Bonnie Burton - Crafting with Feminism: 25 Girl-Powered Projects to Smash the Patriarchy

Hi, my name is Felicia. I have a vagina and I make crafts.

In the past, when I had more free time, I would throw two or three crafting parties during the year. Id invite all my lady friends over and offer them a buffet of glitter, pipe cleaners, construction paper, and stickers to create their perfect holiday greeting cards. Hosting my fellow females and giving them the chance to express their creativity through crafting was the ultimate get-together. I loved the look of concentration on the face of my lawyer friend, who hadnt made anything from scratch since high school, as she glued crooked ornaments to an awkward little Christmas tree. And the way my comedian friend snorted in laughter when she cut out a banana hammock for a Valentines cupid.

The delight of making things by hand is something we need more of in our lives, and thats why I wholeheartedly love this book. Bonnie has taken many clichs about feminism and turned them into wonderful exercises of whimsy. The projects embody the spirit of optimism and determination that I associate with feminist activisma spirit that, sadly, has fallen out of focus thanks to reactionary politics.

Recently, I was interviewed by a woman reporter, and she said to me, I dont want to make you uncomfortable, and you dont have to answer if you want, but would you call yourself Her voice lowered to a whisper, like she was asking me something profane. a feminist?

I was startled. I answered straightaway, Yes, of course, Im a feminist. I believe in equal rights between the sexes. But the incident lingered with me. Why did this woman act like she was asking me something dirty or embarrassing?

I believe that feminism is about giving women the freedom to make the choices they want to make and to be what they want to be. No one should be confined to a narrower list of options just because of the way she was born. Feminism has a million positive ideas that could drown out the negativeand a fun book like Crafting with Feminism is just what we need to help that cause along.

If you can get people to laugh about something loaded, you create space for them to think about things in a new light. And if you show that you dont take yourself seriously, you remind the rest of the world that were all just trying to live as our authentic selveseven imperfectly. Were not much different from each other.

Think about this while youre making your sassy hoop art, feminist badge of honor, or cute little tampon buddy. I certainly will.

Besides crafts, actress and writer FELICIA DAY has created many things, including the hit Web series The Guild, the romance and fantasy book club Vaginal Fantasy, and the YouTube channel Geek & Sundry.

INTRODUCTION We Can Glue It!

It doesnt matter if you can knit socks with your eyes closed or if you struggle to sew a button on a shirt. As soon as you stick a pair of googly eyes on a boring salt shaker, you can call yourself a crafter.

Crafting is all about using creativity to transform ordinary materials into something greater than the sum of its parts. Just as anything can be a craft supplypipe cleaners, felt pieces, old clothes, popsicle sticks, milk cartons, even rocksanyone who picks up a glue gun can be a crafter. Learn the basics and you can make anything.

That DIY spirit isnt just a big part of the crafting revolutionit also keeps feminism alive and thriving (really!). That magical, powerful feeling you get from turning paper bags into puppets or transforming scraps of felt into stunning appliqus is the same spirit that has informed the feminist movement. Together were stronger, cooler, and more awesome than we are on our own.

We know women are amazingthats what makes us feminists! But, unfortunately, women all over the world struggle for equality. So what do we do when society tries to keep us down? We write, create art, sew clothes, start bands. We paint signs and protest. We express our frustrations and outrage by displaying them for the world to see.

In short, we make things happen by making things.

This craft book is meant to offer creative ideas for shouting out your opinions, pushing back on the haters, and paying tribute to your favorite female icons. From jewelry to home decor, these quirky DIY projects let you celebrate historys heroines, from the suffragettes who fought for the vote to second-wave feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes to riot grrrl bands like Bikini Kill.

But the best thing about this book isnt learning how to make projects with a feminist spin all by yourself; its sharing the fun with all your friends. Theres always room at the feminist crafting table for anyone who believes in equality, no matter their identity or abilityif you can cut, sew, glue, and have fun doing it, then this book is for you. With these projects, you can host crafty cocktail parties, get artsy with your book club, organize a DIY day for a fundraising project, or just hang out one-on-one while whipping up tributes to the pioneers and principles of feminism.

So grab a handful of glitter and get your girl power on. No one said feminism cant be fun!