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Handmade History: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Sonia & Alicia
Two crafty sisters dig up stories and bust myths about people, materials, and practices related to all your favorite handcrafts. Listen to us while you craft! Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com and or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com. New episodes every other week!
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 1 weeks ago22 min
Episode 40: Felt in All Forms
This episode is brought to you by Felted Sky, a needlefelting kit company. If you're looking to refresh your fiber stash or grab a mini-kit, check out feltedsky.com today. And as a special treat to our Handmade History Podcast listeners, they're offering 20% off of their entire Winter Collection now through December 14, 2026. Just go to feltedsky.com and use code Handmade20 at checkout. The short story: Wool. Is. Magic! Thanks to some special (slightly magical) properties, wool fibers love to snuggle up and shrink, making it possible to make fabric from throwing wool around. Or perhaps putting it in your shoes and going on a pilgrimage, as Saint Clement is said to have done. Join us this week to talk about felt, from needlefelting miniature owls to creating walls for a yurt. You'll learn: 🇲🇳 How people in Central Asia and Mongolia have made felt for hundreds of years using wool, leather, and rope 🦉How a small group of people in New England repurposed industrial felting machines to invent needlefelting--and spawned an adorable trend of tiny animal creation 🇹🇷 How one of the oldest human archaeological sites shows us that felting is (probably) ten thousand years old! 📖 Join us for a readalong of What You Are Looking for Is in the Library by Michiko Ayoyama. Grab a copy at your library or use our affiliate link and join us on Patreon, Instagram, or Facebook. We start reading October 28, 2026 (and of course you can join in anytime!). 🪡 Join us for a craftalong using Felted Sky's Christmas Gnome Kit at the end of December. You can use any kit you like! Get 20% off of their entire Winter Collection now through December 14, 2026. Just go to feltedsky.com and use code Handmade20 at checkout. Show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/hhepisode40 Visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast to learn more and sign up to get our posts in your inbox. Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information. Thanks for listening! Bye!
- 3 weeks ago21 min
Episode 39: Witch CRAFTS and Amulets
It's officially spooky season, and this week we're talking about crafts that people have used for thousands of years to protect themselves from witches and the evil eye. Whether or not you believe in supernatural phenomena, these forces have driven people to carve, burn, stitch, and create amulets and other protections since the time of the Neanderthals. Did you know... 🧹The largest collection of witches marks in England was found carved into a cave wall...by two people on a cave tour? 👻At least one soldier made a witch bottle for protection...during the Civil War? 🧿The nazar is one of the oldest amulets used to protect against the evil eye in the world...and it was made into an emoji in 2018? Join us for a tour through the millenia, with, as always, fun rabbit holes and sidequests (spoiler alert: there a cryptid in this episode 😈). Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/hhepisode39 Sponsored by our Patreon Patrons. Thank you for your support! Visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast to learn more and sign up to get our posts in your inbox. Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.
- Sep 28, 202620 min
Episode 38: Mae Reeves & JB Stetson, Two Epic American Hatmakers
A milliner of fabulous hats & pillar of the Black community and the creator of the iconic cowboy hat both started their companies in Philadelphia, PA. Mae Reeves and JB Stetson's iconic work could not look less alike, but both of these epic American hatmakers shared a love for their local communities and left their mark on the trade. In this episode, you'll learn... 👒About the hat shop you can visit in the Smithsonian 🎩The truth behind the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland--and its connection to hatmaking in real life 🤠 Where the first cowboys & cowgirls came from -- spoiler alert, it's not the American West! Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/HHepisode38 Sponsored by our Patreon Patrons. Thank you for your support! Visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast to learn more and sign up to get our posts in your inbox. Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.
- Sep 14, 202626 min
Episode 37: Needlepoint!
What do Mary Martin, Rosey Grier, and Loreta Swit have in common? They all wrote needlepoint books! We're kicking off Season 3 with a deep dive into needlepoint. With stops at King Tut's tomb in 1922, Edo-period Japan, and Renaissance Italy, we take you on a tour of the stitches, materials, and makers that made needlepoint into the wildly popular craft it is today. Highlights include A unique counted running stitch called Kogin Where Berlin woolwork sits on the embroidery evolutionary tree Perhaps the priciest needlepoint kit on the market today, courtesy of Fendi We also answer the big question: What's the difference between needlepoint and cross-stitch? Find out if you agree with us! Listen in and share with a needlepoint-obsessed friend. Show notes and sources here: https://tinyurl.com/HHepisode37 Sponsored by our Patreon Patrons--shout out to Maggie! Thank you for your support. Visit patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast to learn more and sign up to get our posts in your inbox. Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.
- May 27, 202620 min
Bonus Episode 3: A Chat with Jane Healey, author of The Saturday Evening Girls Club, a novel
Join us for a very special bonus episode! Alicia sat down to chat with Jane Healey, the author of The Saturday Evening Girls Club, a novel set in the early 1900s. The SEGC was a real club that launched a pottery venture, Paul Revere Pottery. Bowls, plates, tiles, and vases from this small shop are held in museums today, and sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of the girls in the SEG were first-generation Americans in Jewish and Italian families in Boston's North End. The Saturday Evening Girls Club follows an imaginary SEG, Caprice who wishes to open her own hat shop, and three of her friends, who face struggles in their families, work, and social lives. The intertwined stories of these four girls are inspiring and relatable. Alicia and Jane talk about: Why Jane decided to combine Edith Gurrier, the founder of the SEGC, and her partner, Edith Brown, the co-founder of Paul Revere Pottery, and what she would do differently today The annual SEG tradition that she wishes she could have put into the story Why we still to relate to the struggles of turn-of-the-century girls and women today The special emails she's gotten from descendants This episode also caps off our readalong of Jane's book. You can find all of the posts for this readalong (and join in anytime!) at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Grab your favorite handcraft and listen in for fun facts to text to your crafting bestie! Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Find links, images, and more on the free blog post for this episode; visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.
- May 25, 202620 min
Episode 36: Laura Ashley, Iconic Designer & Company
If you were a 90s kid (like Alicia was) or the little sister of a 90s kid (like Sonia was), chances are Laura Ashley influenced your bedroom design. Laura Ashley, born Laura Mountney in Wales in 1925, started her iconic, eponymous company by screenprinting in her Pimlico apartment with her husband, Bernard. Inspired by a Women's Institute exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Laura wanted to make a patchwork quilt--but she couldn't find any fabric that she liked. So, she designed her own. This episode is sponsored by Quiltfolk. Travel stitch by stitch with Quiltfolk — wherever you like to read… or sew. Use coupon code HandmadeHistory for 20% off your order on Quiltfolk.com. Soon, the Ashleys were selling scarves (a la Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday) and tea towels in shops in London--and just a few years later, they opened their own London showroom. Listen in to learn: How the Ashleys went from two shops and a showroom in the UK to 450 shops around the world The interesting lifestyle choice that Laura made in order to escape a cramped cottage in Kent The Laura Ashley brand today (it's still classy!) What exactly the Women's Institute is A pretty sidetrack about smocking Grab your work-in-progress and your crafting bestie and listen in for more fun facts and trips down rabbit holes. (And deep apologies for Alicia's butchering of Welsh place names!) This is our last regular episode of Season 2 - stay tuned for one more bonus episode, and then we will take a break and be back in September! Show notes and sources here. Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Find links, images, and more on the free blog post for this episode; visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information. Also, in May 2026 we are doing a readalong of Jane Healey's The Saturday Evening Girls Club (this is an affiliate link--your purchase will support Handmade History at no cost to you). Grab a copy of this fantastic historical fiction novel and join us on Instagram, Facebook, or Patreon.
- May 11, 202622 min
Episode 35: A Sampler of Samplers from Around the World
Close your eyes and picture a sampler. We bet you are picturing a cross-stitched design with an alphabet on it. This type of sampler is quite common in England and North America, but there are many other types of samplers. In fact, samplers have been made in almost every culture around the world for several thousand years. This episode is sponsored by Embroydica. Visit Embroydica.com and become part of a growing global archive of embroidery and creative expression. Also check out Alicia's blog post about samplers on Embroydica! Listen in to learn about: The oldest preserved sampler, from the same Peruvian culture that created the mysterious Nazca lines. The oldest synthetic dye, Egyptian Blue, plus how to make it yourself (with a thousand-degree kiln) The oldest British sampler, which is also the oldest signed sampler, the Jane Bostocke sampler 3-D globe samplers (!!!) And so much more! Grab your favorite handcraft and listen in for fun facts to text to your crafting bestie! Show notes and sources: https://tinyurl.com/HHepisode35 Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Find links, images, and more on the free blog post for this episode; visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information. Also, in May 2026 we are doing a readalong of Jane Healey's The Saturday Evening Girls Club (this is an affiliate link--your purchase will support Handmade History at no cost to you). Grab a copy of this fantastic historical fiction novel and join us on Instagram, Facebook, or Patreon.
- Apr 27, 202623 min
Episode 34: The Saturday Evening Girls and Paul Revere Pottery, Icons of the Arts & Crafts Movement
The Saturday Evening Girls began as a story hour in Boston's North End at a trade school for young people--and quickly grew into something more. This episode is sponsored by our Patreon Patrons. Thank you! We invite you to sign up to our Patreon at any level. Free members get a blog post with links and photos from each episode. Paid members get special discounts to crafty businesses as well as access to our Discord. The Saturday Evening Girls Club included 250 girls at its peak--and launched pottery business that made these girls and women into "icons of the Arts & Crafts movement," according to the Met. Join us for a deep dive into Paul Revere Pottery and the SEG, where we talk about: Edith Gurrier, the unique woman who started the SEG and PRP, including her connections to Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Tubman. Helen Osbourne Storrow, the benefactor of the club, who knew the value of a good vacation. Sara Galner, the most collected pottery artist today--whose tile recently sold for almost $300,000 Fanny Goldstein, who created Jewish Book Month and became curator of Judaica at the Boston Public Library--the SEG was her higher education Numerous other girls and women who made beautiful pottery that remains collectible today--and graduated college at a rate three times that of their peers Plus, with this episode we kick off a read-a-long of Jane Healey's The Saturday Evening Girls Club (this is an affiliate link--your purchase will support Handmade History at no cost to you). Grab a copy of this fantastic historical fiction novel and join us on May 6 on Instagram, Facebook, or Patreon. Grab your favorite handcraft and listen in for fun facts to text to your crafting bestie! Show notes and sources: https://tinyurl.com/HHepisode34 Have a question, comment, or idea for a future episode? Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com. Find links, images, and more on the free blog post for this episode; visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/handmadehistorypodcast. Or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com for more information.
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About Handmade History
Two crafty sisters dig up stories and bust myths about people, materials, and practices related to all your favorite handcrafts. Listen to us while you craft! Email us at handmadehistoryhosts@gmail.com and or visit our website at handmadehistorypodcast.com. New episodes every other week!
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