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Straw Plaiting: Heritage Techniques for Hats, Trimmings, Bags, and Baskets
£45.00
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An engaging makers’ guide to the history and craft of straw plaiting, brimming with helpful step-by-step diagrams. Straw plaiting is a method of manufacturing textiles by braiding straw and other materials, and has been used for everything from hats to baskets, handbags, trimmings and homewares. Once employing tens of thousands in the UK alone, the craft is now listed on the Heritage Crafts Association Red List as a Critically Endangered Heritage Craft. This book aims to change that, drawing on more than 50 previously unpublished patterns and techniques that will help you to unlock the history and preserve the skills of straw plaiting. Colourful, inspiring photographs and more than 400 diagrams allow you to replicate traditional techniques from around the world, explaining how they were developed and providing comprehensive information about materials, tools and preparation. Modern plaiters use a wide variety of materials including paper, woodchip, grasses, palm, cereal crop straw and synthetic fibres. Once familiar with the plaiting techniques, you will be able to mix the materials and develop your skills, possibly blending in recycled materials, which are increasingly being used to produce beautiful, unique pieces.
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This impressive and thoroughly researched book traces the journey of straw from farmer’s field to finished hat. Veronica Main has covered the subject in depth with good illustrations, and the clearly drawn patterns show the many ways straw can be plaited ... we should now make more use of it as a renewable resource. -- Alan and Vanessa Hopkins, The School of Historic Dress Straw plaiting has all but disappeared from the public consciousness; what was once so common, it touched the lives of everyone everywhere... Veronica Main's exhaustive research may ignite a timely renaissance of interest in straw as we search for sustainable alternatives to plastic. -- Polly Leonard * Selvedge Magazine * This is a book that will fascinate and enthral both researchers and makers alike. * The Braid Society * From simple patterns through to elaborate work for hats and baskets, this is equally enjoyable as a record of a rare craft, or as inspiration to take up straw plaiting and help take this craft off the endangered list. * Family Tree * Straw Plaiting: Heritage Techniques for Hats, Trimmings, Bags and Baskets is sure to become the go-to publication for anyone interested in learning or studying this time-honoured craft. * HATalk Magazine *
Author Biography
Veronica Main is the most experienced traditional straw plaiter in the UK. For more than 40 years she has rigorously researched the industries of the UK, Europe and the United States, unlocking information and learning how to recreate plaits using authentic techniques. She was awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Year's Honours list for her services to Straw Hat Plaiting and Endangered Crafts Skills. Heritage Crafts is the national charity for traditional heritage crafts in the UK, founded in 2009 to support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage. www.heritagecrafts.org.ukRelated products
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