Sunday morning I grabbed a bunch of old craft magazines off my bookshelf to see if I could part with any. It is time to clear space for newer ones.
I was flipping through an Australian magazine called Clever Sewing and Craft - I think the title is now defunct. When I got to this kitchen makeover I laughed out loud. There were instructions for making a valance and matching appliance covers. There was a “before” shot of this bare kitchen with really ugly tiles. Then this photo was the “after” shot.
“Ha-ha!” I showed it to my husband. “Look at this ugly kitchen makeover from the eighties.”
George took the magazine from me and then flipped to the front cover. “This isn’t the eighties. It says 1997 here.”
“No way!” But sure enough. This magazine was just ten years old. It was filled with country style crafts, cross stitch, folk art painting and a bunch of very unsophisticated greeting card projects. They all looked so out of date. Could things have changed so much in ten years?
So I started thinking about the crafts I had done ten years ago, then fifteen or twenty years ago. Remember fabric covered tissue boxes? Padded picture frames? All that gathered white nylon lace? (Ugh.) Piles of buttons glued on box or jar lids. Dried flower arrangements.
Come to think of it, this window valance doesn’t look so bad. It’s mainly the tiles on the wall that are ugly. And the sampler and doll on the windowsill . . . well, they do look a little dated, here. What’s on my kitchen sill? Some knitted cacti in terracotta pots. Oh, they look all right, I think. But will they be dated in another five or ten years?
What’s out and what’s in? Craft reflects design trends in general. This really got me thinking about fashions in craft. You know, Somerset Studio was more about stamping ten years ago. It is full of collage these days - mostly vintage people with with wings or party hats. Scrapbooking - a few short years ago a scrapbook page meant lots of pictures, some journaling and a couple of stickers or die cuts. Now a trendy scrapbook page has a single picture nested in an elaborate feast of decorative elements.
And there are crafts gaining in popularity just recently. Needle felting. Softies. Artist trading cards. Inchies. I hadn’t even heard of these things a few years ago.
The conclusion of my tale? I put the Clever Sewing and Craft magazine back on my book shelf. ‘Can’t part with it yet.
I will need to have another flip through it in 2017, for sure.