Customer Reviews
interesting but not a practical handbook - By: A. Reader, 16 Jul 2008 
nice idea but i was expecting much more hands on user friendly this-is-how-you-do-it kind of a book so a bit disappointing when i realised it was more of a look-at-how-it-used-to-be sort of a book. great for research & flicking through, but not a manual of household crafts.
DK condensed version of the National Trust book of the same title... - By: Amazon Reviewer, 09 Nov 2007 
....with an updated introduction.
`Forgotten Household Crafts, recaptures the self-sufficient life of a bygone age.'
From the introduction:-
`..this book describes the art of housewifery through the ages, buy it is not just a `museum on paper'. Many of the activities may be seldom practised nowadays - some of them are sadly dead & gone - but many of them are living activities & several of the skills that seemed to be dying are now being revived, for many people have passed right through the pimply-adolescent stage of post-industrial civilisation.
They have tired of the take-away way of living & the machines-for-living way of living.....this book records the past, & that in itself can be quite a useful thing, but it has been written also to inspire & instruct us for the future. For I am convinced that the future does not lie in the direction of fish fingers, & telly snacks, & `Formica' & other plastic rubbish.
It lies in the recreation of the real homes......'
Written with the typical John Seymour charm, this delightful book of forgotten skills is illustrated throughout in black & white.
A marvellous source for school projects when Grandma's recollections are not enough to fill two A4 sheets - but, overalll, it makes us realise just how lucky we are that technology has answered some of the more arduous of chores, especiallly in the Laundry Craft section:-
`In these days of turbo-boost washing machines & tumble driers, it is difficult to appreciate just how arduous doing the laundry was in the last century. Washing machines were not generallly available until the 1880s & even then much energy was required to operate them, as they were hand cranked. In most households, a day of the week, usuallly Monday, was set aside for doing the washing & the housewife devoted the whole day to soaking, pounding, rubbing, boiling, starching, rinsing & drying the family's linen. She was lucky if she could fit in the ironing, as well...'
followed by sections entitled:-
Drawing Water
Making Lye & Soap
Washing Linen
Drying Linen
Pressing Linen
Dyeing
256 high quality matt pages, split over 6 main chapters:-
Kitchen Crafts
Dairy Crafts
Laundry Crafts
Around the Home
Textile Crafts
Decorative Crafts
each sub-divided into sections, plus the introduction & index.
Sections include:-
Cooking
Salting & Pickling
Drying & Smoking
Preserves & Confectionery
Washing Up
Ale & Beer Making
Butter & Cheese Making
Making Ice Cream
Linen inc. `Wringing & Mangling', `Peg Making' & `Ironing'
Bathing & The Jakes inc. `The Privy'
Heating & Lighting
Chimney Sweeping
Spinning
Lace Making
Smocking
Knitting/Crochet
Stencilling
Festivals & Decorations
