Strangers get crafty

But keep in mind that this is the same Amy Sedaris who played the sartorially challenged 46-year-old high school freshman Jerri Blank, a former prostitute and convict, in the Comedy Central series “Strangers With Candy.’’ She also revisited the much beloved boozer, user, and loser character in the 2006 film based on the series. In other words, Sedaris is not exactly trying to position herself as the next Martha Stewart with her new book, “Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People.’’

“People are crafting at Christmas to try to save money. Whatever you do, don’t craft to save money,’’ Sedaris says over a recent lunch at a book tour stop in Boston. “That’s not fair to the person you’re giving the gift to. No one wants that garbage in their house.’’

If Sedaris looks familiar to non “Strangers’’ fans, it’s because she has turned into the go-to actress for guest spots, appearing on everything from “Sex and the City,’’ to “The New Adventures of Old Christine.’’ She’s also lent her voice to animated films such as “Chicken Little’’ and “Shrek the Third.’’ Her book on crafting was a logical follow-up to her best-selling 2006 book on entertaining, “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence.’’ But, she notes, a bowl of clam chowder before her and a pair of thick black-rim glasses perched on her nose, “Simple Times’’ is not intended to serve as inspiration for holiday gifts. Although she is quick to point out — in her best Jerri Blank voice — that the book itself makes an ideal gift.

“Don’t give crafts unless you’re good at it — or unless you’re 5 years old,’’ she says with a slight Southern lilt. “The problem is that most people who are good at crafting are smart enough to make money off the things they create. They sell them, and they’re real stingy like that.’’

Sedaris readily admits that her book isn’t exactly a standard how-to craft book. With tongue-in-cheek chapters titled “The Joy of Poverty,’’ “Crafting for Jesus,’’ “Shut-Ins,’’ “Unreturnable Gift Giving,’’ and “Teenagers Have a Lot of Pain,’’ it offers the character actress 300 pages to do what she loves best — play dress up. With a parade of costumes designed by Adam Selman, she even offers tips on “Crafting for multiple personalities.’’

“A lot of people think the makeup and the costumes is me hiding,’’ she says. “But it’s something I have a lot of fun with. I got my first wig in second grade, and I was obsessed with the idea of wigs and dressing up. When I was a kid, I made a lot of people cry. I’d have to explain that ‘I’m not making fun of you, I’m just trying to look like you.’ ’’

Her first costume request for the book was a Jane Pittman dress, as in the lead character from the 1974 made-for-TV movie “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.’’ Sedaris confesses that she was obsessed with the film about slavery, and in high school would deliver oral presentations impersonating Cicely Tyson’s Jane Pittman voice. Clearly, there are few boundaries that Sedaris is unwilling to cross with her unorthodox humor, which is reflected in the book. Some of the ideas in “Simple Times’’ include tips for making a milk carton Skid Row and beer bottle cap castanets.

The book’s raciest chapter, “Making Love,’’ is decidedly more humor than craft, despite its tips on “Fornicrafting.’’ But Sedaris confesses that the chapter was an excuse to get coauthor and frequent collaborator Paul Dinello in a short yellow robe.

Many of Sedaris’s celebrity friends helped to inspire parts of the book. A conversation with Neil Patrick Harris led to the “Confectioneries’’ chapter, actor Justin Theroux provided many of the drawings in the book, and a story from Philip Seymour Hoffman inspired the title for a section of the book on crafts for teenagers.

“About 10 years ago, he told me this story about when he was at camp,’’ she says. “He had a wood burning kit and a wallet, and he wrote ‘Teenagers have a lot of pain’ on his wallet. I haven’t told him yet that it’s in the book. Do you think he’ll mind that I’m sharing his deepest, most intimate secrets?’’

Sedaris heavily relied on her contributors for the book because she confesses that her crafting skills are limited. She said she has been a lifetime crafter, but she’s making the same things now that she was making in fifth grade. After working on the book for the past two years, she is also sick of Popsicle sticks, glue, and glitter cluttering the Manhattan apartment she shares with her pet rabbit.

“It’s really meant to inspire and give ideas to people who are already crafty,’’ she says. “I’m probably not going to teach you anything new in the book. I can’t teach you how to knit sausages, but maybe that will trigger you to knit something else. Maybe they’ll be inspired to knit Fallopian tubes. Or maybe they can find someone to do it for them. I ask people to do things for me all the time. They like to be asked . . . really.’’

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.