The Craft Revolution

It’s an unfortunate phrase, though, one which brings to mind PVA glue and spaghetti pictures, finger paints and the endless possibilities offered by an empty yoghurt pot when you were five. But this couldn’t be further from the truth; crafts in 2009 have taken on a chic, professional look and are a great way to ensure that you’re wearing something totally unique.

Take, for example, the current thirst for vintage fashion. While the more boutique shops will have already done the hard work of altering clothes for you, the true vintage connoisseur will tell you that a little skill with needle and thread will go a long way to making frumpy seventies frocks look elegant.

Etsy.com has over 200,000 people registered to sell their hand-made goods.

Pricey London department store Liberty has recently opened a sewing school, encouraging the more adventurous to try making their own clothing from scratch, and even Channel 4 fashion guru Gok Wan has got in on the action, offering tips on how to customise high street style for even the most incompetent sewer in his latest series.

Fashion, of course, is not the only outlet for creativity. A five minute browse through online retailer Etsy.com shows clearly the breadth of new skill that people are developing, as well as a few old ones. The website has over 200,000 people registered to sell their hand-made goods, ranging from patchwork quilts and knitted leg warmers to more ambitious items including fantastically intricate fairytale design beds from Scandinavia.

But there are thousands of people doing just about anything you can think of on the internet. The question is, are there any real people taking on this fashion for make do and mend that aren’t speed-knitting grannies or playgroup owners? The answer, it seems, is yes. Apart from a large number of (generally, but no guarantees) non-psychotic internet communities, York has a ‘Knit and Natter’ group meeting weekly in Acomb, while the University has its very own CraftSoc.

So, in the spirit of participation, I decided to have a crack at the whole ‘here’s one I made earlier’ lark myself. Now, my knitting skills are rudimentary at best; I’ve been taught how to do it on at least four separate occasions over the years and then promptly forgotten everything, and the only item that I’ve ever managed to complete was a chunky orange scarf knitted so tightly that it couldn’t actually bend - it was a little like wearing a piece of corrugated card around your neck.

Undaunted by this, I successfully located needles, wool – although those of us in the know refer to it as yarn. Something to do with very little of the stuff being actually made of wool, these days – and a quick trip to the library provided me with ‘Knitting for dummies’, or the closest equivalent.

It’s a completely unique item of clothing.

The thing is, knitting is not actually that hard once you’ve got the hang of it. In fact, part of the fun of it is that once you’ve got past the part where you have to concentrate intensely to make sure you don’t lose a stitch, it’s pretty easy to hold a conversation, or watch television, or whatever, while you’re doing it. I found that it gets you a few odd looks, but that knitting in public is also a good conversation starter. Although, most of those conversations started with puzzled enquiries as to what, exactly, I was trying to make.

The end result? I now have a scarf that bends of its own free will to wear with pride next winter knowing that it’s a completely unique item of clothing, although it'll be a long time before anyone describes anything I've made as art. And I’ve learned that the crafts that granny used to enjoy actually were quite enjoyable. Now all I need to decide is whether to tackle sewing, or crocheting next. And for anyone wanting to have a go at creating themselves, here are a few links you might like to take a look at:

Recycle those coke bottles into a surprisingly simple vase.

Create your own corsage with these instructions.

Jazz up your room with these incredibly easy fairy lights.

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