Softness

By Jean Oberlander. Published by Common Threads Press. 

Softcover, 32 pages, Prose with Monochrome Illustrations, 2025

Unravelling the semantics of the ugly jumper, the ratty cardigan and the squishy mittens.

Softness is a poetic reflection on hand-knitting and the neglected objects that give us nourishment. A straggly jumper, shrunken in a hot wash. A frayed sleeve, mended with different wool. A garish sweater, coffee-stained but decidedly unwashed, sent by a loved one to withstand the cold winters.

Punctuated by short key texts from textile studies and feminist theory, Softness tugs at the loose threads of this corner of craft history. This is an ode to the disrepaired, a plea to stem the tide of unloved, mass-produced clothing by rethinking the power of soft things.

Thread-sewn with illustrations interleaved throughout the text, printed in spot colour across three beautiful paper stocks.

Written by Jean Oberlander

Edited by Eleanor Gaffney, Laura Moseley,
and Chris Shortt

Illustrations by Rosie Wainwright

Design by Emma Crabtree

Production by Chris Shortt

ISBN: 978-1-06862-504-6

190x110mm

32pp