We know spending hours and hours doom scrolling isn’t good for us. We also know spending time crafting can help us to feel better. However, putting our phones down is easier said than done. Making it as easy as possible for us to pick up our craft will give us the best chance of being successful with this. We’re competing with the speed at which we’re able to take our phones out of our pockets, so it needs to be quick and easy.

What is an analogue bag, and how can that help?

An analogue bag is used to help you spend less time doom-scrolling when you leave the house. It’s filled with offline activities for you to choose from, rather than resorting to picking up your phone.

They have existed for a long time, but the concept of having an analogue bag gained prominence on social media towards the end of 2025/start of 2026. With more and more people talking about how using one helps them to spend less time doom-scrolling.

What do you put in an analogue bag?

People fill their analogue bags with a variety of things that can occupy them when they’re out and about.

Typically this will include things like:
A reading book
A journal
A colouring book
A craft project (or 2!)

As a crafter, what could you put in an analogue bag?

If you want to spend more time crafting and would love to create your own analogue bag, then I would recommend including portable, ‘easy thinker’ projects. I describe ‘easy thinker’ projects as those you can do with little concentration or energy. The sort you might do at the end of a long day when you’re tired. You need something you can pick back up quickly. This is not a time for a project where you need to go back over the pattern in detail or remind yourself about how to do a particular technique. It needs to be quick and simple to successfully fight against the pull of your phone.

Crafts like embroidery, cross stitch, knitting and crochet are all well suited to analogue bags. Small kits are great because you know you have everything you need. Easy to grab and go.

As well as one or two projects, so you have a choice depending on your mood; you could also include the following:

a craft-related magazine or book
patterns you’re interested in doing in the future

My favourites tend to be crochet and embroidery. Whether I’m on holiday, travelling on the train or the tube in London or on a day out somewhere. I love a zipped pouch to keep all the bits of a project together, like this 'crochet stuff’ one.

My current favourite project to carry around with me is the lovely ‘Keep Going’ embroidery kit you can see at the start of this piece.

What about at home?

Something we don’t see discussed as much as analogue bags is how we can make it as easy as possible to craft when we’re at home. There are some key principles we can take from analogue bags. Meaning we lose less of our evenings to doom scrolling and spend more time crafting - which is a win-win in my book!

The key reasons why analogue bags work are because:
we have everything we need for a project together
we have a variety of projects to suit our mood
the projects are easy to access

If you’re anything like me and have a few projects either on the go or that you’d love to get started, a bag might not be big enough. I tend to have a basket full of projects sitting behind my sofa. That way it’s easy for me to find it – no more rummaging in the back of a cupboard somewhere.

Need some help?

If you’d like some help making progress with your crafting dreams you may be interested in the free challenge I’m running in May. All the details will be released soon on my website.



Sophie is a creative mentor and workshop tutor at West Plum Studio, based in York. She’s passionate about helping people spend more time crafting.

She offers a variety of online and face-to-face workshops and events. Bringing people together to spend time working on their own projects, understanding how to overcome the barriers in their way and learning something new. As well as working with people 1-2-1. Everyone is welcome whether you’re a beginner or a more experienced crafter.

Find out more about West Plum Studio on the website www.westplumstudio.co.uk and on Instagram @westplumstudio