Word: craft
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Just when you thought it was all about knitting, a much broader craft-it-yourself movement has emerged that's altering modern views about the domestic arts and enabling anyone with the will, the imagination and a sewing machine to create one-of-a-kind fashions. The movement is driven by style-conscious women who are bored by the cookie-cutter apparel sold at stores like Gap and Banana Republic. It's spread by websites like craftster.org and getcrafty.com which serve as latter-day sewing circles--places to trade ideas, share patterns and post pictures of your best work...
This is not a nostalgia movement. While plenty of women still cut clothes from Simplicity patterns, there is a distinctly hip subset of fashionable crafters who are more interested in sewing as an expression of individuality than as a tradition. "This isn't your grandmother's craft," observes Bostonian Leah Kramer, 30, who likes to take old boxy rock-concert T shirts and transform them into baby-doll fashion statements. "One way to express your creativity is your clothing. If you make a cool dress out of some sheets that you bought at a thrift store, that says...
...turn a pillowcase into a skirt or how to sew felt on a blouse. Craftster org which Kramer founded a year ago, has more than 20,000 registered members and attracts 250,000 visitors a month. It has a sensibility that's not exactly homespun. "There are no craft hearts, bunnies or toilet-paper cozies without irony on Craftster," Kramer explains by telephone from her Somerville, Mass., store called Magpie on Huron, which specializes in vintage kitsch and quirky goods made by crafters like herself...
Craftster.org is not a commercial enterprise. There are no fees, and the little advertising from craft suppliers and crafty individuals provides just enough revenue to cover operating costs. Rather, it's about Kramer's winning effort to use her skills as a computer programmer and craft enthusiast to create a sense of community. "People don't use Craftster to sell things. They use it to share ideas and techniques," she says. One of the most popular threads on the site is a how-to-sew-a-handbag tutorial uploaded last fall by a Craftster member named Jordynn (Jordy) Lucier. Since...
...website, lekkner. com, is turning old T shirts into minidresses, halter tops or zippered hoodie sweatshirts. Dettloff sells her wares online and will make customized versions for customers who send her their favorite, outdated Ts. "I'm not into labels or name-brand clothing," says Dettloff of her craft. "I'm more interested in remaking something old into something...