No grandma, no problem

Do-it-yourself blogs, YouTube channels have brought back traditional crafts like sewing, knitting and self-styling hair

Sewing, knitting, crafting and self-styling hair skills, once considered vital for young women, are making a comeback of sorts thanks to the new crop of do-it-yourself (DIY) bloggers and YouTube channels making these traditional activities cool.

A combination of austere times and the search for something new has led to many young women blogging about how to make everything — from beaded bangles to fabric bows and phone covers. If you want to learn how to add crochet sleeves to an old dress or repurpose your parent’s old suitcase as a bookshelf, the DIY bloggers have your back.

One such blogger —

TheCreatist — has a post on how to recreate a “ripped” t-shirt like the one worn by Deepika Padukone in

Cocktail .

Another blogger —

Style Inked — gives readers step-by-step instructions on how to make a tasselled necklace that rivals those found in international high-street stores.

Most of these DIY projects don’t require you to be a pro, and can be done with material lying around the house, like a worn-out denim, an old dupatta and colourful threads.

Not to be outdone by the bloggers, YouTubers are teaching women how to get salon-like hairstyles and makeup at home. Specialising in hair tutorials for Indian women, one such YouTube channel,

Hennafied , guides viewers on how to style hair while using traditional wedding jewellery like a

maang teeka . Others have videos on the ways to braid hair.

For low maintenance viewer, channels have special videos that teach “five-minute up-dos” and “hairstyles for lazy girls”. Even basic grooming techniques like threading have been explained in instructional videos.

Though the spurt in DIY blogs is reviving traditional skills, the end product is anything but traditional. By Damini Nath