Why do I craft?

image courtesy of lovely petal

Last week Jhoanna from One red robin tagged me with a meme about why I craft. I had a long think about it and realised that my crafting is intrinsically related to my like of all things vintage.

Seeing that the theme of the week on the My Poppet blog is 'all things vintage', I think this topic fits in quite nicely...

When did you start to create and make craft?

I suppose as I child my crafty gene came both from mum and dad. When I was young money was pretty scarce, so creativity sort of came from the need to make the best of a situation. Mum was always on the sewing machine making clothes for my sister and I, and dad was crafty in a thrifty way, bringing home broken things he'd find on the street, repairing and painting, and dada! a new dolls pram or pair of roller skates.

My sister and I were always encouraged to draw, paint, make and pretend and were taught at an early age to sew, crochet, knit and stitch.

I was such a geek, i remember in primary school taking taking some cross stitch to do during recess.

Why did you start creating?

I found that as a child and teenager I created things just because i could. New dress for my doll, no problem. Can't afford a new outfit, just customise something from the op-shop. Which brings me to the vintage part. I have always loved old things, secondhand books with dedications or underlining, chiffon bridesmaid dresses from the 70's, buttons, ric rac, and , and, and...my meager checkout chick wages would be spent at the salvos buying woollen overcoats for $4 and disco lurex everything. Now that 'Vintage' is a fashion statement and good pieces of clothing are hard to find my interest has changed to textiles.

Why do you create?

Because i need to use my big stock pile of collected everything...for me a project is inspired by what i find.

Creating things with my thrifted finds gives me and excuse to keep thrfting...to me it's all about the thrill of the chase and the uncertainty of what i will find. Going to Spotlight with a materials list for a particular project just isn't my style. Am i a crafter in a traditional sense? Probably not, patterns and directions tend to annoy me and i usually make things up as i go along (with a few abandoned disasters along the way).

What do you create?

I re-discovered crafting and sewing after many years of focusing on a 'career' and feeling quite unsatisfied with what it had to offer. Mum was making bags for friends and i thought it would be fun to do craft markets together, eventually this turned to accessories for babies and...Cinti does Vintage was born (read about it here).

Has this changed since you began crafting?

Since opening My Poppet i have felt much freer in what i can design and make as i am not restricted by market committee approvals and needing to make large quantities of one particular item (which can get a bit repetitive and very uncreative!).

I have now started making and modifying children's clothing and making toys. My list of ideas are endless. Now to find the time...

Hope I've answered your questions and rather than me tagging 5 bloggers like I'm supposed to, i encourage all you crafters out there to have a think about why you do what you do, and post some answers when you have some time.

Good day to you all!