Hina Jalil

Sewing is, I suppose, the stereotypical hobby for women, but in fact I know very few women who sew nowadays. Sewing can mean a lot of things, from needlepoint, to quilting, to actually sewing clothing. The opportunity to choose your own fabrics and design your own outfits is an appealing one, but don't underestimate the level of skill required for this. It's best to stick with pre-made patterns in the beginning.

Many women cook so often for their families that they might not even consider cooking as a hobby. But there is a difference between cooking as a chore and cooking as a hobby. When you cook as a hobby, you go out of your way to try new things. Dependig on how adventurous you are, you may find yourself spending almost as much time searching out unusual ingredients and tools as you do cooking! If you are looking for a social hobby, find a cooking buddy or consider taking a cooking class. Often, community colleges have cooking classes available at a reasonable cost.

Dessert decorating is a dangerous hobby if you are the sort who can't help themselves from sampling your work along the way! (I think that applies to everyone.) If you are interested in this hobby, find out if you have a Michael's crafts store near you. They usually offer very cheap or free decorating classes. The only catch is that you must buy the cake decorating learning kits available at the store. Still, it ends up being far more economical than most other choices.

One benefit to this hobby is that it can increase your popularity. Everyone loves desserts, and beautiful desserts are just that much better. Plus if you get good enough you can decorate wedding cakes for friends and family members as a wedding present, and possibly even turn it into a business for yourself.

Most women seem to enjoy non-competitive forms of exercise such as yoga, pilates, and dance. Yoga and pilates classes can be pricey, but you can also rent videos or stream them from Netflix if you are looking to save money.

There are so many kinds of dance that you are bound to find one to suit your needs. Some dancing requires a partner (for example, ballroom and swing), but many kinds of dance can be done solo (such as flamenco). If you take a dancing class, it usually is not a problem if you come alone, because there is bound to be someone else in need of a partner. Contra dancing events tend to be popular, don't require a partner (you change partners repeatedly in contra dancing), and usually require no experience to attend. In most cities, there are also swing dancing groups that will often provide free lessons.

For a while it seemed like scrapbooking was everywhere. I think the fad has faded a bit, but scrapbooking can still be a great choice as a hobby, particularly if you have a lot of family photos sitting around in unseen boxes.

Even if you don't have much space, you can still garden. You can grow flowers and herbs easily indoors. I have even seen tomatoes growing in someone's living room before. However, if you want to grow a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, or flowers, you are going to need some space outdoors. If you don't have a yard yourself, find out if there is a community gardens in your neighborhood.

This is a great companion hobby to flower gardening! One style of flower arranging that you might not know about is Japanese Ikebana, which is much more subtle than Western style arrangements that you typically see at the florist or grocery store. Some community colleges offer flower arranging classes, but often the people who take these classes are training to become florists.

If you have artistic talent, or even if you don't, consider taking a drawing class or learning how to paint. There are many different kinds of painting, including oil, acrylic, and water color. If you are more "crafty" than "artsy," you might learn tole painting or ceramics painting instead. (Tole painting is where you paint on wood or tin objects, usually of the sort that end up in your living room.) If your home needs a bit more style, consider sponge painting or other means of interior decoration.

Making soap or candles doesn't require any real skills (although it can if you want to get fancy about it). You really just need to go to a crafts store and buy the materials for it. One fun thing about making soap or candles is that you get to design the scent. So you might choose to combine a couple of complementary scents, similar to designing your own perfume.

It has never been easier to get started with photography as a hobby. All you need is to invest in a quality digital camera. The great thing about digital cameras is that you can take as many photos as you want for free, and only save the ones that are the very best. If you want to make a little extra cash, you might consider selling your photos to online stock photography sites.