, and help us transform the challenges of life into something meaningful
Nicole Nehrig shows how textile work has long helped women heal, tell stories, and thrive—and why creativity still transforms lives today.
PS. Listen HERE to NICOLE’S journey on BRAVE NEW GIRLS podcast to hear how she helps us create well beings on a well planet.
