A dynamic resurgence in sewing and knitting is under way, with many people enjoying making and mending their own garments at home. However, stories abound of homemade clothes languishing at the back of the wardrobe. Amy Twigger Holroyd draws on ideas of fashion, culture and craft to explore makers' lived experiences of creating and wearing homemade clothes in a society dominated by shop-bought garments. Using the innovative metaphor of fashion as common land, Folk Fashion investigates the complex relationship between making, well-being and sustainability. Twigger Holroyd combines her own experience as a designer and knitter with first-hand accounts from folk fashion makers to explore this fascinating, yet under-examined, area of contemporary fashion culture.Looking to the future, she also considers how sewers and knitters might maximise the radical potential of their activities.

Traditional clothing is essentially haute couture. Made with high quality fabrics and elaborate workmanship, it embodies cultural heritage and style. Encompassing a surprising variety of garments, it represents premium handcraft, an awareness of tradition, a sense of belonging, and an affinity to one's homeland. At the same time, folkloric clothing is inspiring some of today and tomorrow's most ambitious and radical fashion designers. In 'Traditional Couture,' photographer Gregor Hohenberg succeeds in building a visual bridge between the outmoded and the avant-garde in German folkloric fashion. He portrays the individuals, young and old alike, who wear traditional attire in all the regions of his homeland, as well as their surroundings.

Song and dance style--viewed as nonverbal communications about culture--are here related to social structure and cultural history. Patterns of performance, theme, text and movement are analyzed in large samples of films an recordings from the whole range of human culture, according to the methods explained in this volume. Cantometrics, which means song as a measure of man, finds that traditions of singing trace the main historic distributions of human culture and that specific traits of performance are communications about identifiable aspects of society. The predictable and universal relations between expressive communication and social organization, here established for the first time, open up the possibility of a scientific aesthetics, useful to planners.

A treasury of ethnic dress, this book ranges from the Amish of Pennsylvania to the Zulu of South Africa. Alphabetical entries cover more than 150 countries and regions, each represented by six or more illustrations. Six hundred drawings include images of men, women, and children. Captions describe the costumes and their associated traditions.

This book provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of research on technical and vocational education in China. It discusses various aspects that range from such conventional topics as teaching at different levels, development history, regulations, policies, curriculum, specialty setup, teaching, faculty and management; to the status quo, transformation and current trends; as well as quantity expansion and quality improvement, all of which highlight the unique characteristics of technical and vocational education in China. This book is intended for researchers and graduate students, and will also help international readers to grasp the general situation regarding technical and vocational education in China. Combining rich content and a broad scope, the book will undoubtedly offer a valuable key to understanding China’s technical and vocational education in the 21st century.

As Ukraine struggles to find its national identity, modern Ukrainian Pagans offer an alternative vision of the Ukrainian nation. Drawing inspiration from the spiritual life of past millennia, they strive to return to the pre-Christian roots of their ancestors. Since Christianity dominates the spiritual discourse in Ukraine, Pagans are marginalized, and their ideas are perceived as radical. In The Return of Ancestral Gods, Mariya Lesiv explores Pagan beliefs and practices in Ukraine and amongst the North American Ukrainian diaspora. Drawing on intensive fieldwork, archival documents, and published sources not available in English, she allows the voices of Pagans to be heard. Paganism in Slavic countries is heavily charged with ethno-nationalist politics, and previous scholarship has mainly focused on this aspect. Lesiv finds it important to consider not only how Paganism is preached but also the way that it is understood on a private level. She shows that many Ukrainians embrace Paganism because of its aesthetic aspects rather than its associated politics and discusses the role that aesthetics may play in the further development of Ukrainian Paganism. Paganism in Eastern Europe remains underrepresented within Pagan studies, and this work helps to fill that gap. Extensive comparative references to various forms of Western Paganism allows English-speaking readers to better understand the world of Ukrainian Pagans.

“A fabulous book! . . . If you enjoy tiny, detailed projects that allow for lots of creativity and personal handiwork, I cannot recommend this book enough!” —Feeling Stitchy Salley Mavor’s book Felt Wee Folk inspired tens of thousands to handcraft dolls from simple materials. Now, she invites you to return to the wee world with Felt Wee Folk—New Adventures, starring 120 dolls to spark smiles and creativity. As requested by fans, this long-awaited follow-up shares more challenging projects. Explore fresh scenes and an array of new outfits, hairstyles, and accessories, with full-sized patterns. Make bendable dolls that resemble you, your family, or your favorite fairy-tale characters with wool felt, chenille stems, and decorative stitching. Display the figures in a dollhouse, atop a wedding cake, or in a holiday scene to be cherished year after year. From the pages of Mavor’s award-winning children’s books to your home, the enchanting wee folk dolls appeal to crafters of all ages and skill levels. More dolls, more scenes, and more outfits Use your stash—wool felt, chenille stems, and simple embellishments Delightful, challenging projects, as requested by fans Felt Wee Folk was a Foreword Reviews’ GOLD WINNER for Crafts & Hobbies “While the original book included projects beyond Wee Folk dolls, the new volume focuses on the dolls themselves. Fairies and families, kings and knights, and even some not-too-scary pirates all grace the pages of the book, beckoning readers to at least admire, if not try to create, Wee Folk of their own.” —The Enterprise (Cape Cod)