Weekend Review: Making Things

Making Things / Erin Boyle & Rose Pearlman
Berkeley: Hardie Grant, c2024.
320 p.

This brand new library book had to come home with me right away. Of course I'd be interested in a book about making! It's an interesting collection, but right from that cover I was put in mind of a 70s aesthetic. 

And this book reminds me of the crafty miscellany of a book from the 70s, the kind I grew up on. It's organized in 6 sections, with a variety of small projects in each aimed at different purposes, for a total of 100 projects. It ranges from finger cording and macrame to simple sewing, paper folding, cardboard looms, and children's toys. Even these ideas feel 70s! I remember having an "encyclopedia of craft" that had a bunch of potholder projects that you'd make on a homemade cardboard loom, and here it is again. Also the macrame!

The difference is that this book is quite lovely, with lots of clear colour photos of projects and steps, no clutter or ugly colours. But the use-what-you-have, basic and homemade nature of the projects feels so originally DIY.

I feel like there are a lot of ideas I wouldn't use here; the children's chapter in particular. I don't have a sense that these projects would be a hit these days, but maybe in Brooklyn where both the authors live there is more interest in these kind of things. There is also a chapter on gifts, which I would also not go for, I don't have anyone I'd give these kind of things to. The part that most intrigued me was right at the beginning, the section on cording. This was fairly new to me and I can think of some uses for it. 

I can imagine an audience for this who will love it. It's homey, with quick projects to use in small ways, and anyone with that kind of hipster admiration of handwork will likely really enjoy this. If you grew up in the 70s however, you might be having a bit of flashback ;) Check it out at your library to see if this is one you'd want on your shelves. 

 

Weekend Review: Sewing Happiness

Sewing Happiness / Sanae Ishida
Seattle: Sasquatch Books, c2016.
240 p.

This is a different kind of craft book. It's about the author's journey from corporate intensity to a chronic illness to finding a new and balanced way to live. She does this partly through craft. 

When the stress and full on nature of her corporate job leads Ishida to develop Graves' disease, a thyroid dysfuntion, she has to re-evaluate her life and find a way to heal herself without filling herself with drugs. 

She finds that eating better -- healthy foods, mindfully prepared and eaten -- sleeping properly, and sewing are her routes back to better health (to a point; Graves disease is irreversible). The meditative nature of sewing reduces her stress and lets her feel competent at something again, both important to her mental health. She decides that she's going to spend a year sewing all of her daughter's clothes. (this does not sound relaxing to me, but perhaps for a high achiever it helped to have this kind of concrete goal). 

Knit Tank Dress

Her story is moving, and it makes this book more than it would be otherwise. It's a good approach for other busy corporate mom kind of readers who are looking or needing to make a life change. Especially if they are new to sewing and need encouragement to begin.

The projects are loosely arranged around the seasons, twenty projects in all. They range from a pillow or a bag to yoga pants or children's dresses, but they are all focused on comfort and making your life beautiful. Ishida is inspired by the simplicity and aesthetic of her Japanese heritage, even including some sashiko stitching in a few projects.

I think that the project I found most unique was an easy fortune cookie advent calendar -- while I probably wouldn't make a whole advent calendar, I like the idea of the fortune cookie and can imagine lots of ways to use it in other settings. 

The projects are all simple -- nothing challenging for someone who has sewn before. But something to note is that none of the projects have patterns, per se. Like many Japanese sewing books there are measurements in the back of the book for each project, alongside hand drawn instructions. The basic nature of most of the projects makes this feasible for sure, although the yoga pant & knit dress are odd ducks for me -- you're told to trace a garment that you already have. So I guess if you want to make those projects you'd better already have some ;) 

In any case, although the projects are mainly home dec items and I probably won't end up making any of them, I did find the book soothing and honestly told, with beautiful photography throughout. If you can find it at your library it's definitely worth a look. 

Origami Pillows