Hand-made well-being: Textile crafts as a source of eudaimonic well-being

The aim of this study was to examine how textile crafts are described as a psychological well-being-enhancing leisure activity in female textile craft makers' narratives. To this, the stories of Rose, Ann, Mary and Sheila are depicted to represent how the eudaimonic intrinsic needs of doing, belonging, becoming and being were expressed in crafting. The qualitative study is based on written narratives of 65 female textile crafters aged 31-88 years. The data were analyzed using content analysis drawing on Wilcock's theory of eudaimonic well-being. The narratives revealed that crafting improved the participants' well-being in different ways. The results showed that the focus was not on seeking pleasure and satisfaction or on manufacturing need-based products but, above all, on crafting a richer and more purposeful life through self-actualization and excellence in doing, social connectedness in belonging, self-empowerment in becoming, and relief from stress in being.