Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts - sew a seating system freebie



I love the stripy green fabric!

Hello there!

If you read my last post, you'll know that I've just bought a set of partwork craft magazines that I had as a child, so I've been tripping down memory lane with them! I've also set up a Flickr group, Golden Hands Crafts - For Everyone, so if any of you have your own copies of Golden Hands or Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts, you can share them with the rest of us!

They certainly are weird and wonderful... last night I was reading about marbling paper with seaweed, and I thought, "this is something I could do", until I read that I would need a couple of pints of something called 'oxgall' that I could get from my local slaughterhouse!! I don't even WANT to know where my nearest slaughterhouse is (I'm vegetarian), let alone actually go there! So I guess I won't be using that technique...



Get a fire guard on that open fire! Health and safety was "stuff and nonsense" in the 1970s...

This is much nicer. This impressive project would really give your sewing maching a good workout... sew your own 'seating system'! In my imagination, I am tempted to try this, but I know it'll never happen. I really like the look of it, they've styled the photos so well, but what would they be like in reality? Just beanbags with a bolster? Maybe if you had some quite large blocks of reasonably solid foam, they could work. Anyone want to have a go? I've embedded the full project as a PDF below.  If I ever have a go at this I'll let you know how it turns out...

GHC Seating System Project

Best wishes

Joey xx

Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts - embroidery designs freebie

Where it all began...

This year is flying past so quickly, I can't believe how little I've blogged! And I don't even have a particularly good excuse for not doing so either. What HAVE I been doing? I must have just been existing really...


Well, I want to put that straight RIGHT NOW! So I'm going to share with you all something from my childhood...


They like their embroidered tops, don't they?

 One of my elder sisters used to collect a part-work magazine called "The Golden Hands Encyclopedia of Crafts", published by Marshall Cavendish, in 1975. I was only two years old at the time, but my sister was about 15. I don't think she collected the whole set of 98 issues, but it was near enough. The magazines lived in a cardboard box, and when she had done with them, I "appropriated" them for myself.


Embroidered dress

I LOVED those magazines! They were full of such wonders as macrame, pottery, enamelling, basketry, needlepoint, crochet, making stuff with old tin cans, paint effects like stencilling, embroidery, woodwork, beadwork, weaving, glasswork... the list just goes on and on... you name it, most crafts were probably covered. Although I only attempted a couple of projects (most of it was outside of my capability and level of confidence at the time), I read and re-read these magazines from cover to cover, many many times. And pored over the pictures for literally hours and hours.


They don't make dresses like that anymore... cute embroidery though!


Oh! The pictures! To me, they are the very essence of the 70s... a mixture of really good design, and terrible fashion sense! Or was it really good fashion sense?

Anyway, she claimed them back from me after I'd left home, so I hadn't seen them for about 20 years, until now! I think I saw someone's pictures of them on Flickr or on a blog which piqued my interest again, but I hadn't forgotten them. Then when I found a set of a few on eBay, from a UK seller, I just had to bid for them! And they arrived yesterday! Hurrah!



Don't look so fed-up love... the embroidery is pretty, but the puffy sleeves... well, they're something else! :D

So looking at them now, they just bring back so many happy memories. To me, they are far more than the sum of their parts. Unfortunately I only have the first 16 (it was sold as issues 1 - 17, but issue three is missing...booo!), but I hope to obtain them ALL at some point... 

Do you think her hair is meant to look like those ice-cream embroideries? Aw bless...

To start us off then, I'm going to share with you this collection of embroidery designs. Aren't they cute? These pictures and the embroidery designs are all from part 10.  Just click on the picture below to get the full-size image.

The embroidery designs - click to bring up the full-size version

I'm going to post other snippets from the magazines too, because I think they deserve to be aired after all these years in hiding! So watch this space if your appetite for some "retro crafting" has been whetted!

Best wishes

Joey xx