How to Support Your Mental Health with Nature Crafts.

From embroidery and knitting to crochet and weaving, fibre arts are experiencing a huge revival thanks to the rise of the Grandmacore aesthetic; celebrating slow living, handmade creativity and cosy nostalgia. But why?

According to the charity Mind, the average UK adult spends around 5 hours per day looking at screens… and that doesn’t even include work time! From tablets to smartphones, excessive screen time is strongly linked to higher risks of depression, anxiety, disrupted sleep, and lower psychological well-being.

From continuously comparing yourself to others and decreasing your own self-confidence, to being frazzled with anxiety from fear of missing out or doom-scrolling. It can all be yours in just a few hours per day. Plus, as a nation, it’s making us exercise less. If the lack of movement doesn’t give us heart attacks, then the fear from doing a sneeze, googling it and self-diagnosing Alopecia might.

We all need to step away from the screens to improve our mental health, and getting creative and turning to nature is one of the best ways to do it.

Tropical restaurant interior with palm trees, jungle murals, and colourful hanging lamps in Breda, Netherlands. — Copyright Knot Waste: Breda, The Netherlands - The Street Food Club Breda

The Core Fiber Arts

~ Crochet & Knitting

Great for embracing slow fashion living. Forget fast-fashion, and make your own bespoke items of clothing.

~ Embroidery & Cross-Stitch

Our faves. Customise a piece of old clothing with some classic floral patterns, or do some creative visible mending with a contemporary pattern.

~ Quilting & Patchwork

Reduce your landfill load by saving up old scraps of fabric and transforming them into a one of a kind throw. Also great for nailing cottagecore.

~ Weaving

Described as a highly meditative hobby, keep it simple by creating your vertical warps and horizontal wefts on a homemade cardboard frame, or get fancy and buy a traditional floor loom. They can get proper expensive!

~ Macrame

We like to think of this one as the cheap option. You don’t need any special tools, and can create cool earthy-feeling wall hangings in just a few knots.

Graffiti-covered window with cushions reflecting Berlin apartments and bare winter trees in Kreuzberg. — Copyright Knot Waste: Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Benefits of Fibre Arts for Mental Health

“Engaging in crafts directly boosts mental wellbeing by reducing cortisol levels, triggering dopamine release, and inducing meditative "flow" states. Crafting fosters a sense of achievement and self-expression, actively fighting against loneliness and anxious thinking,”
- Anglia Ruskin University.

~ Reduces Stress

Creative hobbies reduce stress and anxiety, which means better wellbeing. Think less screen time and more hobbies. Opt for a botanical pattern or nature inspired theme for added nature connection points.

~ Encourages Mindfulness

Repetitive hand movements promote relaxation and mindfulness. It shifts focus away from daily stressors, lowers your stress hormone, and stimulates the release of dopamine.

~ Builds Confidence

Making your own item of clothing gives you a sense of accomplishment. It helps you to appreciate the item, and throw it away less quickly than your fast-fashion impulse purchases.

~ Creates Routine

When you feel like you can’t control anything else around you, nature crafts help to provide a sense of control and self-worth.

~ Supports Creativity

Mindfully crafting helps to quiet your mind and allow it to relax, which allows new ideas to flow free.

Mid-century chairs sit beneath a vivid green landscape mural inside a modern café with nature-inspired décor. — Copyright Knot Waste: London, UK

Knitting Got Cool

Craving slow living, many people are rediscovering the comfort of sustainably-focused, traditional crafts like knitting, crocheting, and embroidery. Modern fibre arts are no longer seen as old-fashioned hobbies. Today, embroidery hoops, crochet projects and knitted garments are proudly shared online as symbols of creativity, self-expression and sustainability.

Fibre arts are easy to learn about thanks to platforms like Tik Tok and Pinterest. Plus online crafting communities have spurred on a revival of “stitch-and-chat” culture, with Celebrities and Influencers also helping to further modernise stitching. Take Olympic diver Tom Daley for instance, he helped bring knitting into mainstream culture through his brand and book Made With Love. It inspired a younger audience to embrace crafting as a form of relaxation and creativity.

Copyright Knot Waste: Krakow, Poland - Knitted Coffee Cafe

How to Get Started with Fibre Arts

Try out a few different fibre arts and see which one makes you feel the most relaxed. As a rule of thumb, think; Relaxation: embroidery or knitting, Quick Projects: crochet, Detail-Oriented Creativity: embroidery or cross stitch, and Functional Makes: knitting or quilting. Pinterest is a great place to start. Explore the options and test out small, beginner friendly tutorials for patterns you’d actually enjoy creating.

Our Favourite: Nature-Inspired Embroidery

Our favourite fibre art is nature-inspired embroidery. Slow stitching detailed botanical designs can be deeply calming, helping you reconnect with creativity and the natural world. Explore our collection of downloadable embroidery patterns on the KnotWasteShop ETSY for beginner-friendly, eco-conscious designs inspired by Urban Greening and Biophilic Urban Design.

Embroidery of a brown Cocker Spaniel dog sat on a pavement with urban litter. — Copyright Knot Waste: Litter vs. Animals Embroidery

Free Download

To help you begin your fibre arts journey, we’re offering a free downloadable nature-inspired embroidery pattern. Perfect for beginners looking to unwind creatively and experience the calming benefits of stitching.

Download Your Free Pattern Here.

Whether it’s knitting a scarf, stitching wildflowers or learning crochet for the first time, Grandmacore is more than a trend, it reflects a desire to slow down, create mindfully and support your mental wellbeing.

Grandmacore and The Rise of Fibre Arts.