Mollie Makes - a review (of sorts)

I like my magazines (although for financial reasons I'm having to reduce the number of subscriptions that I have). They give me both pleasure and ideas.

I was quite wary when I saw the first issue of Mollie Makes on the shelves. I'd known it was coming because I follow @MollieMakes on Twitter and it sounded interesting. However, when I saw the first edition it didn't grab me straight away and I thought that the £4.99 price tag was a bit heavy (being a bit skint at the time) so it went back on the shelf.

During the next few months I read a lot of reviews, comments, Twitter/Facebook feeds about the magazine, so when issue five came out, I had another look and bought a copy. From then, dear Reader I was hooked. I'm not sure why the fifth issue struck me more than the first, perhaps I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

Anyway, the magazine - it's a wonderful mixture of vintage, making and crafting, with articles written by a range of people from the UK, USA and Australia etc. Even if you don't make/craft yourself, this magazine can point you towards those that do.

Although the magazine appears to be quite small, it packs a lot in, and, because of the range of the content, I find that I constantly have a nose through my collection (I have six issues up to now) when I want a visual 'lift' or am looking for inspiration. Something that I can't say about my other magazines. So I do feel that I am getting value for money.

Each issue a 'gift' on the front of the magazine, a small make, calender, ribbon etc. Unfortunately, I haven't made any of the makes so far, being too busy doing my own stuff, but the 2012 calender (with its beautiful Fryd + Design images) is hanging in our living room.

The magazine is made of good quality paper and the photography is really good. It also lists lots of addresses to websites and blogs. It's always interesting seeing what other people are making and what they blog about. Even the adverts are nice to look at!

Each issue has a number of tutorials (for issue 10 these include, crocheted wrist warmers, a messenger bag, cactus-shaped pincushions and tattoo inspired embroidery). There are peeks into people's houses and work spaces, which is something you don't usually find in a craft magazine.

I'm not sure if this is the magazine for you if it's a traditional craft magazine that you're after, as Mollie Makes has both a retro and vintage vibe along with a fair bit of modern thrown in (felt monsters anyone?). As such, it is very much of its time, picking up on the general trend of making, crafting, reusing and thrifting that is so popular at present.

What do you like to read?

TTFN
Louise

Please note, these are all my views and I have no connection with the magazine (apart from reading it of course!).