Bored over break? Here are some fun summer crafts to occupy your free time

The ability to sew your own clothing and tailor it to your liking is such a valuable life skill in itself, but being able to sew also provides a fun summer hobby which can go in many directions. If you like to thrift your clothing, sewing can allow you to adjust or completely “thrift flip” different pieces to fit your style, which broadens your options and saves you the financial trouble of getting it tailored. Making your own clothes from scratch can also be a fun pastime, and it’s so much cheaper to buy some fabric thread than an overpriced summer top from a retailer. But aside from clothes, you can also make stuffed animals and other little gifts for yourself and your friends as you learn to sew. You could even start a business! Though it’s not quite the same as sewing, embroidery is also a fun craft that allows you to customize your clothes, such as embroidering flowers onto the back pockets of your jeans.   

Maybe I sound like someone’s grandma suggesting these crafts directly after sewing, but I’m okay with that! Summer is the perfect time to get into relaxing hobbies like these when you don’t have any Canvas or Outlook notifications to disturb your peace. Personally, I taught myself to crochet and needle felt during the pandemic, and I still find myself making birthday gifts and occasional winter accessories from it. Crocheting, knitting and needle felting all tend to be fairly time-consuming hobbies (especially when you’re first learning them), which is why they’re well suited to a long break like summer. Even if you’re working a job during the day, you can just do a bit in the evening, and over the course of a few months you’ll still have made quite a lot of progress. These hobbies are also ever-expanding, and you can find endless ideas online. For instance, even if you know the basics of crochet, maybe you’ve never made a “granny square” before, and now you have a new project to take on! 

Making your own jewelry is a great hobby to do all year round, but it’s particularly great during the summer because if you travel to the beach, you can use and decorate seashells in your craft. I find that buying some chain, wire, and collecting charms is also far cheaper than buying a good necklace. Like sewing, being able to make your own jewelry is a skill that affords you flexibility. If the chain on your favorite necklace breaks apart, you can fix it yourself or even take the charm off and attach it to a new one! I haven’t tried my hand much at making rings, but those can also be easily made with some wire and a pretty gem to go on the top. The skills from learning to make your own jewelry can also be applied to making your own keychains, and make for a great, personalized gift!  

Just like making your own jewelry, painting rocks and seashells can be a bit of a seasonal craft for the summer. But notably, painting rocks and seashells requires much less expertise and can even be done as a fun group activity with friends or younger siblings! I’ve even combined the two crafts in the past by decorating seashells and then attaching them to chains or string to make a cute necklace. If you’re travelling over the summer, you could paint some of the different locations you’re visiting on different rocks and then use them as decorations. That does unfortunately require you to be able to paint more than a smiley face or a rainbow, which I cannot yet do, but practice makes perfect!