Cross-Stitch Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo spent four years painting the Sistine Chapel, but the work of art below took its creator eight:

Yes, that's the Sistine Chapel, rendered lovingly in cross-stitch by obsessed crafter Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts (slideshow here). It measures 40" x 80", or around three feet by seven feet and depicts pretty much every nook and cranny of the Sistine ceiling, not just the famous parts. That is an awful lot of tiny Xes to make with needle and thread; she worked on it for about an hour a day for eight years - I'm sure if the pope told Michelangelo, "Hey, Mike, what do you think of needle and thread instead of paint?" he'd have passed on the job. Cross-stitch isn't for the faint-hearted, and anything larger than a pillow is for mad dogs and englishmen.

Craft-Scan Friday: "It's A Thrilling Fad Of The Month Selection!"

I just love truth in advertising! Admitting "the lovely Ballerina Boudoir Doll" was a fad was one giant step forward for humanity. But we went two steps back when we learned that so many would be seduced by the concept...



Ad from the February 1952 issue of The Workbasket; a magazine which was very fond of presenting advertorials as content.

Craft-Scan Friday: Before There Was The BeDazzler...

There was the Spanglette.



Ad found in the March 1951 issue of Profitable Hobbies.

Craft-Scan Friday: Make Amusing Table Favors From Fruits & Vegetables

Mrs. George C. Wagoner of Glendale, California, must have never been told by her momma not to play with her food; here she show how to make a tiny orchestra from hairpins, paper clips, modeling clay, and a basket of common fruits and vegetables. Talk about your anthropomorphic fruits and veggies!



Found inside this vintage issue of Modern Woman Magazine.

Clothespin Desk Organizer

The kids will be home for the holidays -- why not keep 'em busy? First with the laundry, then making this clothespin letter holder.



Also in that first issue of Good Housekeeping Needlecraft magazine (Fall-Winter, 1968-1969).

Craft-Scan Friday: Twin Martian Dolls

From McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Spring/Summer 1971, instructions for making these twin Martian dolls. I'm in lurve with the see-thru plastic dress on the female Martian.

Dad Says He Tired Of Ties As Gifts?

Well, you can always make him kitschy place to put them.




Instructions and pattern from a vintage set of Coping Saw Carpentry For Boys & Girls cards. You can find nicer patterns and craft project instructions at my other blog, Things Your Grandmother Knew too.

Out Of Macaroni?

Paint & glue odd metal bits instead.



From McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Spring/Summer 1971.

You Know What Sucks?

Not Mia's first attempt at "narrative embroidery":



Which makes me think my first attempt to narrate via needlework would also be be a hand -- only with one finger raised, as a political statement. Make of that what you will.

Dimple Dot Kleenex Box Cover Kit

I never knew they had an official name.


Seeing this ad reminds me of when I was young, someone gave this to my folks as a gift -- :eek: -- and our dog used to bark at like she was rabid (the dog, not the Dimple Doll). My folks would put it away, and then every now and then bring it out to see if the dog still hated it; she did. Eventually, the dog got a hold of it and destroyed it.

Whenever I see them at sales, I want to buy them and set them all in a row on a shelf -- maybe even fill and entire book shelf with them, in all the colors and variations.

I did get one once, but sent it to my sister; one part memory, one part freak factor (she hates dolls so opening a box with a doll head, well, that would be super freaky). But no affordable ones since.

Feel free to send me some, if you don't want them.

Craft-Scan Friday: Get Yer Space-Age Santas Here

Remember the 60's and how they promised us a future of hover cars and jet-pack travel? Well, some of us do, anyway. The rest of you can put down your Tommee Tippee cups and see why the rest of us all believed so hard.

See, our moms were busy creating space-age Christmases. Just like Ethel Peterson who had covered the face of her clock (now at a thrift shop near you) with a half-circle of gold-flocked cardboard. "Stars, pasted onto the blue crepe paper, give 'sky' effect."



Pretty potent stuff, merging forever, the idea of travel, space, and free gifts.

Here Santa rides a rocket -- which they call a "jet" ("cut from linoleum rolls and covered with shelf paper, then painted"). Not only better than that, a reindeer rests on the rings of Saturn.



What the heck can be better than typing "a reindeer rests on the rings of Saturn"? Seeing it. I can't wait to make hundreds for next year's holiday craft fair.

Craft-Scan Fridays: Accident On The Stairs

When I think of fun with the kids, restraining their arms, reducing their ability to see, and encouraging them to run around the house in nothing but slippery-footed leotards is exactly what I want...followed up by a fun and exciting family trip to the emergency room.



These 'decorated paper bag costumes' could have arm-holes, but only for aesthetic reasons by 'creating animal creature with holes at sides so that arms can extend in hornlike fashion' [all sic] Sorry, Billy, horns ruin the lines of your monster's face -- you can stumble around without arms for a while.

No, those aren't the tiniest children ever (although doing this to a 18-month-old using a grocer's sack would make for excellent YouTube) -- the article recommends getting giant paper bags from your dry cleaners...despite the safety-free designs, McCall's magazine had the foresight to warn not to use a plastic bag. Apparently their in-house testing didn't go so well.

Craft-Scan Friday: Binding Your Workbaskets

Perhaps this is why vintage Workbasket issues are so difficult to find -- they've all been sewn together.



Vintage magazine binding advice which will work for modern mags too -- should you wish to make future collectors weep.

Craft-Scan Friday: Instructions For Vintage Cloth Doll, Jenny

From a 1964 Workbasket magazine, instructions for Jenny, a cloth doll. Don't say I never gave you nuthin'.

Craft-Scan Friday: Vintage One Evening Wood Projects

From a 1953 Deltagram, two projects you can make in one evening.



I love the shelf; but I believe that's not only because I own kitschy knick-knacks, but because of the kitschy knick-knacks shown in the photo.

The elephant ring toss is cute, so cute it "will amuse the older folks as well as the children." The suggested rings to toss are fruit jar rings, so while Mom may be a bit perturbed to find she's short a few rings at canning time (and who's mom isn't?) at least the walls won't be marked.

Craft-Scan Friday: Who's Crocheting?

The caption on this page is: Who's Home Crocheting?
DEAR GOD NO -- It's Norman Bates' mother! Don't go near her -- she's a wrinkly old dead corpse! Sure, the hotel room was cheap, but a skinny crazy guy will hack up you in the shower! *Phew* It's only a hot Swiss miss with red hair. That smell of a decaying corpse, that was her puppy. It needs some shots and that'll clear right up. As for the chick: she's wearing shorts and flip-flops, but in the first photo she has an antimacassar to keep her shoulders warm. I almost think she was trying to deceive us, and obscure her babe-a-liciousness! Why would she do such a thing?

To sell Dawn Yarns from American Thread -- "For Uncommon Ideas," is their motto, as it is apparently uncommon to find hot chicks knitting their own clothes. Crocheting is an old lady craft? Who would think such a thing! Well, I suppose I gotta agree with them at that point. From time to time, the AP does a story on kids knitting, but it's far less prevalent in hot redheads as it is in grandmoms. (see also, from a few weeks ago)

Craft-Scan Friday: Pomponitis

This poor soul has come down with the deadly disease pomponitis, in which unsightly -- but pleasantly fluffy -- growths protrude from the head in unpleasant ways. Not particularly painful for the sufferer, unless they also happen to be a cat-owner, in which case secondary injuries may be sustained while sleeping. As the patient's illness progresses, the pompons eventually fall off and blow away like tumbleweeds, infecting any they touch. No cure is known, although cats tend to catch the tumbling pompons and extinguish them before they can infect others.

This, in fact, illustrates an advertisment for Brunswick yarns -- Brunswick Worsted Mills, Inc is still around (sadly, without a website), and their instructional booklets abound online. The photo of the woman with pompoms all over her face is not explained in the ad at all -- the only text consists of a catalog of booklet prices. Why would a woman have fluffy yarn balls attached to her head? Only her doctor knows for sure.

Craft-Scan Friday: Retro Woolite Ad

Who's Home Crocheting?