Hi friends! I’m sure you’ve heard of cross-training in sports where certain skills translate over to help with other skills for athletes. I’ve heard of professional tennis players practicing other training sports like: boxing, baseball, and even track which helps their coordination, speed and strength when they play tennis.
The same thing applies to crafting. I’m going to call it cross-crafting! Not sure if this is a word but you understand what I mean right? As a fabric artist, I find having other crafting skills are necessary. For example, if I make crochet a purse/bag or mobile case and I want to line it. Or, for a knitted piece, I can crochet a shell stitch border around it. I love mixing different crafts together.
So how do other crafts translate over to yarning?
Cardmaking. Measuring and paying close attention to detail. This is necessary when crocheting/knitting/sewing garments or anything wearable. Also, how I decorate a card is similar to how I would decorate a fabric piece. It takes patience especially if I’m doing embroidery to attach an applique.
Measuring is important to paper crafting when I need my sentiment or my focal point to appear in a specific place on my card panel.
Sewing machine. As mentioned earlier, creating a lining means sewing on the machine or even by hand. I think being able to sew is just a good skill to have regardless. I’m enjoying my journey with this new hobby, click to take a look at the things I’ve made recently here.
Sketching. I’m a visual learner, so sketching a picture for a design I’m working on really helps. I can visually see the end result and use it as a template as I’m crocheting or if I’m making a card.
Hand stitching. Knowing how to hand sew comes in handy with felt stitching and embroidery. There’s specific types of stitches such as the invisible (ladder stitch) or the running stitch that translates to felt when stitching ornaments.
Art journaling translates really well to making greeting cards too. In fact, I’ve taken an art journal page and used it as the front panel of a card base design. Also, adult coloring can easily be turned into a card or bookmarker and some of the same supplies are used for both crafts.
It’s fun cross-crafting, because I can switch between different projects and I’m not bored just working on one item. Sometimes, I love when my crafting table is full of tools and supplies like yarn, threads, journal, stickers, die cutting machine, trimmers and what not. Having these makes me feel like a professional designer!
The creative possibilities are endless and it’s so fun being a crafter! Do you cross-craft? If so, what tools or methods works between the crafts you do? Thanks for Reading!
