Tracey Emin's textile works are a significant and compelling part of her artistic oeuvre, exploring themes of femininity, domesticity, and personal narrative through mediums traditionally associated with craft. Emin has effectively harnessed the emotive power of textiles, such as quilts and embroidery, to express intimate and often confrontational aspects of her life, turning these objects into powerful vehicles for storytelling and emotional expression.

Emin's approach to textiles incorporates objects with strong associations to domesticity and the feminine, like quilts and embroidery samplers. This choice is not merely aesthetic but deeply intertwined with Emin's ongoing exploration of her personal history, making the medium an extension of her candid, autobiographical style. Despite the seemingly therapeutic nature of working with textiles, Emin herself suggests a deeper, darker significance to her use of the medium, emphasizing the complexity and the intense personal connection she has to her work​ (Jessica Hemmings)​.

The impact of Emin's textile work is amplified by the societal perceptions of craft as being separate from "serious" art. This distinction allows Emin's work to challenge and subvert expectations, making her use of textiles—such as appliquéd sperm drops on quilts—particularly striking. Her work not only disrupts the craft/art divide but also engages with historical contexts, referencing the dual nature of embroidery as both an instrument of educating women into femininity and a tool of resistance​ (Jessica Hemmings)​.

Emin's textile pieces, notably her appliquéd blankets, are characterized by their large size, vibrant expression, and the presence of deliberate misspellings, which lend a raw, unmediated quality to the narratives they unfold. These works are described as outbursts, where the immediacy of the expressive phrases and the tension between content and method of production converge to create works of powerful emotional resonance​ (Mr X Stitch)​.

In creating these textile works, Emin leverages the medium's inherent qualities of warmth, intimacy, and personal touch to delve into themes that are deeply personal and universally resonant. Through her innovative use of textiles, Emin challenges conventional distinctions between art and craft, public and private, elevating the medium to a powerful form of self-expression and emotional exploration.