Straw Plaiting

An engaging makers’ guide to the history and craft of straw plaiting, brimming with helpful step-by-step diagrams.

Straw plaiting has been used to make accessories from hats and baskets to handbags, trimmings and homewares around the world for centuries. Once employing tens of thousands of people in the UK alone, the craft is now listed as Critically Endangered on Heritage Crafts’ Red List.

This book aims to change that, drawing on more than 50 previously unpublished patterns and techniques from around the world that will help you to unlock the history and preserve the skills of straw plaiting.

For each pattern, follow the step-by-step diagrams and instructions and discover how they were developed whilst learning about materials, tools and preparation. Once familiar with the plaiting techniques – using straw as well as other materials – you will be able to develop your own skills, possibly blending in recycled materials, which are increasingly being used to produce beautiful and unique pieces.

Author Biography

Veronica Main is the most experienced traditional straw plaiter in the UK. For more than 40 years she has rigorously researched the industries of the UK, Europe and the United States, unlocking information and learning how to recreate plaits using authentic techniques. She was awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Year’s Honours list for her services to Straw Hat Plaiting and Endangered Crafts Skills.

Heritage Crafts is the national charity for traditional heritage crafts in the UK, founded in 2009 to support and promote heritage crafts as a fundamental part of our living heritage. www.heritagecrafts.org.uk