People making stuff at home.

April 5, 2019 3:16 PM

Looking for theory, background, trends, and personal stories about home production of what are normally consumer/industrial goods. Things like furniture, clothes, accessories, appliances, bags, utensils, tools, pretty much anything you'd buy in a department store.

I'm excluding things you normally make at home, like food, and anything not usually industrial like handicrafts, paintings, etc.

I'd really appreciate any suggestions, experience and especially links to online communities engaging in this kind of thing. I'm very interested in anybody who's theorized about it from a social, economic and/or design point of view.

posted by signal to Society & Culture (19 answers total)

From a more philosophical standpoint (building stairs in this example, but applies just as well to everything): Reality has a surprising amount of detail. Basically, even seemingly "simple" things are surprisingly complicated when it comes down to brass tacks, and can lead you to get intellectually stuck if you're not humble about how limited your understanding of a project really is.
posted by Rhaomi at 3:52 PM on April 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

I'm struggling to remember where I read about it-- it might've been "Unbroken," the book about the runner Louis Zamperini who was a Japanese POW in WWII. At the late stage of the war, when much of urban Japan had been bombed to matchsticks, the Japanese were manufacturing war materiél in houses so they didn't have large footprint factory buildings which were big targets for the frequent visits from B-25s.

Weapons and machine parts, probably, so not exactly fodder for department stores, and I'm struggling to find a source that supports me on this, but maybe the author Laura Hillenbrand had some sources in her bibliography that can help.
posted by Sunburnt at 4:06 PM on April 5, 2019

It's been a while since I've read it, but Emily Matchar's Homeward Bound might interest you. It does include a fair bit of discussion about producing the types of goods you're excluding, but IIRC it covers experiences with DIY housewares and clothing.
posted by blerghamot at 4:49 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I’ll point out that until pretty recently, lots of clothes were made at home. When I was in high school in the 1970s, most of my friends made at least some of their clothes. I am not at all a crafty person and I was never great at it, but I made skirts and tops. It was just very normal, and I don’t think it is now. I quit when I went to college. I’m bringing this up because you put clothes on your list, and the shift seems potentially interesting.
posted by FencingGal at 4:51 PM on April 5, 2019 [6 favorites]

What FencingGal said. I've followed a few blogs where the bloggers have taken up sewing and blogged about the experience. Vintage patterns for items like dresses from yesteryear when such things were widely disseminated are prized.
posted by Fukiyama at 4:57 PM on April 5, 2019

Response by poster: Fukiyama, do you have links?
posted by signal at 5:14 PM on April 5, 2019

There are a lot of YouTube channels about people hand making furniture and things like kitchen knives and garden tools.They have well equipped wood shops / metal shops mostly, so I dont know if that fits with what you're looking for.

Old Victorian home manuals available on Guttenberg.org often have sections on making things like soap, candles, paint, and simple medicines.
posted by ananci at 5:38 PM on April 5, 2019

This question reminds me of Ana White's story behind her website: overview, furniture-specific commentary, and more scattered throughout the plans she's posted.
posted by teremala at 5:43 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have a friend who does blacksmithing work as a hobby. He makes decorative swords and also jewelry, which is something you could find in a department store. He also made his own lathe. I’m reluctant to link to his stuff here - he doesn’t have his own website - but there are lots of people who do this. If you google blacksmith with your location, you will probably find someone nearby. If you memail me, I’ll send you a page that shows photos.

I believe my friend originally got involved through the Society for Creative Anachronism. Lots of people in that organization get involved in making things, though they are mostly trying to reproduce historical methods, and that doesn’t sound like what you’re looking for. But that would be another place to look. Their main page is here.
posted by FencingGal at 6:05 PM on April 5, 2019

I am not sure when home manufacture becomes handicraft. Our beds, bookshelves and coffee table are home made. The covers on the futon couch and cushions are home made. The quilts are homemade. So is the crocheted lace cafe curtain, our socks and hats and mittens. There are a couple of framed cross stitch samplers. I think the line isn't clear. What is interesting is that the outsourcing of these manufactures became prevalent as the industrial revolution took off just as the outsourcing of services is happening now. So I think home cooking actually is part of this continuum. We also garden and preserve food, another aspect of this home economy which faded away. Also interesting is that all of these pursuits seem to be going through a resurgence and I wonder is it isn't a response to uncertain times.
posted by Botanizer at 6:20 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Homesteading might be a good lead
posted by Jacen at 6:53 PM on April 5, 2019

A Stitching Odyssey is the main one I have in mind for clothing. It started out as a blog at Blogspot and has grown over time as the blogger has gained a following and interacted with other sewing bloggers. Look down the right sidebar for links to other sites.
posted by Fukiyama at 7:38 PM on April 5, 2019

I've always been diy oriented. I grew up with the notion that you should be able to maintain the things you depend upon, or at the very least, understand how the things work so you can assess whether or not a service person knows what they're doing. Granted, this was a lot easier 40 years ago.

I credit my extraordinarily handy dad for this. E.g., when he was 24, he built (w/ the assistance of a couple of friends) my folks' first house—a cute 2 bedroom place with hardwood floors, cedar siding, and adjacent garage. And 60 years later it still looks good.

As it happens, in the past year or so I've been especially busy with diy projects, including shelves for the living room, a cabinet for the bathroom, a table for the kitchen (bar height w/ drop leaves), a couple of sets of drawers that serve as bases for beds, and a sectional sofa that can also serve as a full size bed. This isn't fine furniture—I lack the skills and equipment for that—but it's also not 2x4s with exposed bolts.

Why not just buy furniture?

• small town, very limited selection
• what is available is generally not to my taste
• I live in a small house—custom sizing allows me to make the most of the space
• cost. While diy is NOT less expensive than cheap furniture (e.g., Walmart or used), I usually end up with something that i like that is also solidly built.

If money and space weren't issues, I would probably shop online and have furniture delivered because these diy projects take more time and energy than they're worth (i.e., as I said it's not fine furniture).

On second thought, if I had the money and space, I would be inclined to set up a real workshop and build furniture that worth keeping for generations.
posted by she's not there at 7:47 PM on April 5, 2019

If you want to get really old-school, you might find the foxfire books interesting. I think they're still available on amazon
posted by cirgue at 10:30 PM on April 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

Actor Jasika Nicole (of Fringe and Scandal) sews, knits, and makes a lot of her own clothing and shoes.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 4:18 AM on April 6, 2019

You could also check out Great British Sewing Bee, which is a lot like Great British Bake-off...but with sewing. Each season profiles a number of home sewists and they talk about how long they’ve been sewing clothes, how they got into it, and what their day jobs are. The judging is also an interesting process because they have a sewing expert and a high street tailor, and you get a perspective on what makes things look “homemade” and how professionals differ in their processes.
posted by itsamermaid at 5:14 AM on April 6, 2019

For theory and esthetics, you may want to look into the Arts and Crafts movement, Ruskin and William Morris, et al. The late 1800s in Britain and Northern America really went all out for home-made and hand crafted furniture and homes.
Also, look for blogs on Bloglovin for modern day creatives.
posted by Enid Lareg at 7:18 AM on April 6, 2019

My wife has been very involved with creative activism in regards to reconstructing clothes and materials into new clothing and entirely new clothing paradigms for the past several years. You can follow her work on her website and also her project called immediate fashion school which is a critical fashion theory program that is grounded in the idea of reclaiming the power of making as a form of creative activism.

Tina Sparkles’ personal site/cv

immediate fashion school

a retrospective of the first class of immediate fashion school
posted by nikaspark at 8:29 AM on April 6, 2019 [1 favorite]

Maybe look into the Amish? They make pretty much everything themselves and are pretty self sufficient. Another would be to look into early American pioneers. Another resource might be Hoffman's Steal This Book. He doesn't "make" his own stuff so much as suggest using industrial garbage as furniture.
posted by xammerboy at 2:35 PM on April 6, 2019