What does it mean to make something by hand? How does the act of making—slow, tactile, attentive—shape the way we think, relate, and imagine our worlds?
TATTER’s first ever TATTER Reading Group invites you into a shared exploration of craft, creativity, and meaning. Together we’ll read a mix of essays, fiction, memoir, and myth, considering how acts of making—woven, stitched, written, worn—become ways of thinking and being. Each session will include guided discussion and, when it feels right, optional time for generative writing or simple hands-on making inspired by the readings.
We’ll meet once a month for three sessions, with plans to reconvene in the fall. You’re warmly invited to join us in person at the library or virtually. Online participants may listen live and contribute observations or questions via chat, which will be woven into the conversation.
Session 1: Thinking with Our Hands
Reading: “Making Things, Practicing Emptiness” by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
A renowned theorist—especially in the field of queer theory—Sedgwick developed a handcraft practice later in life, incorporating weaving into her teaching at the CUNY Graduate Center. In this luminous essay, she reflects on weaving as a thinking practice and as a way of living with mortality.
We’ll explore:
- How does making shape thought?
- What kinds of knowledge live in the hands?
- How might craft alter our understanding of our own lives?
Session 2: Makers in Myth and Modernity
Readings: “Arachne” from Metamorphoses by Ovid and selections of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
From classical myth to modernist fiction, makers appear as powerful, complicated figures—creators, challengers, visionaries. Arachne’s weaving becomes both artistry and defiance; Woolf’s novel subtly threads acts of making into the fabric of daily life.
We’ll explore:
- What myths do we inherit about makers
- Where do these stories empower—or constrain—us?
- How might we imagine new myths of making?
Session 3: Making What We Wear
Reading: Bound: A Memoir of Making and Remaking by Maddie Ballard
This contemporary collection of essays reflects on clothing as an intimate site of identity, pleasure, and transformation. Through sewing and remaking garments, Ballard examines how what we wear tells—and reshapes—our stories.
We’ll explore:
- What stories do our clothes carry—especially the ones we’ve made or altered ourselves?
- How does the act of making something to wear shape our sense of identity, pleasure, or agency?
- In what ways can remaking a garment become a way of revising or reclaiming a personal narrative?
Dates & Times
Sundays, April 12th, May 3rd, and June 14th, 2026
12-1:30 pm ET
Location
This is a hybrid event. You’re welcome to join us in person at TATTER (505 Carroll Street, Suite 2B, Brooklyn, NY 11215) or participate virtually via Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants a few days before each session.
Cost
$20 per session for both in-person or virtual attendance
OR all three sessions at the discounted price of $50
Recording
Because of the personal and conversational nature of the reading group, sessions will not be recorded.
Level
All are welcome. Whether you’re an experienced maker, an avid reader, or simply curious about the relationship between thought and touch, this group is open to you. Come ready to read, reflect, and take part in a thoughtful conversation about how making shapes the worlds we inhabit.
Our Conversation Starter
Vanessa Baish works in service of learning of all kinds, currently as a lecturer teaching literature at BMCC and in the public programs and exhibitions department of the Brooklyn Public Library. She first learned to knit as a child from her grandmother and learned the basics of sewing in middle school; she returned to both while in graduate school studying literature. Her thinking and making–wearable artifacts to thread journaling–are text/ile expressions of her love of material.