Crafts

In our increasingly digital world, selling handmade wares is becoming a viable option for income (and fun!). You need this book if you have a product to sell, and you want easy to follow tips for every aspect of creating and maintaining an online store. Seriously, this guide is so thorough that even your most un-tech-savvy crafting grandmother could rock an online business.

Instantly transform any outfit into something sumptuously feminine with these lovely handcrafted accessories. Adornments gives easy to follow directions for creating hair pieces, necklaces, earrings, belts, and more. I dare you to flip through this book and not want every item in it.

If you’ve ever had a hard time deciding whether to knit or read, you’ll understand how 100% awesome this book is. How could you not love mittens based off civil war-era patterns and a copy of Little Women? Or a cabled fisherman’s sweater and Moby Dick? A lined hood with a color-worked ermine and The Golden Compass? A hand warmer muff and Anna Karenina? It’s time: knitters and bookworms, UNITE! 

For anyone who’s ever gotten a hole in their sweater, ripped their favorite jeans, wished for pockets where there were none, or wanted to change the length of a skirt, this is the book for you. Mend It Better is an incredibly charming, easy-to-use, and, dare I say, fun book about mending. Crafters, sewers, and anyone interesting in patching or repurposing clothes, bags, and more will adore it. The critics love it, too: “An excellent addition to any sewer’s collection. This is the rare sewing book that will be pulled off the shelf for reference again and again.” —Publishers Weekly.

I love the seasonal layout of this all-encompassing guide to style, beauty, home, food, and entertaining. This summer I've learned how to utilize local fruit, make a mint julep, find the perfect vintage sun dress, and give myself beachy tousled hair. To look forward to this fall? Wearing tights right, rocking bright lipstick, and decorating for Halloween on a budget.

Quilter Denyse Schmidt has countless devoted fans, and I am certainly one of them. Her gorgeous mix of modern and traditional styles is on full display in this beautiful new book. Schmidt pays homage to the quilters and quilts that came before her by reinterpreting 20 of her favorite traditional quilt patterns for the home crafter. Each pattern is accompanied by a lively overview of its history, lovely full-page photographs, and illustrated instructions.

Ten dollar shoes (that last for one season) from Target or Old Navy might seem great, but what is the real cost? Fast fashion and disposable clothing have become our new norms, but Elizabeth Cline argues that this rapid cycle of consumption isn’t just erasing our sense of style and causing massive harm to the environment and human rights—it’s also bad for our souls. In Overdressed, Cline documents her own transformation from fast-fashion addict to conscientious shopper.

Covering basic to complicated stitches, this Harmony Guide to cables is one of my all-time most used knitting references. Cabled stitches may look complicated and scary, but realistically are not that difficult! With this Harmony Guide's super easy to follow stitch charts by your side, you'll be able to add warmth and texture to any piece--and not to mention impress all your friends.

Be the best in show with this amazing collection of knitted pooch patterns! From hounds to sporting, terriers to working—this book has it all. For all your dog loving knitting friends, Knit Your Own Dog is the perfect companion to knit your perfect companion.

Part mathematics, part origami, part sheer innovation—Pattern Magic 2 is simplicity in design at its best. As the author says, “unexpected shapes and forms can be converted into flat patterns and ultimately into garments…patterns are like documents that describe a garment, conveying its structure more eloquently than words.”