I enjoy working with wire and beads. I started by making my own earrings, because I love earrings and couldn’t find any that were the style I wanted. Occasionally I sell my stuff, but mostly I just make what I like, and wear it myself.
Hubby likes this, since he never has to buy me any jewelry.
I quilt and cross-stitch too, and have never kept any of the things I’ve made. Usually this is because I am so sick of them by the time I’m done, an event (baby or wedding) comes up I need to gift, I donate it for a raffle, I donate it to ABC quilts or Project Linus, or I make up a reason to give it to whomever. I usually only buy sets of fabric that will make a certain size project (no stash building here) or buy a clearance or particularly fun cross-stitch pattern.
I have two quilts made by Mom and Grandma so they are the ones I keep, but otherwise these projects don’t fit into my decor. I have made throw pillows and curtains and stuff to decorate with.
I do it to while away the time while watching TV. It gives me more of a reason to not just go sleep away the evening. And people do seem to appreciate them as gifts.
I make stuff mostly because I like to make stuff. Usually, I have a use or a recipient in mind, though. There are enough pretty things I like to make that my loved ones will use/enjoy that I don’t feel like I have to choose between making something because it’s pretty or I feel like making it, and making something for a purpose. The best example I can think of is the quilts I’ve started making. I give them as gifts, yes, but strictly because I want to make them and give them as gifts. I could just as easily go buy someting or make them something else. I pick out the designs, the fabrics, the sizes, everything, and I pick the things I do because they both satisfy my aesthetic sense and my understanding of the tastes/personality of the intended recipient.
I knit. I like to draw, but I get frustrated easily, and I would like to paint but I need start up capital.
I can read or watch TV while I knit. I like the sense of productivity it gives me, rather than just sitting and watching TV, I get to have something to hold/gift/wear after I sit and watch TV. My knitting stuff
I’ve done knitting and tatting and embroidery and crochet and cross stitch and a few other random things. Why do I do it?
It feels good. Seriously. Just the repetitive motion of handwork is meditative and soothing. Also on just a physical level, my hands are really strong, and it’s nice to feel them work, the way a good workout at the gym makes you appreciate your body.
It’s fun to watch a project emerge. You take some string and noodle around with it, and out comes a doily, or a sweater, or whatever. Cross stitch is particularly cool this way. You’re just making abunch of colored x’s and suddenly you’ve got a picture. Cool!
It’s productive. With crafting, you’ve always got a thing that you made to show for your efforts. And you can even give it away as a gift or something. This is really important to me because I’m feeling a little stressed lately, and I can’t just enjoy watching tv, because I feel like I should have my laptop open and be working on something, even when I really don’t have the brain power to do a good job. So I either do some shoddy work that’s hardly worth the time spent and miss half the plot of the tv program, or I just lie there like a lump and watch tv and feel guilty the whole time because I’m not accomplishing anything . . . or I pull out some knitting, then it’s okay because, yeah, I’m watching tv, but I’m also doing something productive, so I don’t feel the need beat myself up over not working.
It impresses people. Yep, it’s shallow and selfish, but damn do I love to show a project off and have people rave about how amazing and gorgeous it is, how they could never do that in a million years, etc. I’m such a primadonna at baby showers that it isn’t even funny. The expectant mom opens the fun gifts, and the cute gifts, and the practical gifts, and the expensive gifts, and then gets to my handmade baby sweater and everybody goes bonkers over it. Yeah, I admit it, I lap that up. “Oh, my, thank you, but, you’re too kind. It wasn’t anything. Just something I do while watching TV.”
FilmGeek your scarves are gorgeous, I love them. I’ve tried knitting so many times and I just. don’t. get it. so I’m always impressed by those that are really good at it.
Hi, my name is LifeOnWry and I’m a compulsive crafter.
(“Hi, LifeOnWry!”)
I do it because I hafta. I can’t sit still unless my hands are busy, and I have been known to eat, craft and read all at the same time. I have been fortunate in that I’m good enough at the crafts I do to be able to make at least enough money to support my habit. I write project articles for craft magazines, review manufacturers’ products, and sell some of my work. I almost always make things with a recipient in mind, even if I plan to sell the item (I will often make a piece of jewelry and think, “oh, the WryGuy’s Aunt Barb would like this” or “Oooh, this is similar to Kathleen’s style!”)
I love to play with color, pattern and design. I crochet, make jewelry (beaded and polymer clay), do other things with polymer clay, cross-stitch (and I’m far gone enough to make my own charts), crazy quilt, make costumes, scrapbooking, ribboncraft, silk painting, soapmaking, stamping, painting, bookbinding, embroidery, needlepoint, papercraft and candlemaking. There is no craft so mundane or weird that I won’t at least try my hand at it.
I’m a sporadic knitter. I almost always have someone specific in mind when I start a project. I especially like knitting for babies, because that gives me more of an incentive to work on the project: “The kid’s due in June, better get cracking!” I agree with what others have said, though. I like working with my hands and making something pretty/cozy/useful.
Quick question for the cross-stitchers (hope this isn’t too much of a hijack): where do you find your patterns? I’d like to try cross-stitch, but all of the patterns and kits I’ve found at Michaels have been too tacky or cheesy, not my style at all.
Yeah, Michael’s and JoAnn’s- type places are very disappointing. I have found patterns in embroidery shops (there ought to be one in your area if you live in a good-sized city), bookstores that carried a wide selection of pattern books, catalogs, and once in Heathrow airport. You might try Keepsake NeedleArts, which has a wide variety. They sell a lot of kits, so I often see a project I like and then go online to find the pattern by itself from some other source. If you look around online, there’s an enormous amount, for all tastes. Do you wish to stitch a Discworld character? A reproduction of a Renaissance or Early American design? Whatever the style you want, someone has done a design for it somewhere.
Full Disclosure: I machine sew, decoupage, bead, sketch a bit, make books and other things out of recycled stuff, kumihimo, and recently learned how to embroider.
I do it because I like to repurpose things and like to make things. Courderoy trousers from high school are now pillows, old cassette case slips are now mini-books, and, well, I don’t know what I’m going to do with the kumihimo yet.
In general, I tend to prefer the things I make just because I made them.
Also, I ran into the same issue as burundi in choosing embroidery patterns, then discovered the wonder of the the iron-transfer pen!
I: cross-stitch, knit (yes, I am 15 and I knit…), fold origami (I made a bouquet of origami roses for an art project), and crochet. But, I cannot: draw, paint, sketch or sculpt. Don’t know why.
I do it because:
I’m a hands-on person. I have to write my notes down for them to get into my head. I just like using my hands.
Craft projects (especially cross-stitching for me) are so pretty. And the fact that I made them make me proud of myself.
It kills time. If I’m ever bored and I just need to do something, I do a small craft project.
People like them. 'Nuff said.
Good for you:
My aunt tried to teach me to knit at 15. I couldn’t sit still long enough. Now I knit, and I could have had 14 years of training.
(Holy mother of Og, am I really 14 years older than you? Eek.)
I enjoy the process. I sew because I love starting out with 14 pieces (or 16 or 23) and ending up with one, finished garment.
I love to cross stitch but seldom bother to get them framed, mostly because framing is so expensive.
I also love to knit but have to pace myself nowadays because of shoulder pain. Nothing annoys me more than someone saying, “Why did you knit that? It must’ve taken you months. You could’ve bought it at Target for $xx.” Such a person clearly has no idea.
I must be the exception here. I knit because I want stuff. I’ve always been a crafty, creative person (I’ve done cross stitch, drawing, painting, refinishing furniture, etc.), and I do very much enjoy the process, but my main motivation is that I want the finished product. I always have a recipient in mind. Otherwise, I wouldn’t ever finish anything and I wouldn’t get the satisfaction that I get. I do sometimes have several projects going at once, but I almost always have a deadline in my mind and I usually meet the deadline. That really sounds anal.
I loooove to knit and I get almost obsessed with it when I’m in the middle of something. Right now, I’m working on a Guernsey sweater and a turtleneck sweater, both for my son. I also have a slipper almost finished and ready to felt (I’ve completed the first of the pair). I think about it all the time and I have about six projects lined up in my mind that I’ll work on throughout the year. When I have a project going, I’ll stay up into the wee hours working on it and I can’t get it out of my mind. When it’s done, I’ll sometimes go weeks without picking up the needles.
Podkayne, I’ll admit it, too…I also love the feedback I get from people. I’m an attention whore, I know.
I do understand, though, the people who craft for the sake of crafting. If I didn’t enjoy doing it, I wouldn’t just for the sake of having a sweater. I taught a friend of mine to knit. She worked for months on a garter stitch scarf and she really enjoyed it. Her husband saw it and said, “Why did you spend all that time for that? You could have gone to the store and bought one much nicer?” No, she didn’t injure him, but he did get withering eye-rolls from both of us.
I draw, paint, make pottery, and sew. Everyone here has given good answers. My answers are the same or similar: Because it’s something to do. Because I like making things. I like the process. I like to express myself. I feel good about myself when I am productive and accomplish something unique. Etc., etc.
Also, with the sewing and pottery, I actually use the stuff I make. In a way, it saves money (especially the clothes). I also sometimes sell my work. Helps pay for materials and time, and “justifies” making more!
I can relate to this. Although I like to knit because I find it relaxing and fun, I don’t start a project unless I know I’ll like it in the end, and want to wear it. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t taken up needlepoint even though it seems right up my alley, most of the designs in the stores are old-ladyish and I don’t know what I’d do with them when I finished. If I could find some really bitching needlepoint designs I’d take that up. But yeah, I’d say my craftyness is half about fun and relaxation, and half about wanting to make neat things that I can wear and use.
Nothing infuriates me more than the “why did you make that, you could have bought it at Walmart for two bucks and it wouldn’t look like it was made by hand” thing. Yeah, dude, I guess I should just use pills and candy to quiet my busy fingers like you do.
I’m bad about finishing my cross stitch projects.
I’m working on one now; I’ll actually be done with it in a couple of days (I started it less than a week ago, too, by far the fastest I’ve ever finished anything). It’s for a baby shower in April, for a friend who is going to move away soon. I want to give her something she can keep forever. All baby clothes eventually end up in the trash, ya know?
I find if I have a deadline I am much more likely to git 'r done.
I’ve never made anything for myself. Maybe someday. Since I have more fun giving gifts to other people than I do getting something for myself, I think I’ll have to be totally in love with a project before I actually put in the time and effort into doing something that will adorn my wall.
I do it because it’s the only thing remotely artistic I can do. I can’t draw a stickman, much less paint or make other stuff. It keeps my hands busy, kills time, and in the end I’ve created something. They make good gifts. I imagine nobody at this upcoming baby shower will give a cross stitched gift. I like being unique. It’s not that I want people to ooh and ahh, it’s just that I want my friend to know that I thought enough of her to put in the time and energy to make her something, rather than grab something off of the rack.
FWIW, I’m a purist. I see beautiful kits in stores, but I don’t trust them. They never have enough thread in them: one major boo boo and it’s ruined, or at least that’s been my experience. And the kind with the X’s stamped on them? shudder
I’m learning to sew, too; it’s one of my classes this semester. I just want to be able to make Abbie Jr. cute clothes and maybe a few things for myself. (I’ve given up on plus sized clothing stores to put out anything decent in my size.)
So far I don’t seem to have a natural knack for sewing, but that’s okay because I’m not looking to become some expert seamstress. I’m fine with sewing simple stuff — plus I figure I’ll get better as I practice.
Next on my list is cake decorating.
Only a Philistine would say something like that. “Handmade”=“Bad” is for people with little class, IMHO. In the crowd I hang out with, “handmade” equals “one-of-a-kind, beyond price (well, sometimes), and ultra-cool.” “Handmade” also equals, “I can make something, dammit, and it took me a while to get good at it, and I’m proud of it.” It beats fiddling with candy or the remote, any day.
A great way to go, no matter what your size. But particularly for non-“standard” sizes (plus, petite, tall). You get clothes that fit you, often at a fraction of the price of ready-to-wear. My tip (which you’ve probably heard a jillion times already): Work on a pattern of separates (top, pants, skirt, etc.) until you get it just right. Keep sewing it and sewing it and sewing it. (Transfer the pattern to tough butcher paper to keep it from tearing.) Nobody will ever notice that you’re wearing the same style over and over, as long as you vary the fabric enough. (Hell, people probably won’t notice even if you don’t vary the type of fabric, and even if they do, who cares? If the style looks good on you, the more the merrier!) After you keep sewing the same pattern several times, you get so you can bang out that top or pants in a few hours. It’s great.
Nobody had ever suggested that to me, yosemite, but it makes perfect sense!
I’m going to start keeping my eyes peeled for a pattern I like
Oh, I love the attention. People look at something I made and gush over it like it was a miracle (and all I can see are the flaws!). It’s pretty great. 