Confined Crafting

 I've always wanted to learn to make my own clothes, but it's not something I've had time or felt confident enough to try until recently. I am ENTIRELY a beginner - I didn't have a single sewing lesson at school and until I bought my first one had not so much as touched a sewing machine. I wrote in my Sewing Resolutions post about being plus-size and how I see dressmaking as a way to make clothes that fit me well. But that's not the whole story, and I've recently found a community of sewers who express exactly what I would like to achieve: #historybounding The term #historybounding was coined by Morgan Donner in this video: It refers to those of us who want to incorporate some historical elements to our daily style, whether that is going full-on vintage or using shapes, silhouettes and accessories that 'feel' historical. There's a strong overlap between "history bounders" and #costubers - those people who have YouTube channels where they f

One of my suggested  half term activities was to make your own play dough, so I thought I'd share our tried and tested recipe! I have tried other versions that don't include cream of tartar (as it's the one thing on the list that you might not have in). But I didn't find that they came together as well as this dough. You need: 1/2 cup table salt 1 cup plain flour 1 tablespoon oil (I used almond oil, but you can use any type, from vegetable oil to baby oil) 1 tablespoon cream of tartar Optional: food colouring and/or scent. I added lavender essential oils. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add 1 cup of boiling water (you can add the food colouring to the water instead of at the dry stage). Stir with a spoon, it will look lumpy at first. Once it is cool enough to touch, turn it onto a mat and start kneading. If you are doing this on a cool day, it is lovely to knead as soon as it is cool enough to touch but is still warm, especially if you've added a scent. The

 Half-term on top of several weeks of home schooling ... well, it feels a bit much to be honest! I asked the #ConfinedCrafting followers on Twitter what crafts they like to do with kids... here's a round up of some ideas! Sometimes simple is best - you can't beat a stack of blank paper and a fistful of colouring pens! There are some fantastic drawing tutorial videos on YouTube if the kids want to practice their artistic skills - Art for Kids Hub and Super Simple Draw are favourites of ours. Colouring books, magic painting (where water reveals the picture) and puzzles like wordsearches and mazes are also great boredom busters. If you fancy making your own colouring in sheets, why not try making an abstract picture like this one: Or experiment with creating optical illusions ? Another fun paper based activity is 'Finish the Photo' - cut out a person from a magazine or catalogue, glue them into the middle of a piece of paper and then draw in a scene around them or give th