Crafting Community

This book explores the threads between community building and fiber arts. Essays explore a variety of communities, different types of crafts, and the unique spaces and places where those communities exist. Readers will get a sense of how community is established, supported, and deconstructed to better understand the benefits they hold for community members. Thinking about how the communities work and why members join and stay within them offers the reader a rich view into the world of fiber arts and the communities within.

Craft practice has a rich history and remains vibrant, sustaining communities while negotiating cultures within local or international contexts. More than two centuries of industrialization have not extinguished handmade goods; rather, the broader force of industrialization has redefined and continues to define the context of creation, deployment and use of craft objects. With object study at the core, this book brings together a collection of essays that address the past and present of craft production, its use and meaning within a range of community settings from the Huron Wendat of colonial Quebec to the Girls? Friendly Society of twentieth-century England. The making of handcrafted objects has and continues to flourish despite the powerful juggernaut of global industrialization, whether inspired by a calculated refutation of industrial sameness, an essential means to sustain a cultural community under threat, or a rejection of the imposed definitions by a dominant culture. The broader effects of urbanizing, imperial and globalizing projects shape the multiple contexts of interaction and resistance that can define craft ventures through place and time. By attending to the political histories of craft objects and their makers, over the last few centuries, these essays reveal the creative persistence of various hand mediums and the material debates they represented.

Craft Communities addresses the social groups, old and new, which have developed around craft production and consumption, exploring the social and cultural impact of contemporary practices of making. Addressing a wide range of crafting practice, from yarnbombs to Shetlands shawls, brassware to paper crafting, in a variety of regional and national contexts, the contributors consider how craft practices operate collectively in the home, communities, businesses, workshops, schools, social enterprises, and online. It further identifies how social media has emerged as a key driver of the 'Third Wave' of craft. From Etsy to Instagram, Twitter to Pinterest, online communities of the handmade are changing the way people buy and sell, make and meet.

An inspiring celebration of a growing movement. Crafters working to change the world and build community share their experiences, tips, and advice on living, teaching, and promoting a more meaningful DIY lifestyle.

This book explores the intersection of grassroots leadership and the arts for social change, examining the many movements and subsequent victories the arts community has won for society. The book illustrates the diverse but influential work of these figures, reflecting on their actions, commitments and their positive impact on the modern world.

Producing Women examines the ways femininity is produced through new media. Michele White considers how women are constructed, produce themselves as subjects, form vital production cultures on sites like Etsy, and deploy technological processes to reshape their identities and digital characteristics. She studies the means through which women market traditional female roles, are viewed, and produce and restructure their gendered, raced, eroticized, and sexual identities. Incorporating a range of examples across numerous forms of media—including trash the dress wedding photography, Internet how-to instructions about zombie walk brides, nail polish blogging, DIY crafting, and reborn doll production—Producing Women elucidates women’s production cultures online, and the ways that individuals can critically study and engage with these practices.

Want to know what goodies you can make with your garbage? This book shows you how to give everyday household items a new life the hip craftster’s way. You’ll discover how to complete more than 30 creative projects using materials you already have at your disposal, while reducing trash and upcycling your personal style. From a credit card bracelet to a map photo frame, this fun guide shows you how to create truly one-of-a-kind pieces—one earth-friendly project at a time.

From the author of the bestselling The Bag Making Bible comes a collection of twelve inspiring bags for you to make at home—includes photos. Lisa Lam brings you a stunning collection of sewing patterns to make your own bags. The book features twelve bag designs with full photographic instructions, as well as a link to print-at-home patterns so that you can get started right away. A Bag for All Reasons is filled with Lisa’s in-depth advice, from the tools and equipment you need, to understanding and interpreting patterns, to choosing, preparing and cutting fabrics. A comprehensive techniques section explains some core bag-making techniques such as how to insert a zip pocket and how to use magnetic snap closures—everything you need to create professional, practical and great-looking bags. With projects ranging in complexity from the beginner Compact Groceries Tote to the more fully featured Too-Cool-for-School Satchel, you can progress with each new creation. You can make your own iPad case, sew a child’s backpack, create a pretty purse using a metal purse frame, and so much more! The bags all have style and substance and are designed with real-life practical uses in mind. Within each project Lisa gives her hints and tips for success, along with advice on how you can customize the patterns to create your own version of the design. “Lisa has created another, spirited collection of gorgeous bags that are fashionable with an added higher purpose of being incredibly useful! This information rich book will elevate your sewing know how with versatile techniques and inspiring suggestions for making these bags your own.” —Amy Butler, author of “Style Stitches”