{"id":11025,"date":"2013-03-11T06:30:07","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/?p=11025"},"modified":"2025-03-19T21:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:05:09","slug":"the-art-of-handmade-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/general\/the-art-of-handmade-living\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Handmade Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a><\/p>\n

The Art of Handmade Living: Crafting a beautiful home<\/a>
\nBy Willow Crossley \u00b7 Reviewed by Katy McRae<\/em><\/p>\n

Things got off to a good start with this book, when I read in the introduction that Willow has a son called Wolf. I also have a son called Wolf(gang), so I liked her immediately. However, I endeavoured not to let her good taste in naming her offspring bias me as I progressed through the rest of her book. I tried to be impartial and, to be honest, it wasn\u2019t hard as having sons with the same name is pretty much where our similarities end.
\n\u00a0
\nIt\u2019s fair to say that Willow\u2019s aesthetic is not minimalist. In her own words, \u201cI don\u2019t really make things that anyone might need, just things that enhance your life (or at least the way it looks).\u201d She appears to be on a one-woman mission to decorate the bejesus out of everything. Nothing is safe or sacred. House pegs are zhushed up with washi paper, coat hangers get a fabric face-lift and no lampshade is complete if it isn\u2019t festooned with ribbon and finished off with pom-pom trim.
\n\u00a0
\nI\u2019m all for adding personal touches to things but Willow can be, at times, a bit excessive in her determination to beautify everything she touches. Case in point \u2013 \u2018decorative sticks\u2019. To clarify, these are sticks that have thread wrapped around them. As Willow herself acknowledges, \u201cThey don\u2019t do anything or have any secret purpose. They are purely decorative.\u201d
\n\u00a0
\nRealistically, I don\u2019t think decorative sticks would have a place in my home but I do have a respect for the way Willow is determined to transform the mundane, the functional and the downright useless into things of beauty. She is a firm believer that functionality does not have to be at the expense of form.<\/p>\n

\"Page<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Page<\/a>
\n\u00a0
\nThe book is divided into four chapters \u2013 \u2018To Decorate\u2019, \u2018To Hang\u2019, \u2018To Use\u2019 and \u2018To Nest\u2019 \u2013 though really they are all \u2018to decorate\u2019. In the introduction she makes a point of saying that you don\u2019t need to be a technical whiz or expert stitcher to be able to make the projects in the book, and she isn\u2019t kidding. Some of these projects really are super, super simple. For example, putting a ribbon band on a hat (though she does include some handy hints on how to hide the join) or sticking felt to the back of an old tile to make a heatproof kitchen coaster. There are, however, some slightly more involved projects, particularly in the \u2018To Hang\u2019 section, which have real wow factor.
\n\u00a0
\nAs well as being straightforward, these projects don\u2019t require any great financial outlay (sticks, anyone?). It\u2019s all about using what you have to hand, or what you can rummage up from nature or the local flea market.
\n\u00a0
\nAs you would expect from a woman determined to make things beautiful, this is a beautifully presented book with photography that showcases the projects to best effect. It\u2019s an easy read and the instructions are very simple \u2013 almost to a fault. At times I felt some of the steps go without saying. For example, you must leave the glue to dry completely before hanging anything from the fabric-covered coat hanger. Bit of a no-brainer, that one. \u00a0 \u00a0
\n\u00a0
\nThe Art of Handmade Living<\/a> is the ideal present for that friend who is \u2018getting into craft\u2019. It\u2019s also a lovely addition to the bookshelves of those hardened crafters who are looking for some fresh inspiration on how to make the world a more beautiful place, one fabric-covered notebook at a time.<\/p>\n

Katy McRae likes formica tables, sharp scissors, fabric (especially felt), strong-smelling solvents and words. She also likes to make stuff. She\u2019s not a fan of the colours peppermint and royal blue.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Art of Handmade Living<\/a>
\n
\nBy Willow Crossley
Reviewed by Katy McRae<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say that Willow\u2019s aesthetic is not minimalist. In her own words, \u201cI don\u2019t really make things that anyone might need, just things that enhance your life (or at least the way it looks).\u201d In fact, she appears to be on a one-woman mission to decorate the bejesus out of everything…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[343,548,541,652],"class_list":["post-11025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-book-review","tag-home-decor","tag-katy-mcrae","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11025"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47074,"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11025\/revisions\/47074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/felt.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}