August Newsletter
My summer break is just around the corner; it will run from September 3 through mid-October. “Summer break” isn’t quite the right term—I should really say “a break somewhere in the middle of the year.”
Over the past month, I’ve held three workshops and a workshop talk for “Take care! – Festival of Solidarity and Resistance—A project of the Frauenreferat Frankfurt —to which I’d like to cordially invite you once again. There are still spots available.
Crafting Connections—Patchwork as a Collective Utopia is based on my perspective on art in the context of Take Care! - , the ongoing mechanization of our world and on AI or transhumanism.
My goal is to make tangible the energy that arises from our interaction with ourselves, with nature, with fibers, plants, animals, and people—while gratefully drawing on a treasure trove of knowledge gathered by many people who have been forgotten by history, overlooked, or otherwise rendered invisible.
In Crafting Connections, I chose the simple yet unique Suffolk Puff because the method of making it is easily accessible. And also—and especially—because its round, puffy shape embodies a harmonious cheerfulness that invites us to relax and enjoy each other’s company. The process of making it and the many others that all need to be arranged in one way or another satisfy the human need for creativity—a need that expresses a zest for life and is inherent in us as living beings.
I'm really excited about the opportunity to be part of “Take Care!”, to share my knowledge with you, and to create something organic and new together.
In my research on this topic—particularly regarding the role that art might play in it—the story that apeared to me took on a dark and sinister tone at times.
I want to tell a different story—a simple human one.
Here are the dates again:
Workshops:
August 7, 2026, 4:00–7:00 p.m.,
August 8, 2026, 4:00–7:00 p.m.
August 25, 2026, 6:00–9:00 p.m.
You can attend just one, two, or all three workshops.
September 2, 2026, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The workshop talk is also open to everyone.
Space for all 4 events are limited, so registration is required. Please email me at carokropff@posteo.net
I look forward to exchanging ideas and creating together.
Here are the dates again:
Workshops:
August 7, 2026, 4:00–7:00 p.m.,
August 8, 2026, 4:00–7:00 p.m.
August 25, 2026, 6:00–9:00 p.m.
You can attend just one, two, or all three workshops.
September 2, 2026, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The workshop talk is also open to everyone.
Space for all 4 events are limited, so registration is required. Please email me at carokropff@posteo.net
I look forward to exchanging ideas and creating together.
You can find more information about the festival, the other venues, and the dates here: http://www.frauenreferat.frankfurt.de
July Newsletter
Dear Friends,
A warm invitation
Crafting Connections – Patchwork as a Collective Utopia
Studiospace, Lange Strasse 31, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
As part of:
Take Care! – Festival of Solidarity and Resistance
Artistic projects, alliances of solidarity, and critical dialogue in the age of AI and antifeminism
A project of the Frauenreferat Frankfurt
I would like to cordially invite you to Crafting Connections – Patchwork as a Collective Utopia, which will take place as part of Take Care! – Festival of Solidarity and Resistance, a project of the Frauenreferat Frankfurt, at Studiospace, Lange Strasse 31, in Frankfurt.
In three workshops and a workshop talk, we’ll draw an analogy between patchwork and artificial intelligence and compare craft-based methods in textile art with algorithmic structures. Both systems share pattern formation and syntax, yet unlike AI, textile craftsmanship is rooted in a human dimension. In Crafting Connections, textile art comes to life as a database of cross-generational knowledge; every piece of fabric, every seam carries stories, memories, and cultural codes. At a time when the separation of body and mind, of thinking and doing, is advancing, and people are drifting further and further apart, we celebrate textile craftsmanship as a radical practice of connectedness.
About the Workshops
In the workshops, we use the traditional patchwork techniques of Suffolk puffs as a guide for action and the hand as the organ that connects us to the world. The Suffolk puff—also known as a Yo-Yo or Fuxico—represents a caring data point in the network of human relationships, emerging from the textile archive of embodied knowledge and serving as a counterpoint to the logic of the machine.
The process: Participants bring cherished pieces of fabric that tell stories from their personal lives. As with the Brazilian Fuxico—which also means “gossip”—we come together and sew as many puffs as time allows from the fabrics brought along and from those in the studio’s collection; we then decide on their arrangement and join all the resulting pieces into a collective quilt.
About the Workshop Talk:
The event concludes with a workshop talk featuring a presentation of the quilt. We’ll reflect on textile art, women’s labor, caregiving, and what it means to be human in the age of machines. Guests are invited to participate both theoretically and practically (we’ll continue sewing). This creates a space for knowledge sharing, dialogue, and collective action.
Crafting Connections draws on ancient, living knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation and is closely connected to our lives, our society, and our history.
I’m looking forward to our exchange and our shared activities!
The dates at the studio space are:
Workshops:
August 7, 2026, 4:00–7:00 p.m.,
August 8, 2026, 4:00–7:00 p.m.
August 25, 2026, 6:00–9:00 p.m.
The number of participants is limited to 12.
Participation is free of charge.
The number of participants is limited to 12. Everyone is welcome. No prior experience is required.
Workshop talk:
September 2, 2026, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The number of participants is limited to 16. Everyone is welcome!
Please register at: carokropff@posteo.net
More information:
Take care! – Festival of Solidarity and Resistance is a decentralized festival that brings together art and feminist questions about the future. The focus is on temporary, performative, collaborative artistic and activist projects, talks, and gatherings of solidarity. Take care! explores how artists engage with issues such as AI dominance, resource crises, and social polarization; the questions they raise; and what strategies of solidarity and resistance might look like. The festival takes place from August through October at various locations in Frankfurt. It serves as a unifying platform and incorporates various projects funded by the Women’s Affairs Office as satellite events in its program.
The complete program will be available shortly at http://www.frauenreferat.frankfurt.de
Inbetween
Art is a language that speaks from heart to heart and mind to mind
Alan Moore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93sV5XGLmgQ&t=2103s
Since 2015, I have been working closely with the British artist Felicity Brown. Together, we explore the intersections between painting and, in particular, textile art, and examine the extent to which art is significant as a method of understanding and a form of communication.
And that’s why I’m already looking forward to next week! We’ll use our time together to trust our intuition and create new visual worlds.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
June Newsletter
Summer is in full swing, and hopefully we’ll all find time for rest and reflection.
The past few weeks have been filled with travel and projects. Today I’m finally finding time for the newsletter.
In June, I exhibited my “Hosen Quilt,” “Jiun Hosen,” and “Osho” in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, as part of Sythia, the 16th International Biennial of Textile and Fiber Art. The work consists of two layered sublimation prints made from recycled polyester, which I appliquéd by hand, as well as silk, wool, and cotton. The quilt is hand-quilted. It measures 177 x 105 cm. “Hosen Quilt” is part of the overlapping body of work titled “Lost Paradise” and “Adam & Eve Journey,” which I undertook together with Felicity Brown in New Mexico in 2017. There, we met Hosen, the abbess of Bodhi Manda, a Buddhist center in Jemez Springs. The quilt is a portrait of her.
The “Sythia”- International Biennial of Textile and Fiber Art was founded thirty years ago by Ludmila Egorova and Andrew Schneider and is organized jointly with Anastasia Schneider, independently of state cultural institutions. “Scythia” is the only international biennial dedicated to the textile arts in Ukraine that meets European standards. The 16th Biennial of Textile and Fiber Art featured 125 artists from 32 countries.
I was particularly delighted to be able to attend the opening in person on June 2, 2026, thanks to Alexander’s wonderful planning and preparation and with the foresighted help of Anastasia Schneider. It was a magnificent experience, accompanied by warm hospitality and a great source of inspiration. I will always remember it with gratitude!
Also in June, at the invitation of the Heussenstamm Stiftung, I worked for four days with 12 ninth-grade students from the Anne Frank Schule. As a hands-on introduction to the world of textile arts—using patchwork and quilts as concrete examples—the students created various fabric pieces by hand, which they developed independently. At the end, we presented all the individual patchworks and quilts as a single quilt—with a front and back—under a tree on the school grounds. You can find more information and photos about the week here.
Save the Dates: August 7, 8, 25, and September 2, 2026
Crafting Connections - as part of Take Care! – Festival of Solidarity and Resistance, a projekt of Frauenreferat Frankfurt
May Newsletter
In May, Studiospace will continue to focus on further research and the development of various educational formats for textile art and related crafts. I am constantly expanding my offerings: new content is added regularly.
This coming Saturday, May 9, 2026, I invite you to the next Quilting Bee – Making Session.
From 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., my studio will be an open workspace and gathering place for everyone who loves patchwork, quilting, and hand sewing. You can work on your own projects, exchange ideas, share knowledge, and make new friends—just like in the historic quilting bees. Knitting and embroidery projects or other handicrafts using textile materials are also welcome. Sewing machines are available if needed, but they are not the focus.
Please feel free to sign up; I’m very much looking forward to seeing you there!
The next masterclass, from June 26 to 28, 2026, will focus on Hawaiian quilts. They inspired my “Hosen Quilt,” “Jiun Pants,” and “Osho.” It emerged from the “Adam and Eve Journey” that I undertook together with Felicity Brown to New Mexico, USA, in 2017.
Hawaiian appliqué gives us a tool that organically expands our repertoire of working with cut-out fabric pieces. I find the design process both wonderful and practical. The execution requires patience and a bit of skill. The more time we take for it, the more beautiful the results.
In the masterclass, we’ll also touch on the basics of wool processing for the wool batting we’ll use in the quilt samples.
It’s always possible that I’ll have to reschedule workshops or add new ones.
Here’s an overview of the current schedule through the end of the year:
June 26–28, 2026 – Hawaiian Appliqué Masterclass
October 11, 2026 – The Sewing Machine as a Creative Tool – Sewing Workshop and Improvisational Patchwork
October 25, 31, and November 8, 2026 – Sashiko – Unshin, Moyozashi, Hitomezashi, and Your Project
My Hosen Quilt, Jiun Hosen, Osho is on the road!
I am delighted to be part of the Textile Art Biennial again this year:
Scythia – 16th International Biennial of Textile & Fiber Art
June 3–17, 2026
Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
April Newsletter
I’d love to invite you to the studio workshop again this April. Here, you can share your expertise in making sessions like the Quilting Bee and learn more about the diverse methods of creative textile work in workshops. Or just stop by for a chat.
My new masterclass, “Trapunto and Marseille Quilting,” will take place from April 24 to 26: You’ll learn quilting techniques inspired by trapunto and Marseilles quilting, and create a monochromatic, tactile, and relief-like textile composition. We’ll sew by hand using wool from the Schmidt sheep farm in Maibach. The workshop is open to anyone who wants to draw inspiration from textiles and historical techniques and discover them as a form of artistic and creative expression.
The next Quilting Bee will take place on Saturday, May 9, 2026, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. We’ll gather in a small group to continue working on our textile projects and engage in inspiring conversations.
You’ll have access to an extensive library, featuring books such as Sofi Thanhauser’s groundbreaking *Worn* and Elizabeth Wayland Barber’s *Women’s Work*, which explore the making and significance of textiles throughout history. You’ll also find literature on embroidery, dyeing, shibori, ribbon weaving, felting, pattern drafting, and craftivism, as well as on patchwork from Florida, England, and Italy; Viking sails made of spun wool; and woven fabrics from Iceland that served as currency until the 19th century.
I look forward to exploring the diverse possibilities of textile art with you, celebrating small gestures, fostering community, and slowing down.
March Newsletter
I wish you all a wonderful start to spring. It's a great time to offer my favorite workshops: English paper piecing with its Grandmother's Flower Garden, or in other words: EPP – dimensional stability through paper-backed geometry.
With the paper piecing method, we can give our deeply buried fabric remnants a new lease of life and transform them into simple to super-complex compositions. And we can do this anywhere, in the garden, in the living room, on the tram...
A well-known hexagon combination reminiscent of flowers is called Grandmother's Flower Garden, also known as Hexagon Quilt or Honeycomb.
EPP is a hand sewing method in which pieces of fabric are pinned (or glued, which I don't do) around paper templates and then sewn together. In addition to reusing beloved pieces of fabric, the idea of dimensional stability through paper-supported geometry is central. After sewing the individual elements together, the paper is removed and can then be reused as well.
The method is suitable for complex geometric patterns as well as difficult and slippery fabrics, which is hardly feasible by machine. The result is textile surfaces whose logic is based on structure, variation, and manual precision. Individual shapes are also possible—as we did, for example, with Radus Quilt. Based on the figurative representations on the ties from Nicoletta's student days, she constructed corresponding geometric patterns and transformed the pieces of fabric into a new composition. At that time, I helped Nicoletta sew a quilt for her son Radu, and Nicoleta helped me learn more about EPP and the history of patchwork and quilting.
I love English paper piecing because I can transform all the little fabric scraps, even the slippery and difficult ones, into all kinds of shapes without feeling stressed or inefficient. It's simple and varied at the same time.
I love English paper piecing because I can transform all my little fabric scraps, even the slippery and difficult-to-handle ones, into all kinds of shapes without feeling stressed or pressured to be efficient. It's simple and varied at the same time.
For Spectrum Flower Garden, my tribute to my friend and mentor Hassan Sharif, I painted a simple canvas and then cut it up according to my own cardboard template. For the paper hexagons, I used prints that I created for the Paradise Lost work group. At first, I wanted to leave them in the finished work. But it felt too contrived and inorganic, so I decided against it.
Today, English paper piecing also stands for a conscious, sustainable use of textile resources, is one of the sustainable crafts, and offers great opportunities in combination with creative freedom.
The Quilting Bee is coming back to the studio.
The next Quilting Bee – Making Session will take place on March 22, 2026, from 2 to 4 p.m.
You can register here without obligation, or send me an email or WhatsApp message.