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2020 in Crafts

 How was your crafting year?


For me, homeschooling in the first part of the year left little time for crafting - except with the kids, as part of learning. There was a lot of drawing, colouring, painting, box-modelling with a hoard of recycling, and decorating kindness stones to hide during our daily walks.


I did find time to sew up fabric masks. I knew from the beginning of the pandemic that I would never want to wear a disposable mask - washable and reusable all the way! I've experimented with various styles and methods of making them, settling on a simple shaped design in the end. Friends and family soon asked me to make up masks for them, and I ended up making some for work colleagues using fabric custom-printed with images from the archive where I work. Making so many masks certainly gave me more confidence on the sewing machine, which I had bought in 2015 inspired by the Sewing Bee, but had never really got to grips with in a serious way. Masks were a gateway back into sewing!



In the summer my daughter asked me to organise a jumble and crafts sale for the RSPCA. I made a pile of masks, all from fabric already in my stash or from old clothes. Alongside these there was a lot of upcycling: decorated tin cans turned into flower pots or pencil holders. Scrap fabric too small for masks became hair scrunchies. I practiced some hand-sewing and embroidery by making some felties. I also turned pebbles into tic-tac-toe sets and story prompts by painting the stones and making simple draw-string bags from felt. The sale raised £150, with the face masks the most popular item by far! 






In the autumn we repeated it with Halloween themed crafts. A skittles set made of tin cans painted as various monsters sold out very quickly with requests to make more! Halloween bunting, glass jars and tin cans turned into potion pots dripping slime, and felt decorations also sold out.





For Christmas I ended up sewing a number of gifts and decorations, including fabric baubles, fabric trays, rice filled hand warmers, eco-friendly washable face wipes and book cushions for the kids. I also made several of my gifts for #YayAdvent, including experimenting with melted beads (Hama beads or Perler beads)! With the kids I stamped parcel paper to make eco-friendly Christmas wrapping paper.



Looking back over 2020, crafting of one kind or another has played a vital role in my year. It has been so important to make things, however amateurish they may turn out: battling the urge for perfectionism and learning to enjoy the process has been another theme of the year! Making things feels and being creative feels like a challege to the dark, something positive and good. I have no illusions that 2021 will be any better than 2020, at least at first - so crafting will continue, which leads me onto the net post - New Year Crafting Resolutions!

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