AU&NZ Complete Book of Handicrafts

I was down in Tasmania for the Christmas holidays, visiting family in Hobart. While I was there, I dropped into the Salvos on Elizabeth St. (I love love love browsing through charity shops) and picked up the Australia and New Zealand Complete Book of Handicrafts for au$5.

I love the kitsch cover & gaudy burnt orange background. I love the "Quality&Value" sticker on the front, awarded by the book's own publisher. This second Impression is from 1977, and I especially love the very 70s photos, with big hairstyles & crochet bikinis,


and kids wearing full-knit ensembles & adults wearing crochet ones.


But at the end of the day, I bought it because it has large simple drawings explaining the basics of a range of crafts I've been wanting to learn / brush up on:


It goes over all the basics of:

1. Knitting
2. Crochet
3. Sewing
4. Dyecraft
5. Batik
6. Spinning&weaving
7. Rugmaking
8. Patchwork
9. Embroidery
10. Machine embroidery
11. Tapestry
12. Macramé
13. Leathercraft
14. Gifts & Bazaar items
15. Soft furnishings

I'm most interested in the chapters on crochet, embroidery & patchwork, but macramé looks interesting, as do the chapters on making sofa covers & curtains. I love that there are lots of b&w and colour illustrations... I find some of the projects to be positively unappealing, and others to be surprisingly beautiful. Perhaps I'll share some more photos as I work my way through the book.

I'll leave you with the opening line of the Introduction to ponder over...

Every woman has latent creative talent living within her.

:P