Kitschy Crafts: A Celebration of Overlooked 20th-Century Crafts

by Jo Packham and Matt Shay

Book Overview

It's fun, it's retro-and it's back in style. Take a fond look back at the kitschy crafts of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, from crocheted doilies to shell-art nightlights. All these nostalgic creations appear in appropriately fashioned period settings that will captivate browsers, and come with instructions for those who just can't resist creating their own string-art pictures, pink flamingo items, far-out tie dyes, kooky candles, macram plant hangers,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402717547
• ISBN13: 9781402717543
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Chapelle
• Length: 127 Pages
• Weight: 1.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.9" x 10.4"

Customer Reviews

Hey That's My House!

I was at a Half Price book store in Dallas just minding my own business thumbing through old magazines and craft books when I picked up Kitschy Crafts: A Celebration of Overlooked 20th-Century Crafts by by Jo Packham and Matt Shay. My first thoughts were wow what cute old graphics and secondly this is a lot like Leah Kramer's The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties. Both have adorable re-do's of old vintage craft projects like toilet paper covers and macaroni art. So anyway there I am flipping through and all the sudden I land on page 95 where a doll in a crocheted dress and a pink plastic elephant were staring back at me and I did a double take. I went though a range of emotions quickly from: "wow they're cute" to "hmmm that looks vaguely familiar" to looking on the next page and shouting out loud in the book store "Hey that's my bathroom". I mean you can even see my tooth paste, prescription bottles, framed pictures of husbands and more. Most importantly you can see the amazing custom mosaic my mother Fredda Perkins author of Wall Pockets of the Past: Collector's Identification and Value Guide did for my bathroom. Further flipage resulted in discovering my living room on page 78-79. My living room shares the page with a fun project on making a paper collage. The project actually looks really easy and fun. I am partial to the home décor pictures inside but the projects are the main focus and they are really cute. I have to say I am partial to the safety pin necklace. Maybe I will make something with safety pins for The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry part 2!