These 8 Crafting Trends Will Define 2026, According to Michaels

To help fight digital fatigue and reconnect to real life, more people are turning to hands-on creating to reset. From knitting to needlepoint, crafting hobbies are becoming more popular.

To offer inspiration and share what's on the rise in the DIY world, Michaels just released its 2026 Creativity Trends Report. Using sales and search data, consumer insights, and the knowledge of in-house trend and design experts, the retailer identified the eight biggest creative movements happening right now. All search and historical sales data were taken from the last 12 months and compared to the same time the previous year, underscoring the increased demand for each of these trends.

Here are the eight biggest crafting trends the retailer is seeing at the moment.

Memory Keeping

After years of digital curation and disappearing content, creators are craving something tangible. Memory keeping is no longer reserved for weddings and baby books. It's showing up in junk journals layered with found ephemera, vision boards framed as art, personalized charm collections, and shadow boxes. In fact, searches on Michaels.com for junk journaling were up 63 percent year over year, while interest in vision boards rose 61 percent.

On-the-Go Projects

As screen fatigue reaches new highs, creativity is moving out of the house and into the real world. Enter what Michaels is calling "Touching Grass Crafts"—hands-on projects that help people unplug and reconnect with their surroundings. Instead of crafting at home, people are bringing their projects on the road—stitching on park benches, sketching at the beach, knitting on train rides, or journaling during walks.

Portable projects like mini watercolor sets, embroidery hoops, and compact knitting kits are becoming more popular, as evidenced by the rise of "analog bags." The viral social media trend showcases what's inside people's carefully curated craft totes, including watercolor palettes, yarn skeins, embroidery hoops, sketchbooks, and tiny project kits.

According to the report, searches for "analog hobbies" like knitting, crochet, needlepoint, embroidery, sewing, cross stitch, journaling, and painting on the retailer's site jumped 136 percent over the last six months.

Shared Crafting

According to Michaels, more people are swapping nights of sitting on the couch scrolling for group crafting sessions. In fact, paint party kit searches are up 329 percent year over year, while searches for "girls night crafts" increased 244 percent on Michaels.com.

DIY Gifts

In a response to overconsumption, the retailer is reporting an overall move toward hyper-personal, story-driven presents. Think embroidered initials, candles blended to match someone's exact aesthetic, and heirloom-inspired pieces that feel like they were made for one person. "People aren't just giving gifts; they're crafting artifacts of their relationships," the report reveals.

Michaels also reports that 51 percent of its customers are DIY-ing gifts as a way to save money.

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Skill Building

In 2026, casual crafting is shifting to craftsmanship, with creators investing in techniques that build competence and confidence. Sewing, knitting, woodworking, needlework, and heritage techniques are being redefined as modern life skills, the report found. For example, searches for sewing patterns were up 152 percent year over year.

This trend also feeds into "repair culture," as people look to extend the life of items, personalize their spaces, and build skills that feel useful, as well as a way to save money.

Homemade Home Décor

After years of hyper-polished feeds and showroom-perfect homes, people are embracing the beauty of imperfection by celebrating texture, visible brushstrokes, uneven stitching, and layered finishes. Homes feel more lived-in, more expressive, and more human.

As consumers grow more design-savvy, they're looking for elevated projects, according to Michaels. The line between professional design and at-home making continues to blur, as more people seek approachable ways to create gallery-worthy décor with their own hands. The report reveals that searches for DIY home décor were up 79 percent year over year.

Micro Celebrations

As more people begin to honor smaller milestones such as quitting a job or going through a breakup, paper crafting sales are experiencing double-digit growth as people opt for hand-made banners and paper chains to add a personal signature to these moments.

Just for Fun

Driven largely by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, a wave of playful merrymaking that embraces maximalism, humor, and individuality is on the rise, Michaels reports. This trend is all about playful, personality-packed projects made purely for joy. Think charm-covered bags, resin food trinkets, Shrinky Dinks, jelly-inspired keychains, phone straps, novelty beads, and hyper-colorful desk décor.