by Noella Noelophile®
This article contains an affiliate link. If you click on it and purchase a product, I do receive a small commission.
When I was small, someone in my family was always making something.
I can still see my grandmother, sewng in her “back room”. She’d work the treadle of her ancient Singer machine with a vigor that belied her seventy-plus years.
Dresses, doll clothes, patchwork quilts and various other items of clothing resulted from those sewing sessions. Her stitching was perfect.
Today, we still have two of the quilts she made–which never fail to bring a smile, as some of the patches are leftover fabric from the dresses she wore. Snuggling under one of those quilts evokes the memory of Grandmom, dressed for Sunday church services or fixing herself up to “look nice” in the afternoons, just as she had when my grandfather was alive.
In our house, knitting needles, crochet hooks and yarn were staples. My mother appeared to enjoy crochet most. She made many a “sacque, bonnet and booties” set, as she called them, for new babies in the family. And we would always make something together for our church’s yearly bazaar.
What I remember best, are the needlework magazines we bought, from which we’d choose a pattern and run up the item for the bazaar’s “handmade” table. Stuffed animals were my specialty, while Mom made her lacy baby sets. Invariably, they sold early.
And when I moved out to California, needlework helped me to feel at home.
On San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, in the late 1970s, was a wonderful needlework/textile store. They had crewel needlework kits for Christmas ornaments. I still remember paying my $5 (it was the 1970s, after all!) and taking my work with me to stitch over my lunch break in Ghirardelli Square.
Today, we still have those two ornaments. As well as the latch hook projects (pillows and wall hanging) I created for my apartment, several years later.
In a time when women were just coming into their own and starting to be taken seriously, professionally, stitchery was one means of creative expression. Often a woman (like my grandmother and my mom, for whom educational opportunities were limited) would display her talents through the items she made.
Fast-forward to 2021. Most people still love to make things. For Christmas gift giving, we generally like to go with a kit or creativity-encouraging item.
A favorite response, from one of our gift recipients, happened a few Christmases ago. My then-eight-year-old cousin unwrapped a jewelry-making kit we’d chose for her. She just barely suppressed an excited squeal!
What do you most enjoy making? And what maker craft would you like to introduce to special people in your life? This Christmas season especially, let’s go for that joyous squeal.
Here is one possible link for your consideration. As noted above, this is an affiliate link, and if you do wind up buying a kit or other items, I do receive a small commission.
But, I also really like Leisure Arts. They have all kinds of crafts supplies and instructions, and here is my affiliate link for their kits, for your review.