author
Idabelle McGlauflin
A longtime educator in Denver, she wrote practical craft guides that brought sewing, design, and home arts into everyday learning. Her best-known work, Handicraft for Girls, reflects an early 20th-century belief that creativity and useful skills belong together.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in the 19th century and active well into the 20th, Idabelle McGlauflin is best remembered for Handicraft for Girls (1914), a detailed guide to needlework, basketry, design, textiles, and home decoration for use in schools and homes.
The book identifies her as supervisor of girls' handwork in the Denver Public Schools, which suggests that her writing grew directly out of classroom experience. Rather than treating craft as a small hobby, she presented it as a serious part of education, blending practical skill, careful design, and everyday usefulness.
Public records available online indicate that she lived from 1854 to 1953. Even with limited biographical detail, her work still offers a clear picture of an author-teacher who cared about making art, handwork, and domestic knowledge accessible to young learners.