Like a flock of lace butterflies, the doilies at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts hover on the walls.

Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Akiko Kotani, which a chair she decorated that is part of her installation

But the installation by Akiko Kotani, emerita professor of art at Slippery Rock University, is more than just an exhibit. Called "Stitches That Heal," it is a testament to the restorative powers of stitchery, and the way that tatting, knitting and crocheting bring meaning and sanity to the lives of people all over the world.

The doilies, each with a healing story by its maker, evoke memories and emotion in visitors.

"I've seen people come out of there, wiping away a tear, " said Joy Sato, coordinator of special events at the center.

Kotani, who received her master's in fibers from the Tyler School of Art, has won awards and presented fiber art exhibits and workshops around the world. Her work is part of the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

She had her own mother in mind when she conceived of the installation. Her mother, now 92, said that she always looked forward to the time of day when she could sit with her handiwork.

"Stitching, I believe, helped my mother to make sense of a rather complicated life,'' Kotani said. "She never complained, when she uttered these words, but I carried that statement with me for several months, and when the opportunity came up for an installation, I knew exactly what I wanted to do."

The first doily a visitor sees is one by her mother, Chiyoko Chinen. The others come from all over the globe. Kotani received 370 submissions from as far as Cyprus, Ukraine, Romania, Japan, and Slovakia. She chose 270 for the exhibit.

One woman from Pittsburgh wrote, "I taught myself to crochet while working on my Ph.D. dissertation. When having a rough night, mentally designing a crochet or other handwork pattern, calms me enough to allow sleep.''

"I have always found lace," wrote another woman, "particularly in the form of doilies, to be very soothing, not only in the finished piece, but in the making. You see, I am only 46 years old and I've been disabled for over 12 years. Without crochet, I would be at quite a loss as to what to do with my energy, time, and especially my mind."

Creating with thread or wool is not a pastime limited to women. David Scerch of Point Breeze, a software programmer who teaches knitting at Pittsburgh Bead and Knit in Squirrel Hill, likes the precision of handwork.

"Knitting is binary -- knits and purls are analogous to zeros and ones. Every pattern is a variation of those two stitches. A pattern for a knitted garment is like a program -- there are directions, the directions are clear, and you can execute those directions correctly or incorrectly. It rather molds itself to perfection for me."