Monday Vintage Craft Book Feature: Macrame Magic (USA 1975)

Another of my many needlework hobbies is the collection of vintage craft books.  Found in dusty corners of second hand shops, in pride of place in used book stores, these old tomes often contain beautiful nuggets of crafting wisdom, and a heaping helping of vintage charm.  Reviving the techniques, tips and retro projects is just one more way for us to bring back the wonders of the handmade.

Macrame Magic - (c) Craft Course Publishers, Inc.  Rosemead, California, 1975

The cover page.  I personally really like the hanging shelf

 This was another thrift store find (if you couldn't tell by the price tag) and it is pretty self explanatory.  At 23 pages it is a thin book, but it is filled to the brim with cool macrame projects.  I am sure we are all familiar with the basic macrame plant hangers, but this book takes things a bit outside that box.

 The thought of little brass bells hanging around the plants and chiming in the breeze is appealing to me.  Though the designs are definitely from 1975, I like the idea and may well use it as inspiration to make my own more modern plant hanger.  Also, I really like the image of a surround sound system hanging from the ceiling in my living room.  I am know also picturing a little macrame hammock in a window for my cat to sleep in.  As an idea book, this is a good one.  Many of the knot patterns are interesting and could be easily adapted to jewelry or other smaller projects.





If you did want to make any of the projects in the book, the instructions are also quite good.  Everything is thoroughly laid out and each step is explicit.  On each project there is a scale to let you know if your work is the same size as the model pictured.  Also included is an actual size picture of the cord used.  The introduction even tells you to take the book with you when material shopping so you can compare the cord to the pictures and make sure you're getting the right size for the project.  I find this a very handy feature when looking for materials which may not be easily found by the same names or brands as they were in 1975.  The back page has instructions for the specific knots used throughout the book, which is also a handy reference.


I imagine the huge outdoor hanger would also make a wonderful place to put a jack-o-lantern.