Craft2Wear 2024 ~ Artful Attire

I specialize in hand felted Merino wool hats  scarves  mittens and other accessories. I am primarily a wet felter but also employ needle felting and surface embellishment in my process. Most of my original designs are made using a series of 3D and 2D resists and a multi-stepped process whereby parts are partially felted and then manipulated through sewing or other means before being combined. The blocking and finishing of the hats is done using professional millinery practices combined with methods of my own device to suit the peculiarities of working with hand-felted wool.

In my Hudson Valley Millinery Studio I design and create seasonal Collections of Classic and Contemporary Hats. My designs include ornamented Cloches  Flappers   Fedoras  and Wide Brim Lampshades. Signature creations feature hand crafted silk and floral trims. Using vintage hat stampers for shaping the material  sculpted forms are brought to life in felt and straw. From here  our small team of talented artisans provides the finishing touches. One of my passions is to create custom designs that coordinate with themed events and exhibits. Toucan Hats are sold at many Museum shops   Botanical Gardens and Historic Sites. I enjoy bringing my hats to select Maker's Markets where I have the opportunity to interact directly with the wearer. This feedback is very important to my process. Toucan Hats are Crafted with Integrity for the Creative Thinker.

As the founder of Amber Poitier  a leather sculptural accessories company based in New York   I get to create styles that are 3 Dimensional. The styles are based on both New York Iconic shapes and organic shapes. The brand showcases my story as Alicia Appleton  a New Yorker with Jamaican heritage. I am also a Fashion Institute of Technology alumni and professor. After working in the fashion sector for two decades  I started the brand to express my creativity. Vegetable Tan leather is the foundation material of my work. I strive to allow us all to reimagine stiff cowhide leather that we use for saddles and shoe making  in a beautiful accessory that patinas beautifully over a lifetime. The addition of color element in my collection is an added joy for both my customers and I.

I hand-weave the individually hand-cut leather strips the traditional way  that is   starting from the bottom and ending at the top for a seamless finish. The minimalist designs are from basic and classic weaving and braiding patterns. However  I put a lot of effort on the details like: a) the hand-cutting of the strips with a razor-sharp blade and the edge-thinning and edge-dyeing of every strip prior to weaving for a consistent square and tight weave; b) the straight saddle machine stitching I personally developed using polyester thread and downsizing of the needle for strength and durability; c) the lining that is fused and laminated inside ; d) the half-inch wide binding strip I use compared to the ¾ to 1 inch wide generally used in regular leatherwork for a clean and sleek look; e) the well-thought-out closures   handles or straps; and f) the hand-finishing of each work piece.

I strive to create pieces that can provide an escape for the viewers and wearers of my work.  To enable someone to step back from the hostility they may face on a daily basis and become immersed in something pleasing and aesthetically beautiful. I create color gradations in my work that allows for many pieces to be classified as "two-in-one" depending on how the piece is worn. This smooth transition of color has become by trademark  and can be found across all my work. My handwoven shawls  scarves  and cowls are comprised of cotton  bamboo rayon  and tencel to ensure a soft product with beautiful drape.  I also have a line of handwoven ties and bow ties. In the processes of creating these pieces   I am left with some scrap pieces of fiber. In order to reduce my contribution to the high fiber waste in the industry I have created a zero-waste line of pieces including keychains and what I like to call fiber prints.

Award winning and accomplished milliner meticulously crafts each piece drawing on the rich colors and textures of all her travel experiences. Her recent collection celebrates the beauty of color and the intricate play of textiles  focusing on the tactile experience and the graceful flow of materials. Many of her designs are playfully elegant and give insight to her desire to continue to be challenged within the wonderful craft of millinery. She produces a limited collection each season of one of a kind pieces  along with a collection of well loved designs that have stood the test of time. Unknown to many  E actually makes every single hat from scratch including hand made tassels and felt flowers. Something that she is very proud of. Her passion is evident   her love for her craft apparent.

The work begins with my passion for travel. Fluidly weaving yarns together from around the world  I create physical  interwoven scarves. The experiences exploring six of the seven continents forge my creativity and help me connect to the diversity of history  arts  culture   nature and  most importantly  people. I observe the nuances of locals and locales from which I source my highest-quality yarn  then capture their essence in my woven pieces of wearable and collectable art. I work on a foot powered  Colorado made 8-harness loom and approach each day with a sense of beauty   ritual  and tradition. Eco-friendly wools  silks  and cashmere are important in creating my distinctive pieces. Signature design elements include dynamic colors and multi-yarn textures.

I see beauty in details  and use my photographs of urban and botanical elements in fabric designs for scarves and accessories. I want to capture bits of the character of a place; what draws us in  what makes the story. / I am inspired by smart design and slow fashion. I set out to make accessories that felt meaningful  influenced by my interests in photography  textiles  sustainable fashion  combined with experience in graphic design and landscape architecture. / In support of efforts to buy better  buy less   the scarves are created as usable art made with more sustainable methods and materials. I create small batches of custom fabric in the US with biodegradable inks on natural/organic silk and a digital process that uses fewer resources and minimizes waste. I design and sew every piece myself. Scarf collections have expanded to include smaller accessories  made from scarf fabric tests and scraps. / Each scarf begins a tale of a place  a word  a feeling. Where it leads is up to you.

I am a colorist and my primary material is recycled wool. I rescue vintage garments and blankets from thrift stores and their fibers live on in new objects of beauty. Color  pattern and texture are the constant of my work  with each year's collection reimagined around a narrative theme. I make a range of textile objects including gloves  scarves and my self-portrait dress  but my handbags are central to my vision. I think of the bags as public art  not cloistered with a small audience  but bringing beauty and quality out in the world. Artists like Cy Twombly and Joan Mitchell delight me with their expansive use of color and texture. In tune with the slow fashion movement  my work carries a crucial message: there is an alternative to our culture's mindless consumption can be found in a meticulously handmade object.

We are Margo Petitti and we are on a mission to help men look their absolute best! We proudly manufacture the majority of our goods in Fall River  Massachusetts. We only make our wears from the finest Italian woolens  silks  and cashmeres. Our collection consists of scarves  neck wear  pocket squares  pillows   and throws which marry glen plaids   herringbone  houndstooth  and birdseye weaves into one of a kind accessories. Our brand was founded in 2009 from an array of menswear swatches on a sewing table in Providence's historic College Hill. Our first patchwork style scarf was made from cloth clipped from swatch books a local tailor was discarding. The first of many were designed on that floor and stitched for Christmas presents. After that first Christmas  Margo took a leave of absence from the Rhode Island School of Design  where she had been working towards an MLA  to launch the brand and has been trying to help men look their best ever since!

We enjoy creating bags and accessories that are visually stimulating and highly functional. Manipulating and combining embossed and hand-burnished leathers in innovative ways is part of how we achieve this. Our designs don't stop with the outside  however. Every bag features pockets and compartments for all the things needed to function well in today's demanding world.

Artist. Maker. Advocate of slow. Kristina Nichols is a textile artist based in Traverse City  Michigan. Utilizing traditional textile techniques of hand weaving and hand dying  she creates heirloom quality textiles for the body and the home. Working exclusively in natural fibers  her one of a kind pieces and micro-collections are inspired by colors and textures in nature  focusing on excellent craftsmanship to create beautiful pieces that are highly functional.

Most artists see the world differently. With my art the world will see YOU differently. Making eyeglasses is a culmination of everything I have learned I use the shop tools I used in college (hammer  saw and sander) but in a more precise way as all parts have to fit perfectly and work not just look good. And to those I add the ones which my optician introduced me to like staking tools and mini versions of the tools I used to use.. I draw symmetrical masters on my computer that I print and cut out  using the same programs I learned when I worked at TIME magazine.But  most of all  I use my imagination to birth designs which are just a little different but still suitable for everyone. I don't use rhinestones to get attention and be different. I prefer simple  good design which appeals to both men and women and still is dissimilar from the norm. When someone wears my glasses they get noticed  in a good way. Try a pair on  and you will "see."

Combining my love of sumptuous textiles and study of Art History I hand screen print a line of trouser socks  scarves and velvet gloves. All of the printing and sewing is done in my studio in Portland  OR. I use many ancient sources of ornamentation as design inspiration - Renaissance pomegranate patterns  Medieval illuminated manuscripts  19th century Lace  Middle Eastern embroidery  Gustav Klimt and Indian Mehndi. My goal is to add elegance to everyday accessories creating a feast for the eyes on the hands and feet! I first created my unique style of art historically inspired hand-printed legwear while working as an intern at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art - which was then under the the direction of Diana Vreeland. My collection is currently sold in museum stores  galleries and boutiques across the country. I also work with museums to create designs specifically based on ornamentation in their exhibitions.

I produce hand-painted or hand-dyed  hand-woven wearable fiber art  primarily using silk and bamboo. My work is Woven Shibori   a resist-dyeing technique where I weave the pattern threads as a supplemental weft in the fabric. Then those threads are pulled and tied off  compressing the material to provide a resist before being hand-painted or immersion-dyed. After dyeing  the pattern threads are removed  exposing a unique printed Shibori pattern on the woven surface. I love working with color and coming up with unexpected color combinations. The color choices and dyeing method can make the same pattern look very different   adding to the uniqueness of each scarf or shawl and making it one of a kind.

My work is a union between old and new. I use antique wooden molds  100-year-old sewing machines  and old hatmaker tools to craft modern and vintage-inspired headwear. Vintage and New materials arrive in my studio in the form of unshaped cones  spools of straw  or flat rolls of fabric. I use traditional hatter skills to handcraft each hat one at a time. I steam and shape the material by hand and using wooden molds. After I have achieved my desired shape  I carefully stitch each hat and trim it with new  vintage  and handmade trimmings. Creating wearable art is rewarding in many ways! I love to see hat wearers express their unique style through my art and the knowledge that one day the hat I made may become a family heirloom.

I am a Virginia based fiber artist specializing in upcycling and repurposing wool and other natural fibers sourced from a lifetime of collecting vintage and deadstock textiles from discarded artist stashes   thrift stores  and estate sales. I take inspiration from these forgotten treasures and find it deeply fulfilling to recreate them into new textiles and wearable  functional art. The final design is driven by the color  shape  fiber content  and other characteristics of the original item resulting in truly one of a kind accessories that can't be replicated.

My artistic process involves a detailed exploration of the beauty found in nature. Inspired by the vibrant colors and intricate patterns seen in birds  I start by hand-painting and hand-dyeing tencel yarn sourced sustainably from Eucalyptus trees. I design original patterns that pay homage to the essence of specific birds then weave them on computer-aided floor looms. The practice of hand-dyeing yarn enables the development of intricate and one-of-a-kind designs. I aim to elevate my creations to exhibit the boundless potential that this technique offers. I combine sustainable materials   traditional techniques  and modern technology to showcase the harmonious relationship between artistry and environmental responsibility   encouraging observers to recognize the deep connection between creativity and the natural world. Each piece pays homage to a specific creature and encourages people to think and find a way to reconnect with the natural world.

Two years ago  I needed to replace my favorite  but very worn handbag with one that was not made of PVC/polyurethane. Wanting it environmentally friendly and durable handbag that could last for years. Lastly   a creatively unique piece at a reasonable price. In my quest for such a bag  I found none. Unsatisfied and with a clear design in my head  I decided to craft my own. Realizing I needed help to make my design a reality  I connected with local artisans and we collectively created a prototype of my design. Now  Stark-Rankins (SR) is a reality. Each one of our products are meticulously handcrafted in the US by local artisans  all sophisticated designs  yet aesthetically simple  and sustainable. Above all  they stand the test of time. At SR  we view each piece as a work of art  an expression of our dedication to timeless sustainable designs. We are proud of our fine craftsmanship  materials   designs  functionality  and durability of these products that we have created.

The milliner's 2024 collection is inspired by the Paris Opra Garnier. This Neo-baroque palace to the arts is a place to see and to be seen--to watch "le spectacle" on the stage and in the audience. From the RED plush curtains  to a TUTU backstage and the BALLET BLANC on stage as ODILE takes flight  mindful of the SILVER GLINT of the cistern in the cavern below. The milliner uses wooden molds hand-carved close to Opra Garnier. She works in her Washington atelier  using traditional millinery methods. She has been an invited speaker at several women's clubs in DC and Philadelphia. Her hats were featured in Washington Life  NFocus and The Georgetowner. One hat was displayed at the Atelier-Musee du Chapeau Arche-Feutre Exposition.in France . She was a Who Next in Washington Life Magazine. Her hats were sold at Rodes Department Store in Louisville and Sassanova's. She has participated in events to support Tudor Place  Trust for the National Mall and Becky's Fund Fashion Show.