All the Crafts I Do - July 2020
When I tell people I have a DIY fashion blog they tend to ask what kind of crafts I do. The amazing thing about making clothes is that it encompasses so many skills. There’s constantly something new to learn. I do a lot, as pointed out by people who say, “oh, okay so a little bit of everything… You’re very creative.” After not knowing what they’ve got themselves into with that question.
Cathy Hay put up this video about creativity and it got me thinking about my creativity, my skills, and my current preference for following a tutorial or having an end project in mind. I’ve always felt like a bit of a fraud because, well, I’m not a designer. I work from sewing patterns, tutorials, and designs that already exist in the world. Sure, I usually tweak them a bit, but does that really make me creative?
I love how she explains creativity and how just because you’re using a different process, doesn’t mean you’re not creative.
I want to put out original designs and ideas, but I don’t feel I’m skilled enough to do so. Right now, I’m at a point where I want to spend a bit more time developing skills and focus on putting out really good products as opposed to making things fast that fall apart just as quickly.
In the interest of a starting point, here are all the crafts I do and where I’m at with them. I’m hoping that if I redo this list in a year, or even sooner, that I’ll have seen some skill development.
More likely I think I’ll find more hobbies and will continue my jack of all trades craft lifestyle, but here’s hoping.
General Craftiness
I think there’s a lot to be said for the general craft. I’m trying to think of different examples of what I mean and they mostly seem to come back to glue. I remember getting my first glue gun and glueing big fake flowers onto my flip flops.
Actually, those were cute and the ’90s are back…
Even things like cutting necklines or cutoffs. It’s not exactly a sewing skill- though you could argue it is- general craftiness is just the allover making that doesn’t fit anywhere else. It’s also the ability to combine your skills to make the final product you envision.
Sewing
I’ve been sewing since I was very young. I remember making my Barbie a circle skirt out of my Nonna’s old curtain and some sew-on rhinestones we got at the dollar store. I’ve always loved to sew. I’m not a big fan of the cutting, layout, prepping the fabric… but the sewing- you get in a zone and it just goes so smoothly.
I know I’m good at sewing, I’m just gravely out of practice. I think back to when I was finishing fashion school and how I made 5 satin dresses from pattern to completion in three days. I’m definitely not at that level anymore- and I don’t think I could do three days on espresso and sewing… well, I could but I’ve grown enough to know better- but I’m sure I’ll get there again, I just need to redevelop those skills.
Sewing is the most basic skill. It pops up in knitting, crochet, needlework… If anyone wanted to start making clothes sewing is the most obvious place to start.
Knitting
Another thing I think I’m reasonably skilled at, probably most skilled at currently, is knitting. When I was little I desperately wanted to knit. Back then it wasn’t as easy as buying some supplies and YouTube, so when I visited my Grandma in Ontario and found out she knit I asked her to teach me. She was appalled I had been in Girl Guides for so long and hadn’t already learned. To be fair, in a post-apocalyptic survival situation knowing how to turn raw materials into warmth is equally as important to long term survival as learning how to pitch a tent so points to Grandma.
When I got back to Vancouver, I found out my Nonna could knit all along. After being mad at her for a minute, she taught me to purl. I stuck to the two stitches until about five years ago when I decided I wanted to actually knit well and did the KnitCrate Newbies* program to actually get good at knitting. The big advantage of knitting is it’s portable, so when I moved to Ireland I could take it with me. In Dublin knitting was my number one, go-to craft. It still kind of is.
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Crochet
Crochet. How I struggle with thee…
I like to crochet. I enjoy the craft, and I like the way a lot of crocheted stuff looks. I love that I have another excuse to buy yarn and that, while I get to acquire more craft supplies, a lot crosses over from knitting so it wasn’t a huge start-from-scratch operation.
The thing with crochet is I’m not well practised. Knitting comes very effortlessly to me so when I need to think about crochet it gets a bit frustrating. I realize that I’m not going to be good at everything I try right at the start, but when you’re in the middle of a project and looking up a video on how to do a stitch for the thousandth time logic tends to fly right out the window.
I really do want to get my crochet skills up because I do like to do it.
Spinning
Spinning is definitely one of the most relaxing hobbies I’ve ever found. I have a top whorl, bottom whorl, and a Turkish spindle and discovering the differences has been fascinating. I don’t spin as much as I want to, and it definitely takes a very long time, but…
There really isn’t a but. I need to do it more. It’s meditative, relaxing, and just allover a really cool skill.
Shoemaking
This is the newest of my hobbies and it’s… going. The thing with shoemaking is you can’t do just a little bit at a time, well, you could but I’ll get into that when I review the entire course.
I’m progressing slowly and I don’t know how to evaluate myself yet.
Mostly I’m just terrified of cutting into the very expensive leather.
I’ll get there. I’m pretty determined with this one.
Embroidery
I have embroidered exactly one sampler pillow and I love it. Not enough to like, pick it up and do the craft more- my embroidery stuff has been sucked into the renovation black hole so I can’t really find it- but man, I feel like I’m in a Jane Austen novel sitting and having a tea and a gossip in the parlour.
Embroidery is a bit like general craftiness. There are a million and one different styles and I want to learn them all. Right now I’m just trying to get the basics down and then get to the point where I have the most opulent wardrobe known to mankind.
Tatting
I spent two weeks running a summer camp at a Catholic school in Taranto. Whenever the nuns had a spare second they would pull this thing out of their apron pockets and start making these absolutely gorgeous doilies. Between my bad Italian, bad French, and superior determination to figure out every craft I come across, I learned the basics of frivolité. I later learned in English it’s called tatting and progressed exactly 0% with the craft.
I want to get into not just tatting, but all forms of lace making. Maybe it’s my past lady in a parlour but with working plumbing fantasy, but I’m just really into it.
Jewellery Making
Again, this is another broad scope category. When I was younger I did a bit of beadwork, some basic… I don’t want to call it metalwork as I was just playing with pliers, and a lot of macrame. I’ve always enjoyed jewellery making and have wanted to do more. I think I kind of compartmentalize it was that thing I did when I was a kid, which is a shame because it’s an amazing skill.
I think lacemaking is the one I want to get into but will probably be on hold for a bit. Embroidery might jump up to the top for a bit.
I’d also love to get into weaving, dyeing- especially natural dye- and fabric manipulation techniques. I mean, I want to master skills I don’t even know exist yet. Any ideas?
Seriously, if you can make wearable things in some way I don’t know yet or haven’t thought of, let me know!
