Now, the best of those projects, including step-by-step instructions and full-color photographs, have been collected into a single encyclopedia. Organized by topic from A to Z, Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts contains complete instructions and brief histories for more than 30 techniques, detailed descriptions of the necessary tools and materials, and easy-to-copy templates. Martha and her team of crafts editors guide readers through each subject, from botanical pressing and decoupage to rubber stamping and wreaths, with characteristic clarity and unparalleled attention to detail. Crafters of all skill and experience levels will appreciate the many variations presented for each technique. For example, candlemaking presents a comprehensive array of poured, rolled, and cutout candles, including instructions for making your own one-of-a-kind rubber candle molds, floating candles, sand candles, and more. Each craft in the book takes on charming new dimensions with innovations that could come only from the team behind Martha Stewart Living.In addition, each entry in Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts is chock-full of tips and advice. Handy glossaries in the entries–such as a comprehensive gem glossary, a glitter glossary, and a color glossary for making tinted wax–are valuable references that crafters will refer to again and again. What’s more, the Tools and Materials section outlines the best essential supplies that every crafter needs to have on hand, and the Sources pages clue readers in to the vendors and suppliers that the magazine’s crafts editors rely on most.Filled with solid technical know-how, and presented with gorgeous color photographs, this handy guide can be read page by page and kept as a lasting reference by crafters and artisans alike.

    Filled with do-it-yourself projects, Steampunk Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos: A Maker's Guide to Creating Modern Artifacts shows you how to build exquisite, ingenious contraptions on a budget.Learn from Lord Featherstone as he distills his wealth of hard-learned skills, describes how to use the readily available tools of the modern mad scientist, and expounds on the art and philosophy of scavenging unique components and raw materials. The perfect companion for the hobbyist and advanced machinist alike, this inventive volume will guide you through the creation of your very own infernal devices.Get steamed with these provocative projects: Aetheric ray deflector solid brass gogglesCalibrated indicator gaugesFerromagnetic self-scribing automated encyclopedia (or, the Steampunk book drive)High voltage electro-static cannon (or, the lamp gun)Tesla-pod chrono-static insulating field generator (or, the mobile device enclosure)Altitude mask with integrated respiratory augmentationArmoured pith helmetMark I superior replacement arm with integrated Gatling gun attachmentVisit the companion website, www.mhprofessional.com/steampunk, for videos, images, and more bonus content!Make Great Stuff!TAB, an imprint of McGraw-Hill Professional, is a leading publisher of DIY technology books for makers, hackers, and electronics hobbyists.

    In this charming collection, acclaimed toymaker and popular blogger Hillary Lang presents a captivating gang of 24 huggable, lovable creatures to sew—from classics like Margot, a topsy-turvy doll, and the button-jointed teddy bear Bjorn Bjornson, to irresistible Evelyn, a wool felt inchworm decked out in mod glasses and a kerchief, and Koji, a fiercely cute spiked softie monster. There’s something for everyone here—from kids to grown-ups and from beginning sewers to advanced dollmakers. Each pattern includes clear illustrations and pattern templates to ensure perfect results.

    Try your hand at 9 projects, including an elegant sampler with 51 mix-and-match blocks. For quilt as-you-go enthusiasts, Jera shares 3 optional joining methods, including her new technique that makes your quilt reversible! No matter how busy your schedule, you can set attainable goals and practice quilting patchwork blocks in small, manageable pieces.

    With the friendly medium of polymer clay and the step-by-step instructions in this book, you can achieve the same magical results! Inside, Katherine leads you through then utterly charming projects, such as a sweet little bluebird, a basset hound and a white-tailed fawn. And that's just the start! The "Making Changes" chapter will help you create your own original animal creations by changing poses, making realistic bases, and even modeling your animals to look like bronze, fade and other materials.

    They share their knitting triumphs and disasters as well as their life triumphs and disasters…These essays will break your heart. They will have you laughing out loud." —Ann Hood, from the introductionWhy does knitting occupy a place in the hearts of so many writers? What’s so magical and transformative about yarn and needles? How does knitting help us get through life-changing events and inspire joy? In Knitting Yarns, twenty-seven writers tell stories about how knitting healed, challenged, or helped them to grow. Barbara Kingsolver describes sheering a sheep for yarn. Elizabeth Berg writes about her frustration at failing to knit. Ann Patchett traces her life through her knitting, writing about the scarf that knits together the women she’s loved and lost. Knitting a Christmas gift for his blind aunt helped Andre Dubus III knit an understanding with his girlfriend. Kaylie Jones finds the woman who used knitting to help raise her in France and heals old wounds. Sue Grafton writes about her passion for knitting. Also included are five original knitting patterns created by Helen Bingham.Poignant, funny, and moving, Knitting Yarns is sure to delight knitting enthusiasts and lovers of literature alike.

    The projects produce high-impact quilts made with simple cutting and construction, therefore no fussy cutting or Y-seams are required.

    The techniques are organized in the order you need them when making a project, from using the right tools and materials to finishing tips for neat, professional results--or you can dip in for help with a particular problem.Learn about creative knotwork, quick and easy stringing, and how to work with wire. Mix vintage and modern beads, incorporate charms and findings in your work, and rescale and design your own patterns.Whether you're using large glass beads, crystal, or seed beads, using wirework techniques or stitches, making jewelry as gifts or to sell, 200 beading Tips, Techniques & Trade Secrets has all the answers.

    Practice 8 meandering stitches for beginners, plus creative variations on each, with step-by-step visuals and quilted samples. Start your free-motion journey on the right foot with proven techniques to help you disguise mistakes and transition between designs with ease.

    Canvas sneakers decorated with pink and white swirls. A pretty pillow adorned with a sleeping bunny, sweetly curled up. All it takes to create these appealing projects—or add charming embroidered touches in no time at all—are a few simple stitches, some easy techniques, and the nearly 30 projects in this book. Begin by learning several styles for outlining, filling, decorating, and appliqué. Find out about floss, fancy threads, fabrics, and needles. Get the scoop on hoops, and the lowdown on transferring your very own designs onto every type of fabric. The fresh ideas, witty patterns, and clever color illustrations take stitchers from novice to accomplished in a blink of the eye!

    Now, the influential needlecraft guru has become a “two-timer,” bringing the same ingenuity, innovative eye, and solid fashion sense that she’s always exhibited in her knitting design to the world of crochet. In Loop-d-Loop Crochet, Durham presents more than 25 designs that are as up-to-the-minute, style-wise, as they are thoroughly steeped in crochet stitchwork tradition. Each of the projects, which range from purses, skirts, shawls, and sweaters for the whole family to a hammock and a pair of brocade boots, epitomizes Durham’s signature design sensibility, which she describes as “a tension of opposites—rough-hewn yet delicate, stark yet feminine, organic yet structured.” Decked out in evocative color photographs (by Adrian Buckmaster), a diverse cast of models show off the finished garments. Beginner and advanced crocheters will find Durham’s novel approach refreshing and inspiring. And for newcomers just making the switch from knitting, Loop-d-Loop Crochet provides the perfect introduction to what Durham terms the “flip side” of needlecraft’s heritage. Crochet is a freeing experience, Durham says—a sentiment with which her many fans are certain to agree.

    Find clear instructions for both toe-up and cuff-down sock knitting Learn multiple techniques for knitting: casting on and binding off, working heels and toes, making size adjustments, and more Browse a stitch dictionary of favorite texture patterns; find options for creating your own unique socks

    With needles clicking, they weave together not just garments to warm the body but also comfort and companionship to nurture the soul.This tradition is flowering today through knitting ministries, a worldwide ecumenical movement of small groups of women who gather to pray and knit for those in need. As they create shawls for people burdened with illness and sorrow, their handiwork becomes an expression, not only of their love and concern, but also of the loving care of the God who works through them.In this beautifully illustrated book, the authors--a United Church of Christ minister and a Roman Catholic laywoman--share stories of how the knitting ministry has touched lives and hearts around the world. They offer directions for knitting the shawls and for starting a parish or community knitting ministry. The book also provides a selection of prayers, written from many faith traditions, to offer along with each completed shawl.

    These 30 beautiful red-themed projects help raise awareness of the number-one killer of women today: heart disease. The patterns are all donated by top designers, including Debbie Stoller, Nicky Epstein, Debbie Bliss, Norah Gaughan, Deborah Newton, Melissa Morgan-Oakes, Iris Schreier, Jared Flood, and Ysolda Teague. In addition, the book offers important medical information, a Heart Healthy Resources and Action Plan, and powerful stories from survivors of this deadly ailment.

    In Tudor, England, when Mary, Queen of Scots, was under house arrest, her needlework carried her messages to the outside world. From the political propaganda of the Bayeux Tapestry, World War I soldiers coping with PTSD, and the maps sewn by schoolgirls in the New World, to the AIDS quilt, Hmong story clothes, and pink pussyhats, women and men have used the language of sewing to make their voices heard, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Threads of Life is a chronicle of identity, protest, memory, power, and politics told through the stories of needlework. Clare Hunter, master of the craft, threads her own narrative as she takes us over centuries and across continents—from medieval France to contemporary Mexico and the United States, and from a POW camp in Singapore to a family attic in Scotland—to celebrate the age-old, universal, and underexplored beauty and power of sewing. Threads of Life is an evocative and moving book about the need we have to tell our story.