Thursday Thirteen, Special Wednesday Edition: Hip, Funky, Indie Crafting Resources

Ok, I've probably already said something like this, but lately all I want to do is practice yoga, meditate, read for a bit and then craft.  I love cutting up paper and adding glitter and tying on some ribbon and whatever else.  It's all I want to do:  I dream about fabrics and colors and textures.  I wake up wanting to cut and mix paint colors and whatever else.  And I've also been trying to come up with a cool name for my crafty alter ego.  Right now, I'm thinking Stitchy Woman sounds good, although not terribly original.  I'd like it if my crafty personality weren't the alter ego but the real me.  Did that make sense?  And I don't really even like the term alter ego, because more and more, it seems to me that so many things, crafting included, are about transcending the ego.  Lest I wax ridiculous, I'm just going to jump into the list of funky, wonderful craft resources.  Some of these I've found on my own; some are courtesy of some of you.

1.  Sublime Stitching.  This site, based in Austin, TX, has the greatest embroidery patterns--lots of gothic, alternative stuff.  I just ordered the Sexy Librarian pattern--isn't it perfect for me?

2.  Craft Stylish.  This web site has tons of stuff for all kinds of crafting.  Again, I love that it's hip and young.  And the site seems user friendly.

3.  Craft Leftovers.  OK, so you know how we buy all this fabric and paper and ribbon and trim and whatever else, but we never actually get around to using it?  Maybe it's because the one who dies with the most fabric wins.  But really, this site, which has all kinds of fun ideas, was originally put together in the interest of using up all that accumulated stuff.  This seems like a good crafting philosophy--do work on using up all the stuff we've bought but never gotten to.

4.  Amy Butler's In Stitches.  I really love Amy Butler's style; she designs the most wonderful textiles.  This book, which contains a number of patterns, is devoted to home dec.  While it's not as alternative as, say, Sublime Stitching, this book has a number of great ideas and beautiful, inspiring photos.  Amy Butler also puts out some beautiful, although costly, patterns.

5.  Sew U.  This book, by Wendy Mullin, includes several basic fashion patterns.  But the great thing is that, in addition to basic sewing instruction, Wendy uses her "Built by Wendy" approach to show how you can create endless variations on a single, basic pattern.  I love this idea--that something basic and plain can become one-of-a-kind.  Simplicity has published a number of "Built by Wendy" patterns that work on the same principle.  Wendy Mullin's web site can be found here.

6. Craft.  This is a wonderful magazine and web site.  Craft tends to include an eclectic mix of projects and articles and such.  Many of the craft projects are more involved and complicated than I'm wanting to be, but it's great.  I find all kinds of stuff that I wouldn't expect to see elsewhere.

7. OK, I'm going to include Lucky magazine and the J Crew catalogue in this list.  Although these publications are clearly not devoted to crafting and creativity, I do find inspiration in them.  When I look through them, I tear out pics of jewelry and clothing that I love; then I think about creative ways to recreate the looks that I like. 

8.  Wardrobe Refashion.  This site is, as the name would suggest, devoted to creative ways of refashioning old clothing.  It's great.  One can take a "pledge" to buy no new clothes and instead refashion clothing one already has or refashioning thrift store finds.  I like the whole not acquiring "stuff" philosophy.  And there are a number of contributors, who are all at-home sewers, to the site.  Lately, I'm enchanted with refashioned and altered fashion.

9.  Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt.   I've posted about this book recently.  It's superfun and contains a number of easy, no-sew projects as well as more complicated things.  It also encourages reusing and refashioning, which I love.

10.  Rip It!  This is another book devoted to refashioning and altering clothing.  It presents some great ideas.

11.  Threads.  This is a magazine devoted to sewing, mostly clothing.  One thing I like about it is that it explores basic as well as advanced techniques.  Also, it's sometimes linked to patterns, from Simplicity I think, and shows you how to alter and embellish these patterns.

12.  Vickie Howell.  I love this woman.  She has several books out, a great web site, and even programs on the DIY channel, 230, if you have DirecTV.  She's from Austin, I think, and she's super cool.  For example, last week she was on DIY, knitting with Lisa Loeb.  What's cooler than that?  She sews, knits, and generally makes the world a cooler place.

13.  Tim Holtz.  Tom Holtz has a number of interesting products.  Apparently, you can watch him on YouTube, although I've not tried this myself.  His work tends to be less alternative crafty and more classy, but he does beautiful stuff. 


Honorable Mentions:  I absolutely love Adorn and Sew Stylish magazines.  Both, however, have gone the way of all flesh, if you know what I mean:  kicked the bucket, bought the farm, passed on to that big craft studio in the sky.  It's a shame because both were really great.