[IST 605] 🔮 The Stitching Hour: Fiber Arts from Then to Now 🔮

Below are keywords and search tips for digital databases, forums, and resources that are useful for learning about fiber arts from past  to present. Enjoy! 

• Use keywords plus “advice” or “help” (e.g., “crochet tension help” or “best yarn for beginners”) to find advice or solutions to any problems.

• Sort by "Top" or "Best" for more established, highly upvoted threads with reliable information.

• Use specific subreddits like r/knitting, r/crochet, or r/fiberarts for focused discussions and project help.

• Try advanced search operators like "history of knitting" site:reddit.com/r/knitting in Google to find detailed threads not easily visible in Reddit's basic search.

• Add terms like “beginner tutorial”, “step by step”, or “slow crochet” to find clearer how-to videos (e.g., “how to crochet granny square step by step”).

• Filter by upload date or view count to find either the most up-to-date or the most popular tutorials.

• Check video length: Shorter videos are good for quick tips, while longer ones often include detailed walkthroughs and full projects.

• Use the advanced pattern search to filter by technique, difficulty, yarn weight, or historical inspiration (e.g., search “vintage” under “style”).

• Browse forums using keywords like “history,” “origin,” or “techniques” for community discussions and deep dives.

• Try the "Vintage" or "Historical" tags under pattern filters to find heritage or traditional projects.

• Use the “projects” tab on pattern pages to see how real users modified or interpreted a pattern, great for gauging difficulty or inspiration.

• Use specific historical terms like “Victorian knitting,” “19th-century crochet,” or “needlework samplers” in their search bar.

• Explore the Collections and Articles tabs for curated pieces, filter by date, material, or craft type for more refined results.

• Browse by "Object Type"  to search for terms like “sampler,” “textile,” or “knitted object” to surface more specific fiber artifacts.

• Use specific historical keywords like “Victorian knitting,” “antique crochet patterns,” or “needlework manuals” to uncover digitized books and pamphlets. Adding a date range (e.g., “1900..1950”) in the search bar can help narrow your results.
• Filter results by Media Type. select "Texts" to avoid videos/audio and focus on downloadable pattern books, guides, and manuals in PDF or ePub formats.
• Use Boolean operators and quotation marks (e.g., “knitting patterns” AND Victorian) to perform more complex searches on historical craft topics.
• Use subject-specific terms like “needlework,” “home industries,” “household arts,” or “manual training”, terms common in older texts.
•  Click “Search inside” on a book to find specific mentions of techniques or patterns, helpful if the title is broad or outdated.