Lots of us have been spending more time than we’re used to stuck at home, looking to fill the strangely empty hours between each government briefing. While those people who have to make the dangerous trip to work, or deal with unexpected child-care demands are possibly facing greater burdens, filling time with something that feels meaningful is important for your mental health and shouldn’t be ignored.
Developing a new crafting hobby could be the answer you’re looking for – and there are plenty of crafts you can try at a low cost in your own home!
Weaving
You might be surprised to find that weaving is one of the crafts that you can sample at home. The word might conjure up images of huge mechanical looms, but if you’re not planning on creating textiles on the industrial scale, you can do a lot with a hand loom or even a home made frame.
Weaving is simply the art of interlacing two strands of yarn or thread to create a textile or a decoration.You can make a hand sized loom with scrap wood or an old picture frame or, if you’re planning a very small scale trial using only sewing thread, cardboard. You just need to be able to secure the vertical threads – the warp – and ensure they’re taught, so you can interweave the horizontal threads, and create a pattern.
Rainbow rope weaving, coasters or simple abstract designs are all good starter projects to see if weaving is the right craft for you.
Sewing
From the outside, sewing can look like a complicated craft, requiring lots of different materials and expertise. In fact, simple sewing projects can be easy to complete with bits and pieces you already have in the house – the only thing you might need to buy is a needle and thread, if you don’t have one already for reattaching loose buttons.
A simple starter project is making an old t-shirt into a cushion cover. You can customise the t-shirt if you prefer, dying it to create a more attractive look, and then following a simple sewing pattern to turn it into a square cushion cover for your sofa. When you see how easy it is to make something yourself just with a needle and thread, you could be inspired to take on more projects.
You could also use your new sewing skills to decorate clothes – or your new sofa cushion! Surface embroidery doesn’t require a special fabric to sew into or a pattern: you can just use a needle and thread to express yourself on any fabric that you can sew into!
