Vintage Craft: Creative Hands.

This week’s vintage craft love post is all about the Creative Hands series!  Last fall during a trip to the thrift store to find Halloween costumes I stumbled on a lone volume from this series. I immediately fell in love and tried to find as much about these books as I could. 

Unfortunately not much knowledge is out there other than people selling single volumes or entire sets.  Eventually I purchased all 22 volumes (minus #13 and #15) for a whopping $11.00 including shipping!!  From what I can gather they were originally published as articles or chapters in other books or magazines and collected together in what is meant to be an encyclopedia of all things crafty.  Most of the projects are sewing, knitting, embroidery, tatting, or macrame.  (Thank heavens since I don’t take much interest in projects involving glue!) They are a little confusing to follow since the skills they teach are meant to build off previous ones.  For example, in one volume they may talk about sewing a skirt but then refer to pockets covered in a previous volume.  However, I mostly browse through these books for inspiration.  The photos are lovely and there is a wonderful mix of drawings as well.  The art historian in me also loves the artists that they sometimes feature, although it baffles me they don’t always give a name.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pages from the books- enjoy!

I love this embroidery pattern!

Isn't this photo dreamy?

Creepy projects are not absent from the series, however....EW!!!

Snazzy skirts!

Make a robe for your sophisticated man.

Super mod stitch pattern.

LOVE the yellow and gray.

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Addiction.

Ok….they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. It might be time for me to come clean…for the sake of our tiny home which is being overrun.

I…..am addicted to magazines.

There! I said it!! While I honestly feel guilty about this problem (let’s face it…they aren’t very eco-friendly), my admission in no way means that I plan on giving it up any time soon. They are my candy and ice cream! Which is probably why, like everyone else, I can’t wait to hold the new Anthology magazine in my hands.  Magazines are glossy and filled with beautiful images, texts, and objects.  They are relatively inexpensive and one of my favorite ways to end the day all tucked in bed.

This obsession is not limited to new releases either.  In fact I have a whole stack of old craft mags from the 1950s- 1980s that my friend Charlotte gave me.  I’ve been gradually working my through them.  Here’s just a tiny sampling of the stack:

Since I have so many I thought it would be nice to share a bit from my collection with you each week.  As I’ve been whittling through the stack I’ve noticed that my favorite designs are from the 50s and 60s.  The seventies start to show a “Krafty” vibe.  And once the 80s roll around well then it’s all plastic canvas all the time.   But when I came across this gem I nearly died and I MUST find the time to make this straight away.  It’s from a McCall’s magazine from 1982 and it is designed by none other than Nicky Epstein. Nicky is a prolific knitting designer who has several books under her belt by now, which is why this was such a find:

Just try and convince me this isn’t the most amazing thing ever!! Of course there is a male version as well which features a pheasant but I selfishly will need to make this for myself.  Oh if only there were more hours in the day.

I have more vintage craft books that I love to browse through for inspiration as well as the magazines and I can’t wait to share the treasures I find.  At least I can convince the hubs that there is a reason I’m hanging on to all of these….

Happy Friday, Everyone!

xoxo,

kate

Also, if you are in a browsing mood check out the sweet new item we added to the shop!

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Organize your fabric swatches.

It’s been awhile since we’ve blogged hasn’t it?  It’s nice to take a digital break every now and again but we are excited to return to regular blogging.  For this post we wanted to share one of our favorite sites –   Maggie Makes. We love this blog since she doesn’t limit herself to just one creative outlet and also offers several great tutorials!  Check out the Coffee Can Lanterns- so pretty!

Today she’s offering a free download of these nifty fabric swatch cards.  What a fabulous way to stay organized!  Our sewing tables will thank her for sure…

Be sure to check out her other tutorials and downloads for more inspiration!  Also stop back here soon…we have more blog posts coming up!

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