Blog Posts by Subject: Crafts

Caryn's Candy Sushi by reynolds.james.e, on FlickrThis summer the staff of the Children's Center at 42nd Street planned an array of food-related craft activities to help highlight the ongoing Lunch Hour NYC exhibition. We started with bean/lentil picture frames and moved on to food label collage. On August 3rd, we decided to try an edible activity involving sushi made 

Join us this Saturday, May 12, 2012, when Sis Boom creator Jennifer Paganelli comes to NYPL for the latest Handmade Crafternoon.

My co-host, Maura Madden, and I love how vibrant and sunshine-y Jennifer Paganelli's designs and patterns are, so it's perfect that Paganelli will help us to make summer party garlands and banners. And I'll have summer issues of home magazines from years past to browse and inspire you in other summer project ideas!

The event will take place in 

This Saturday's Handmade Crafternoon is going to be a celebration of Library love!  On Saturday, May 7th, from 2:00 to 4:00pm, we'll welcome Ayun Halliday, author of the Zinester’s Guide to New York City; and Karen Gisonny, a fabulous librarian who wrangles the Library's amazing zine collection.

And with their help (along with some 

Designer Liesl Gibson has earned a devoted following among sewists who eagerly await each season's line of her Oliver + S sewing patterns for children's clothes. And Liesl's new book, Oliver + S Little Things to Sew, offers a broad range of projects that combine expertly written instructions with smart design elements we've come to expect and appreciate from Liesl. 

Maura and I are both flabbergasted and honored that our Library event series, Handmade Crafternoons, has been featured in Martha Stewart Living's February issue. If you've been to any events in the series in the past you'll hopefully agree with this article, which is a love letter to libraries, creativity, and community (even though Maura and I don't actually serve pizza sandwiches at our events; sorry!)

We're simply thrilled to 

Want to meet some of today's emerging knitwear designers and learn about what they do?  Or, would you rather look back in time and browse old knit and crochet magazines and books from the Library's Collections to find vintage patterns?  Either way, you'll be in luck on December 18th, as  Maura Madden (author of Crafternoon) and I host a free day of both old and 

At November 20th's Handmade Crafternoon, guest Jodi Kahn (author of, most recently Simply Sublime Gifts) provided some great inspiration on how to transform vintage images from the Library’s Digital Gallery into handsewn ornaments, card holders, sachets, and more.  Big thanks from Maura and me go out: to Jodi for her guidance; to local independent bookshop Word for selling both Jodi’s new book and

Have you ever found yourself looking for a review of a great painting show you saw in a Chelsea gallery four months ago?  Or, perhaps you saw the name of a new photographer working on Marc Jacobs’ ads and want to know more about the artist.  The Art and Picture Collections at the Mid-Manhattan Library offer art periodicals to take home from the last couple of years.  We can also help you find articles and reviews recently published or from years past in our

On Saturday, October 23rd, please join us for an afternoon of free DIY cartography at the Library.  Special guests Matt Knutzen (the Library's own geospatial librarian) and map artist Connie Brown of Redstone Studios will teach us a bit about cartography, and then we'll all put that knowledge to use in making our own personal maps.  We'll have basic supplies for this hands-on project to share, but if you have your own compass and ruler you are welcome to bring them 

Do you want to play a game called Exquisite Corpse?  Don’t worry, there’s nothing ghoulish about it; it’s a collaborative art game that was invented by the surrealists.  And it was this game that inspired illustrator and pattern designer Julia Rothman and her colleagues Jenny Volvovski and Matt Lamothe to collaborate with one hundred artists on

Last month saw the last of the Library's Handmade Crafternoon spring series, as our special guest Natalie Chanin provided us with a tremendous afternoon of stories, lessons, and inspiration.  (The list of books we browsed that afternoon will come soon, I promise!)  Although I’ll miss our creative community over the summer break, Maura and I will be busy as

Our next Handmade Crafternoon is on May 15, 2010--with special guest Natalie Chanin, the creative director of Alabama Chanin and the author of Alabama Stitch Book and Alabama Studio Style.  Chanin's line of clothing and home goods mixes homespun techniques--like stencils, applique, string quilting, and more--with gorgeous modern designs. And her approach to production--slow and sustainable--is noteworthy.

Natalie 

If you like to make stuff, chances are that when Earth Day arrives each year "green" handicrafts come to mind.  Perhaps you make new items from materials that others would consider wornout or trash; or maybe you seek out all-natural materials for your crafts.  If crafting of this kind  interests you, you might want to look back in time at how crafters from decades past approached "green" crafting. 

Here are some vintage books from the Library worth browsing both for entertainment and information:

This weekend's Handmade Crafternoon was full of industrious, creative attendees—I never fail to be wowed by the skills, enthusiasms, and interests each member of our community brings to Handmade Crafternoons. 

Thanks so much for joining us!  My thanks also go out to Maura Madden for making us laugh while introducing us to some of her favorite books, both old and new, from the Library's collections. 

Here are the books we browsed with her on Saturday:

Get ready, because you are the star at this Saturday's Handmade Crafternoon!  We invite you, our attendees, to bring your own craft projects to work on in the company of friends.

Maura Madden, my favorite expert at creating crafty social gatherings, will lead the afternoon and will share some of her favorite projects and craft books. Don't want to BYOC (that is, bring your own craft)?  Between crafty things? No worries—we'll have craft 

Don't worry! Our felt mice won't be frightening-- unless you want yours to be!Our next Handmade Crafternoon is in just two days, and my co-host Maura Madden and I hope that you will join us.  We've lined up a sweet special guest, Kata Golda, who makes extraordinary little toys and creatures out of felt  (and whose book Hand-Stitched Felt is a great guide to making your 

This weekend we launch our spring 2010 series of Handmade Crafternoons--free hands-on salons that allow you to learn from inspiring working artists, try your hand at making something new, and browse selections from the Library's research collections. I hope that you'll join us this Saturday afternoon as book artist Esther K. Smith, author of How to Make Books,

Happy 2010, curious crafters!  It's time to mark your calendars for the next round of Handmade Crafternoons, the Library's free series of DIY days co-hosted by yours truly and Crafternoon author Maura Madden.  Here's the line-up:

Saturday, February 20, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Esther K. Smith, author of How to Make Books, Magic Books & Paper Toys, and The Paper Bride, will wow us 

Interested in quilts, handmade clothes, and what goes into the work of fabric and pattern design? Then mark your calendars to come to December’s Handmade: Crafternoon and meet some modern women of craft who work wonders with textiles.

Heather Ross, author of Weekend Sewing; Denyse Schmidt, author of Denyse Schmidt Quilts; and