I love learning about fiber art and sewing techniques from around the world!

For the past few years I've really delved into learning how to sew, knit, crochet, embroider, and spin my own yarn. It's been a fun experience, and I have also found what a vast world of tradition, technique and history it all has!
I also realize how much good info and depth it has lost because not as many people are interested in these crafts anymore, and I'm very fortunate to have met a spinner last year whom has provided me with material, resources and knowledge to get me started making yarn.
So I wanted to ask everyone if there's any interesting or unusual forms of fiber arts or techniques from anywhere in the world that they know about and would like to share. This kind of thing fascinates me, so I would love to hear about it!

Arianna, thanks for sharing your love of these crafts.

I too love to sew and love learning about other fiber techniques.

I was fortunate that my mom taught me to sew and I also took classes in school until I went off to college all my clothes were made by either me or my mom.

One of my best friends from college introduced me to hand sewing.  Her mom did not own a sewing machine so all her clothes were stitched by hand.  I think for button holes her mom used the local fabric store to do those.

Please continue to share and ask lots of questions.

Anne Miller wrote:Arianna, thanks for sharing your love of these crafts,

I too love to sew and love learning about other fiber techniques.

I was fortunate that my mom taught me to sew and I also took classes in school until I went off to college all my clothes were made by either me or my mom.

One of my best friends from college introduced me to hand sewing.  Her mom did not own a sewing machine so all her clothes were stitched by hand.  I think for button holes her mom used the local fabric store to do those.

Please continue to share and ask lots of questions.

Thankyou, Anne! I will continue to do so, and thank you for sharing your sewing story as well!

Knitting has never felt good to me and neither has crocheting, but last fall I learned about tunisian crochet and instantly fell in love!

Wikipedia wrote:
Tunisian crochet or Afghan crochet is a type of crochet that uses an elongated hook, often with a stopper on the handle end, called an Afghan hook. It is sometimes considered to be a mixture of crocheting and knitting.[1][2] As such, some techniques used in knitting are also applicable in Tunisian crochet.

Tunisian crochet in Wikipedia

Saana Jalimauchi wrote:Knitting has never felt good to me and neither has crocheting, but last fall I learned about tunisian crochet and instantly fell in love!

Wikipedia wrote:
Tunisian crochet or Afghan crochet is a type of crochet that uses an elongated hook, often with a stopper on the handle end, called an Afghan hook. It is sometimes considered to be a mixture of crocheting and knitting.[1][2] As such, some techniques used in knitting are also applicable in Tunisian crochet.

Tunisian crochet in Wikipedia

I also love Tunisian crochet. I definitely enjoy regular crochet, too - knitting, not so much.

Something I would love to learn is tatting. my grandmother described her mother (and maybe grandmother) and aunts sitting in the shade in the yard and tatting while they visited. It probably served the same function as a fidget toy too. It's interesting to me too because further back  in that same branch of my genealogy is the tradition of weaving casting nets (which would have been done by men) and it's made me wonder if those skills were connected some how.

I'd also love to learn more about natural dyeing - learning that you could use avocados to create a blush pink dye or lichen to make purples was so intriguing!

I enjoy sewing, especially hand sewing and embroidery, but struggle a bit with machine sewing with fitting. i grew up with many of the women in my world sewing very well so I think I took it for granted that it was a common skill.

Mercy Pergande wrote:Something I would love to learn is tatting. my grandmother described her mother (and maybe grandmother) and aunts sitting in the shade in the yard and tatting while they visited. It probably served the same function as a fidget toy too. It's interesting to me too because further back  in that same branch of my genealogy is the tradition of weaving casting nets (which would have been done by men) and it's made me wonder if those skills were connected some how.

I'd also love to learn more about natural dyeing - learning that you could use avocados to create a blush pink dye or lichen to make purples was so intriguing!

I enjoy sewing, especially hand sewing and embroidery, but struggle a bit with machine sewing with fitting. i grew up with many of the women in my world sewing very well so I think I took it for granted that it was a common skill.

I'm pretty sure (without dragging my tired rear-end up, off my recliner, and upstairs) the awesome book I have, that was highly recommended by a natural dye pro & teacher (with whom I took a several hour-long class), is Wild Color, by Jenny Dean. I haven't been doing any dying, in over a year, so my memory is not 100% reliable, but... 95%? Lol. It's a great book, and even has a key on each plant page, showing the approximate colors you should be able to expect from each plant, using various mordants, water types, mordants, plant parts, etc.

I'm also a descendent of ladies who tatted, and love the lacy fabrics it produces. I have a lot of problems with my hands, so the shuttles have, so far, proven difficult for me to manipulate, but needle tatting seems promising. Same results, different tool. The primary benefit to the shuttle, of course, is the ability to load it with substantial amounts of thread, so there are fewer tie-offs, with the shuttle, and no need to carry additional thread, to take it with you. This is one of the several hand work skills I'm looking to develop, this year.

I have to be in the right frame of mind, to sew on a machine, but I can actually enjoy it, now. My style is not exactly commercial pattern compatible, though, lol. Hand sewing... meh. I do a lot of hand sewn mending, but again, my hand problems get in the way - and yet, I thoroughly enjoy embroidery, and used to teach it, many, many years ago. I'm always tickled to find others who enjoy these kinds of things, and keep them alive.

Saana Jalimauchi wrote:Knitting has never felt good to me and neither has crocheting, but last fall I learned about tunisian crochet and instantly fell in love!

Wikipedia wrote:
Tunisian crochet or Afghan crochet is a type of crochet that uses an elongated hook, often with a stopper on the handle end, called an Afghan hook. It is sometimes considered to be a mixture of crocheting and knitting.[1][2] As such, some techniques used in knitting are also applicable in Tunisian crochet.

Tunisian crochet in Wikipedia

Tunsian crochet is not something I've tried yet, but I've been meaning to! Thanks for sharing!

Mercy Pergande wrote:Something I would love to learn is tatting. my grandmother described her mother (and maybe grandmother) and aunts sitting in the shade in the yard and tatting while they visited. It probably served the same function as a fidget toy too. It's interesting to me too because further back  in that same branch of my genealogy is the tradition of weaving casting nets (which would have been done by men) and it's made me wonder if those skills were connected some how.

I'd also love to learn more about natural dyeing - learning that you could use avocados to create a blush pink dye or lichen to make purples was so intriguing!

I enjoy sewing, especially hand sewing and embroidery, but struggle a bit with machine sewing with fitting. i grew up with many of the women in my world sewing very well so I think I took it for granted that it was a common skill.

I always love seeing old black and white photographs of women in groups knitting, quilting, or tatting as you describe, ect. I'm of a younger generation, but it somehow makes even me feel a little nostalgic for those times. Thank you for sharing !
And good luck on learning about natural dyeing, that's next on my list of things to learn too!

Carla Burke wrote:

Mercy Pergande wrote:Something I would love to learn is tatting. my grandmother described her mother (and maybe grandmother) and aunts sitting in the shade in the yard and tatting while they visited. It probably served the same function as a fidget toy too. It's interesting to me too because further back  in that same branch of my genealogy is the tradition of weaving casting nets (which would have been done by men) and it's made me wonder if those skills were connected some how.

I'd also love to learn more about natural dyeing - learning that you could use avocados to create a blush pink dye or lichen to make purples was so intriguing!

I enjoy sewing, especially hand sewing and embroidery, but struggle a bit with machine sewing with fitting. i grew up with many of the women in my world sewing very well so I think I took it for granted that it was a common skill.

I'm pretty sure (without dragging my tired rear-end up, off my recliner, and upstairs) the awesome book I have, that was highly recommended by a natural dye pro & teacher (with whom I took a several hour-long class), is Wild Color, by Jenny Dean. I haven't been doing any dying, in over a year, so my memory is not 100% reliable, but... 95%? Lol. It's a great book, and even has a key on each plant page, showing the approximate colors you should be able to expect from each plant, using various mordants, water types, mordants, plant parts, etc.

I'm also a descendent of ladies who tatted, and love the lacy fabrics it produces. I have a lot of problems with my hands, so the shuttles have, so far, proven difficult for me to manipulate, but needle tatting seems promising. Same results, different tool. The primary benefit to the shuttle, of course, is the ability to load it with substantial amounts of thread, so there are fewer tie-offs, with the shuttle, and no need to carry additional thread, to take it with you. This is one of the several hand work skills I'm looking to develop, this year.

I have to be in the right frame of mind, to sew on a machine, but I can actually enjoy it, now. My style is not exactly commercial pattern compatible, though, lol. Hand sewing... meh. I do a lot of hand sewn mending, but again, my hand problems get in the way - and yet, I thoroughly enjoy embroidery, and used to teach it, many, many years ago. I'm always tickled to find others who enjoy these kinds of things, and keep them alive.

Thank you for the book info, and also for telling of your fiber art interests. I too am always glad to hear from those whom enjoy all of these traditional skills as well. It is definitely important for these arts to continue to be taught and enjoyed in the world.

For the all the talk of tatting, I found this video about the history of lace making absolutely fascinating. It mainly covers Europe, with a brief mention of South American lace traditions here and there. There's a lot more ways to make lace than I realised!