What’s an aspiring fashion designer to do in our fast-fashion world when what she truly enjoys is the careful handcrafting required for one-of-a-kind creations? For Los Angeles–based Micah Clasper-Torch, the answer has been to slow down even further and explore “the rhythmic peaceful nature of punch needle.”
The punch needle technique involves using a hollow handheld needle to “punch” yarn through an open-weave backing fabric, creating loops that stay in place within the tension of the surrounding fabric. It was a method of embroidery commonly used for generations in Russia and Japan. But punch needle rug hooking, says Clasper-Torch, is considered a “distinctly North American art form.” It was developed in the 1800s when women in farming communities pulled scraps of fabric through burlap from feed sacks to create dense, looped floor coverings in their own designs.
Clasper-Torch, a former student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and the Politecnico di Milano in Italy, saw the potential for punch needling to go beyond the traditional rugs or the color-coded craft kits now available for decorative wall hangings. What if she could combine her expertise in patternmaking with richly textured fabrics and the bold geometric designs she was already creating? Why not meld art, craft, and fashion? After making her first punch needle coat, she was off. What about a punch needle vest? A hair bow? A purse?
Clasper-Torch has since become a one-woman booster club for all things punch needle, teaching classes, curating a show, and in 2019 establishing the website Punch Needle World, where she profiles other punch needle artists—all to spread interest, help lead a revival, and expand the horizons of what she calls her “delightful obsession.”
The Santa Fe Coat, made from wool rug yarn from New Zealand and cotton monks cloth, is inspired by the colors of New Mexico.
