If there's one thing I'm passionate about it's making things. Sewing, knitting, & crocheting are right there at the top. I'd say I'm a pretty advanced crocheter but when it comes to knitting & sewing I'm pretty much a beginner. The great thing about being a beginner is that you have so far to grow - you can learn to do just about anything. But there are also a bunch of beginner resources out there that will have you making amazing, yet super simple projects in no time. So if your goal is to get creative in the new year here are some of my favorite crafty resources:
Craftsy offers classes in nearly anything you can think of. You get great, high quality videos & access to a virtual class room where you can find answers to your creative questions. Some classes even come with downloadable patterns. If you want something more in depth than a short YouTube video & something more hands on than a craft book, these virtual classes are a great option. Here's the link for sewing, knitting, & crocheting.
YouTube
If you're pretty good at picking things up, you can search for YouTube videos that can show you the basics. I even searched for how to use my brand of sewing machine - a Brother - and found some tutorials on using all the stitches available, different techniques, etc. You can find some great, in depth tutorials for different crochet & knit stitches as well as some creative inspiration. If you're ever stuck in your project YouTube is a great place to learn how to solve your problem.
Habitual Homebody Crochet Videos & Crochet Along
Find the above project instructions here
A wonderful blogger Alycia from Habitual Homebody has shared her own crochet tutorials & projects and has started a monthly crochet along. Joining in on these crochet alongs is a fun way to meet other crocheters & crochet bloggers as well as connect with others who might be learning as well. She also has a huge list of Crochet Resources on her blog featuring her own videos. She's such a nifty crocheter!
Craft Books
Images from the book 1, 2, 3, Sew
Of course, the stand by resource are crochet books. You can browse the bookstore, Amazon, or even your local library to find some easy instructions. Books to look for if you're a beginner may feature words like beginner, or Sewing 101 type of things. I also love books featuring one yard projects or one skein projects because let's be real I have the attention span of a goldfish! These types of books are sure to give you a quick fix & teach you something new. Here's a list of beginner sewing books, knitting books, & crochet books. And if you're browsing on Amazon, a lot of books are available for Kindle! So download those guys on your phone, ipad, or kindle & get to creating!
Actual In Person Classes
Many craft stores offer in-person classes in the evenings & on the weekends. These are fun to meet new people, to get out of the house! Oh, and you can learn a new craft. Craft stores offer many different levels of classes so you can learn the basics or learn something specific. A room mate of mine in college took a fun class on making a tee shirt quilt - it was simple enough to learn the basics but she also came out with an awesome product at the end. If you have a museum or gallery near you, see if they offer specialty programs like making an art quilt or learning to work with different fibers. Maybe there's even something like a mixed media class focused on fiber arts. You can really get your creative side going with something like that!
What are you going to create this year?
xoxo, Moe
thank you for including me in this post!! <3
ReplyDelete