Do you remember your very first craft? I used to make glitter pictures in my fort under the dining room table, but I guess that doesn’t really count. The first big thing I remember making is a knitted vest. I asked my mother to teach me to knit, and then I got some super bulky, itchy wool yarn in a charcoal grey and knit up a vest that buttoned up the back. It’s probably buried in my parents’ house somewhere.
I started thinking about early crafting a couple weeks ago when my friend’s 10-year-old gave me some handmade earrings:
So, what was your first crafting endeavor?
I remember braiding like 3 huge skeins of yarn. Just braiding and braiding and braiding while I recovered from having my tonsils out. After that I knitted doll blankets in Red Heart Mexicana–the rainbow yarn that every little kid loves. I still keep skeins of it in the basement, ugly acrylic that it is, because I will always love it and because little kids love to learn to knit with it. It’s mesmerizing.
the earliest i remember is making these straight shifts for my barbie dolls – i must have been about 9 or 10 years old. then in the 70’s hippy era it was indian seed bead necklaces and bracelets…btw, i love the earrings-very cool looking….
the earrings are so cute!
my first craft that i can remember was about 10 feet of crocheted chain. i never learned to crochet past the chain-making… just went on and on 🙂
I’d have to say that beading was my first craft too. In fact, I made tons and tons of earrings and (much like Janey’s Jewels) attached them to cards that said ‘Bridgette’s Baubles’.
I don’t really remember what my first craft was because I’ve always done some kind of crafty thing. I do remember pouring plaster in molds with my mom and making figurines and jewelry to paint when I was probably in first grade. And when every other little girl was making doll clothes, I made clothes for my big plastic Breyer horse! I love animals and would rather play with my metal barn and farm animals than baby dolls. My grandmother taught me embroidery, so I did that and needlepoint. I also did beading, macrame and anything else I could get my hands on! I tried it all at one time or another.
What a great question! I had to think back… but then I remembered that my first craft is proudly hung up in my parents’ house – a huge painting of flowers and a rainbow – it must be 4 feet by 3 feet. You’ve inspired me to go there and photograph it!
The first real craft I remember was an apron I made when I was about 8 or so. I made it from instructions in some “rainy-day activities” book for kids; I’m not sure if it involved sewing the pieces together (it might have, I had a kids’ sewing machine that kinda worked), but i do remember gluing down hems.
I think my first craft project probably involved cutting up crayons & ironing them between two sheets of wax paper. (Always good to start out with the burning appliances) Then we cut them up & made mobiles. Also the wooden spoon puppets. I’m pretty sure my first knitting or crocheting project would have been a doll blanket.
First project was a small mini cross-stitch kit I picked up from Wal-mart. I think I was 9 or 10? Oh and probably friendship bracelets before that…although I don’t know how crafty that is. I tried to get my sister to craft when she was younger but she never seemed to have the patience or inclination for it. It’s strange, b/c I’m so impatient but I could probably sit down with a good craft project for days.
Hmmm, let’s see now…the first thing I remember is being taught simple embroidery stitches by my mom when I was about 5 years old. We went through a “paint by numbers” thing soone thereafter, but I also recall being taught by a very nice lady through “Y Teens” (does this even exist anymore?)to knit mittens (that was the first project – two needle mittens).
Oh, oh, we made batik cloth in Vacation Bible School when I was six. Hardcore stuff.
Well, if we don’t count attempting to “fix” my dolls’ hair and clothes armed only with scissors (or coloring/writing/drawing etc), then my first craft was probably my Fisher Price Loom. I ripped through the projects that came with it–and have zero clue what happened to them. I LOVED it and wanted more…
My mom was a GirlScout leader and an art teacher for a while, so most of my first projects were from there. The first craft I completed on my own was a crochet pot holder/ Barbie blanket.
Boy, I don’t know if I can actually recall the first one. I made lots of those potholders you weave on a little plastic loom. I loved sewing since it seemed so cool that I could get some fabric and (hopefully) end up with a new toy or doll clothes. I do remember making a sock doll when I was probably about 8. It looked a lot like the doll Lilo made in Lilo and Stitch, haha.
Oh man–it was a tiny pillow that I embroidered–it had a little dog on it and said “RUPPY”. To this day I have trouble spelling things correctly when I’m focusing too hard (for instance, trying to write something in something in fancy handwriting or on a huge poster).
I don’t know that it would necessarily qualify as a “craft” but I sure did at the time… take crayons and scissors. Make tons of scrapings and put between two pieces of wax paper and iron together. Ta-da. 🙂
After that, I would say latch-hooking rugs when I was about 8-9 and hanging out with my aunt who was in high school and that was the cool thing at the time.
My first craft was embroidery on felt when I was about three. Ironically, I’m back to doing that again at age 39. Mom was making some little Christmas stockings and let me have one to play with. We kept my project for a long time, although I haven’t seen it for years.
Ah, the memories of early crafting and needlework. I’d spend weekends at my grandma’s home, just down the street, learning to sew and crochet while watching Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas and Falcon’s Crest. Those were the days. My first projects were shirts for my teddy bear and lots of crochet *samplers*.
My first craft must have been when I was a Brownie Girl Scout. I remember making our “sit upons”. It was very exciting and fun. My grandmother taught me to crochet not long after that. So I’ve been rocking and rolling with fiber since second grade, and I never looked back!
My first craft was painting rocks from my grandparents driveway.
Knitting. I learned when I was 4. My next craft was probably crewel embroidery and hand sewing. My mother sewed so I learned to hand sew early.
I’ve been thinking of craft projects past myself, of late. I think my earliest needlecraft project was needlepoint, taught to me by my father when I was about 9. Otherwise, I would improvise with whatever I could find. One early project was making a box with a sliding lid using flat toothpicks and Elmer’s Glue. I used so much Elmer’s Glue that it coated much of the little box, which I then “painted” using felt tip pens, and on the lid of the box I painted an US flag and a peace sign (it was the early 1970’s).
For months I was obsessed with building nests at age 8. Mud and sticks and grass all patched and woven together. I made rows of them all over our yard. Maybe that doesn’t count as a craft, more of a mental disorder? I then started on dolls with stuffed pantyhose heads, where you embroider their faces. Then came sewing and knitting around age 10.
The first craft I remember is latch hooking. We had a cabin about 4 hours away so on the way there I’d always hang out in the back of the van and hook away!
Otherwise there was always the random crafts we did in Girl Scouts: batik, sewing, needlepoint, cross-stitching, sun catchers, etc.
The first thing I remember making was a Rapunzel Castle! It was a project at school when I was 5, we rolled up some card into a tube, added a base, cut out a high window, made a paper doll with really long string hair and made a bed and some artwork to go inside! That was so much fun 😀
Latch hook rugs and those loop pot holders
I knitted a purple bonnet for my baby doll when I was eight years old. The ladies at my grandmother’s local yarn store puzzled at coming up with a pattern, as I had given the doll a hacked up buzz cut about a year before that. So some shaping was needed. The end result was most likely *only* attractive to me and my proud grandma (the one who taught me to knit in the first place). I thought it was beautiful, though 🙂
My 1st grade teacher had these bottles of colored water on a high shelf in front of the window in our classroom and I thought they were so beautiful, so I went home and filled some jars with water, and used “Good and Fruity” candies to color it. Sadly, the candy kind of left little bits of debris in the water so it wasn’t as stunning as my teacher’s but I liked it anyway. They stayed on my windowsill for a long time.
when i was 10, i used to make hair clips woven with thin ribbon, criss-crossing through the clip, then hanging down through your hair. really cute! i sold them at my aunt’s x-mas bazaar each year and made all of my x-mas spending $$. i did it for a few years then forgot about it. i made ~100 pair at a time.
It’s interesting the memories we dig up when we start thinking about the past…When I was young I loved drawing, so it was lot of paint, crayons & paper kind of things. Mid-teens I was so consumed with good grades crafting took a back seat, and I didn’t really craft much again until my early 20’s when I got into needle crafts for the first time, especially silk ribbon embroidery and other types of embroidery. Since them I’ve been exploring all the wonderful realm of needlecrafts has to offer. Knitting in the last 3 yrs has been a big joy as well as all kinds of sewing. I can’t keep my hands still! Happy Crafting! :o)
The first thing I remember trying to do was make a red, white, and blue striped ice cube for the 4th of July. Of course, I was completely impatient. Someone told me that hot water freezes faster than cold. So I put a 1/4 of really hot red water in the cube things, and froze that. Then I poured some really hot (boiling) clear water in on top of that, and it all turned pink and melted (naturally) and then I quit (typical). But I still think those would’ve been cool. DAMN YOU SCIENCE!!!
These earrings are very cute, and I like the way she’s made her own cards to go with them. Very clever young lady. I’d like to make some too for my own beaded jewelry. Great inspiration. Thanks!
Aside from projects made in Brownies (pot holders, needle cases. etc) the first thing I designed and made myself, at age 15, were tiny ladybug pins. I painted a ladybug colorscheme on a tiny metal circle and had my Dad show me how to solder a straight pin onto the back. I made a bunch and gave them to friends. We all wore them in the Peter Pan collars of our 60’s era blouses. Sort of a paean to Vera scarves and the signature ladybug.
The next project, in the late 60’s, was to take a Noxema bottle I found broken along the railroad tracks, and glue the pieces to a footed glass to make a votive holder (except that was before votives!)then put grout in between the pieces and color the grout black with India Ink, to look like stained glass. Seems to be very popular now with the Pier 1 designers these days.
I love the way each generation comes up with and embraces new crafts. It seems to be huge right now, with so many new sources of raw materials. It’s mind-boggling just ot go into a stamping or journaling store.
When I was about 6 (mid 70’s) I received a Sunshine Family craft van to go with my Sunshine Family doll set. http://www.feelingretro.com/view_toy.cfm?id=84
The Sunshine family would travel around in this yellow pick-up that had a camper on the back (I think this was made of masonite) and sell their crafts. The set came with these little booklets that had craft ideas you could make at home – hanging lamps made from sections of egg carton, dressers made from matchboxes and covered with contact paper, salt clay pots, etc. While I vaguely remember making most of the crafts in the book, I have a vivid memory of braiding yarn (light and dark green) with my mom and then glueing it in coils to little pieces of round cardboard for the Sunshine Family’s rugs. I’m pretty sure I still have those little rugs somewhere…
oh boy … i used to draw when i was really little. and then i built doll houses out of cardboard boxes (i wanted a real doll house and for some reason never got one). i used to use scrap pieces of fabric and trim and make dresses for my barbies. when i was around 4 i remember getting a kiddy sewing machine too. plus there was the crochet and knitting. when i learned how to knit and crochet, i made clothes for my barbies too. and then i remember sewing a halter top for myself when i was maybe 9 or 10. i was a very crafty little kid. and it all took a back seat when i started competing for grades.
My Grandmother was a professional seamstress who owned her own shop. When I was a little girl, 5 or so, I was lucky enough to have been able to hang around with her and my Grandfather in the shop for many years.
I remember sitting on the huge cutting table and taking the scraps that she cut off. I would then take the scraps and make covered buttons and items for my Barbies. I wasn’t able to use her machine because I was too young but I had a needle and thread and sewed up a storm.
These are great memories for me because my Mom helped Granny sew all the time, 2 machines running was music to my ears. I sure miss her and wish I was half the seamstress she and my Mom were.
Sadly I was never really encouraged to be artistic as a child. I remember doing an awesome painting in grade 1 and knowing the teacher was really miffed I used so much paint. Hmmph I say now as an adult.
Wasn’t until I hit university and decided I really wanted to do watercolors did the bug hit, and hard.
Your little friend is so lucky to have the materials and encouragement to be so creative!
It was either using salt dough to make sculptures or using macaroni to make pictures.
I crocheted alot – ponchos (ask!) in fact. Did one for me and a best friend, we wore them ALL the time. Kinda funny to have seen crochet and the form of modern poncho come back awhile ago… (Am I old? hee-hee) then I loved Erica Wilson stitchery – my mom proudly always had my first pillow covering on the sofa.
I think I consider a little embroidered burlap pillow my first craft. I made it at school in 4th grade I think. It was the project that this one teacher had the ‘big kids’ do. Then one weekend during that school year, we got a call that my teacher had died. I’m still so proud of that pillow and the French knots she showed me how to do!
I was reading your last post, and I love that apron/skirt. I just made an apron with some fabric from superbuzzy, and someone asked if it was, in fact, a skirt. Maybe I WILL wear it out (with something under it, or course!) as a skirt!