Karen Elting Brock, PieceWork

A love of words, stories, and cloth led Karen Elting Brock around the world and back to PieceWork.

”All This by Hand” appeared on the first covers of PieceWork magazine, intended to capture the scope of material between the covers. Stitching, lacemaking, and other needlework, certainly, but other handwork, fashion, and the artisans who created the work all found their way into the pages of the magazine. The scope of the project—worldwide, from historical to contemporary, from anonymous to celebrated—has made it beloved by its readers and also difficult to explain. All this by hand, indeed.

Karen Elting Brock first joined the staff of PieceWork in 2010, working with authors who were artisans or had stories to tell. From her desk, she pored through the collections of international museums and chased down photographers for just the image that would tell the story of a textile. After several years on the editorial staff, she moved on to experience global stories for herself, living in (and sending dispatches from) Nepal, Morocco, and other international locations. Even (or especially) in remote villages, textiles and makers continued to find her.

In 2025, Karen was ready to return to Colorado, and PieceWork welcomed her to the editor’s seat. As of recording time, Karen has brought some of her ambitions for the publication to fruition—she’s especially excited about the Fall 2026 Museum Issue and the new reader-fed international museum directory—but she has a list of other ideas she’s eager to explore. In this episode, we explore some of her favorite textile stories and some of her plans for the future.

Links

• PieceWork issues and website
• PieceWork’s Blue & White Issue, released in Summer 2026
  
• International Needlework Museum Directory
• “Knitting on Peru’s Taquile Island” by Linda Ligon
  
• “Spinning Giant Nettle in the Himalayas”
• Karen’s posts for pieceworkmagazine.com

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