Like many young girls, I attended the same Girl Scout Camp for 10 years — first as a camper and now as a counselor — and the craft house was my favorite part.

My friends and I painted rocks, decorated jars and, of course, made friendship bracelets. To this day, I remember myself at 8 years old picking out colors for my first friendship bracelet, not realizing it would one day be my turn to teach young girls the very same pattern my counselor taught me.

Although making friendship bracelets may not seem particularly special, this method of passing down crafts is emblematic of how people use crafts to connect. 

Crafts allow women to connect with other women through shared experiences and history. For female college students especially, hobbies like crafts can relieve the stress of balancing their studies, work and social life. 

Many forms of crafting are traditionally associated with femininity. Women relegated to the domestic sphere practiced crafts such as weaving, sewing and knitting. These arts often served a practical purpose and were used to decorate and maintain the home. 

Many of the techniques used to produce these arts are passed down orally — often from mother to daughter — providing women with a sense of unity across generations. 

Today, crafts can be used to escape the stress of our busy lives and help us form communities.  Forming and participating in crafting-specific clubs can allow women to make friends and unite around a common interest. Coming together as women to create crafts is especially meaningful considering the historical link between femininity and these arts. 

While male-dominated art forms like sculpting and painting were elevated to the status of fine arts, women’s crafts like embroidery and sewing were devalued as lower arts. 

This designation seems unfair considering the time and effort women have put into honing their crafts and teaching them to others. The beauty and solidarity found when practicing these crafts can be invaluable. 

Megan Boesen, owner of yarn store Knit & Bolt in Minneapolis, said she had a complicated relationship with fiber arts, especially as it related to her femininity. 

“I had done them as a small child and then kind of had a period of not liking anything that was considered feminine at all,” Boesen said. “Then in college, got back into it. You know, something being feminine isn’t a bad thing.”

In fact, knitting allowed Boesen to connect with women in a new way. 

“Embracing learning from women, going to knit nights, getting groups of women together and learning from them was a real joy,” Boesen said.

Women like Boesen are still finding new ways to use crafts to get in touch with their femininity and carry on the memories of past generations. 

For instance, the Sisters in Stitches Joined by the Cloth, a diverse group of women from across the Northeastern U. S., form a quilting guild that seeks to reclaim their histories and tell stories of their ancestors through their quilts. 

Other groups have started utilizing crafts to make a difference. 

The Knitting Nannas Against Gas and Greed, based in Australia, use “craftivism” — a form of activism that incorporates crafts into protest. The women protest gas-drilling and other anti-environment practices through “knit-ins” set up outside mining operations and government buildings.

Participating in crafts regularly holds numerous personal benefits as well. Regular crafting is associated with improved mental health, a greater sense of self-efficacy and a 10.6% change in the variation of happiness levels for participants, according to a 2024 study from Anglia Ruskin University. 

Emerson Ironstone, the outreach and interdisciplinary program specialist with the University of Minnesota Libraries, works with the makerspaces in the Walter and Health Sciences Libraries to make craft exploration accessible to students. These spaces allow students to discover new crafts free from the pressure of being successful immediately.

“No one’s really expecting anything of you,” Ironstone said. “Students can explore a passion they may be unable to otherwise. You would be surprised how friendly people who use the space are.”

Boesen said students should not worry about failing at first when learning new crafts. 

“The first thing you’re going to do isn’t going to look great, but that just means room to improve and room to grow,” Boesen said.

By continuing to teach and learn crafts from others — such as teaching new generations of campers to make friendship bracelets — we continue the legacy of women before us, ensuring that the traditions of women remain for years to come.

All women yearning for female solidarity should look to the girls attending their first year of summer camp and consider that the secret to maintaining relationships with women may be as simple as the four-loop pattern of the friendship bracelet.