How Sewing Became Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's Lifeline Behind Iranian Prison Walls

Creativity as Survival: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Opens Up About Prison Life

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker who spent nearly six years detained in an Iranian political prison, has spoken candidly about how sewing became a powerful source of hope and psychological refuge during one of the darkest periods of her life.

Addressing a captivated audience at the prestigious Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, she described how creative expression offered something no prison wall could entirely suppress — a sense of freedom.

"When your freedom is restricted — whether you are in prison, in my case, or stuck in a conflict, you're in hospital, there is illness, there is some sort of injustice — creativity creates a form of quick psychological exit for you," she told the crowd. "It mentally allows you to escape the place you are in."

From Liberty Fabrics to a Prison Cell

Zaghari-Ratcliffe was first arrested by Iranian authorities in April 2016 and held as a political detainee, effectively used as a diplomatic bargaining chip to exert pressure on the British government. During her years of confinement, she discovered an unexpected passion: needlework and garment-making.

She admitted that before her imprisonment, she had never considered herself a capable seamstress. Her mother had always kept her sewing machine off-limits, something Zaghari-Ratcliffe now jokes about with her family. It was only behind bars that she truly found her footing with fabric and thread.

Before her arrest, she had accumulated a collection of fine textiles from the iconic London department store Liberty, but had always considered them far too precious to cut into. Prison, remarkably, changed her perspective.

"I had a stash I had kept for a special occasion and my mindset changed when I was inside," she explained. "It was the Liberty name — we had a place where we had no liberty."

Getting Fabric Behind Bars

Securing permission to bring fabrics into the facility was no straightforward task. Textiles were generally prohibited, and Zaghari-Ratcliffe had to obtain special written authorisation to have them sent in. Her husband Richard worked tirelessly to ensure her beloved Liberty fabrics reached her.

Once they arrived, she chose to share them with her fellow inmates. "Everyone wanted to have a piece of liberty that they didn't have," she said. The single, ageing industrial sewing machine available in the prison was placed under her supervision, and she used it to stitch garments for the other women around her.

Making Dresses for a Daughter She Could Barely Hold

Perhaps the most poignant thread running through Zaghari-Ratcliffe's story is her relationship with her daughter Gabriella, who was just 22 months old when her mother was detained.

From the moment Gabriella was born, Zaghari-Ratcliffe had dreamed of sewing matching mother-daughter dresses. In prison, that dream took on a bittersweet reality.

"I did make matching dresses and I would send them, and she would come to visit me wearing them," she recalled. "But in Iran I couldn't wear them because you have to cover. We could never wear them together."

During Gabriella's weekly visits — before the young girl had to return to the UK to begin school in 2019 — the two also shared creative moments together, making origami and crafting tote bags side by side.

A Sense of Identity Through Craft

Zaghari-Ratcliffe reflected on how crafting served a deeper purpose for the women around her, helping them maintain a sense of self in an environment designed to strip it away.

"In prison, everything is just basic. But people would still find ways to beautify themselves and hold on to their identity," she said. "People would be creative to make every little thing we would throw away into something to put on themselves."

For her, sewing offered a mental journey — a "sense of travel to the world they might be in one day or the world they used to be in."

Sewing as a Refuge Even After Release

Even now, years after her release in 2022, the sewing machine remains Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sanctuary during times of acute stress. When news broke of US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February, she woke in the early hours, anxiously called her mother in Tehran to confirm her family was safe, and then turned instinctively to her craft.

"I sat at the sewing machine. It reminded me of the time I was in prison in a way," she said. "There was a lot going on around us, but we had to do something to take us out of that space. I spent five days doing nothing else — the only thing I could do was sew. That was my safe space."

Communication with her family in Iran during those tense weeks was difficult, restricted to brief landline calls from unknown numbers — painfully reminiscent, she noted, of her years in detention. Her sister drew the same comparison.

"It was really sad to think that even though I am free, there are still things that remind her of that time," Zaghari-Ratcliffe said quietly.

A Full Circle Moment with Liberty London

In a touching postscript to her story, Liberty London reached out to Zaghari-Ratcliffe following her release. The iconic retailer had named fabric collections after both her and her daughter Gabriella — a gesture that brought her journey from a prison cell stocked with smuggled Liberty textiles to a remarkable and deeply symbolic conclusion.