crafty

Want to recreate your grandmother's flowery tablecloth or put your own spin on a classic Alexander Girard print? Head to Spoonflower, a website that allows users to print their own designs on fabric. Launched last year out of an old sock mill in Mebane, North Carolina, the site has rapidly attracted a crafty fan base of 15,000 users. The process is simple: upload a file (JPG, TIF, or PNG), select from multiple placement options, and check out. Prices range from $5.00 for an 8" x 8" swatch to $32.00 per yard of upholstery-weight cotton sateen, and designs are printed (using eco-friendly, non-toxic pigment inks) within five business days. Textile design veterans and amateurs alike can enter the Fabric of the Week contest, which is voted on by Spoonflower users. Winning designs are offered for sale as limited-edition fabrics at Spoonflower's Etsy shop.

In a charity project that might well have been called "Forever in Blue Jeans" if Neil Diamond hadn't already taken cultural custody of the phrase, Barneys and Elle have teamed up on a charity auction of redesigned, recycled denim to benefit Oceana, the international advocacy group dedicated to protecting the world's oceans. Project Blue was born when Julie Gilhart, Barneys' sustainably savvy fashion director and senior vice president, helped to implement a program collecting and repurposing customers' used denim. Eight fashion designers were invited to create unique pieces out of the old jeans (just like that Project Runway episode!), and the resulting garments are now up for bid on eBay through Sunday, May 10.

From our wildly talented friends Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte comes a ballerina-style dress (pictured above, at far right) that manages to make denim delicate, frayed edges and all. Bottega Veneta creative director Tomas Maier also went with a dress (above, second from right), a sleekly tailored number with a Thierry Mugler-on-the-farm vibe that Maier describes as "a dress for the future with a beautiful history." Check out the work of the other participating designers—Derek Lam, Ann Demeulemeester, Alexander Wang, Rogan, Versace, and Stella McCartney—on eBay or in Elle's May "Blue Issue," which features a portfolio of all eight "recycled chic" looks styled by Joanne Blades and photographed by Michael Armstrong.

Andrew Wagner, who most recently led the triumphant relaunch of American Craft with creative director Jeanette Abbink, is ready for a new challenge. The Dwell founding editor has been named editor-in-chief of ReadyMade, the bimonthly magazine "for people who like to make stuff, who see the flicker of invention in everyday objects—the perfectly round yolk in the mundane egg." Wagner will assume his role at the Meredith title, which is based in Des Moines, on May 4.

"ReadyMade came to life in the Bay Area just a little after the launching of Dwell, so I've always watched it and been a big fan," Wagner tells us. "I've known [ReadyMade founders] Grace Hawthorne and Shoshana Berger and have always been thoroughly impressed with the work they've done...so this presented an opportunity to continue the good things they've been doing with the magazine and to expand on it." Among his key priorities will be broadening the magazine's online presence, which currently includes a project archive, a few "web exclusives," a couple of sporadically updated blogs, and a photo gallery to which readers can upload images of their latest creations, like this fetching wallet made from an 8-track tape. "ReadyMade is perfectly suited to a fantastically harmonious interplay between print and online," notes Wagner. "We're just starting to figure all that out but in the next few months expect to see Readymade.com pick up major steam."

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More bad news on the design-y magazine front: Craft is folding its witty, DIY-obsessed print publication, two-and-a-half years after its launch. The magazine's party-themed tenth issue—on newsstands now and fronted by ubercrafter Amy Sedaris—will be the last. "The future of Craft is online," announced the magazine Wednesday on its blog. The plan is to expand Craft's online home, Craftzine.com, under the leadership of senior editor Natalie Zee Drieu. "We have a lot of work to do to bring the best of the magazine to the website, but the team has started to pursue that goal," noted the editors. "We will focus on bringing you more craft projects, just as the print magazine did but we'll be able to do so with greater frequency." Craft's higher-circulation and more tech-savvy brother publication, Make, will continue to be published in print.

Only knitters and their movie-obsessed husband would make much ado about the miniature knitwear in the movie Coraline. Yes, all the sweaters in this flick are handmade on teeny-tiny needles, as author Vicki Howell has marvel on her blog, not to be outdone by her husband, who also made much to-do about it on his new everything you need to know about the movies blog, Smells the Screen Spirit. Turns out Howell knows Althea Crone (who has a web site aptly named Bug Knits, who didn't drive herself crazy making all those mini clothes for the clay starlet. "I love hearing when fiber artists are successfully working on amazing projects," says Howell on her blog, adding that she was especially thrilled that director Henry Selick and Focus Features went out their way to bring attention to Crone's work.

Sure, you've blocked out this week to return unwanted gifts ("Thanks, Uncle Felix, I do so love angora. And what a stunning mustard hue!"), find the perfect 2009 calendar, and make collage-based tributes to the late Eartha Kitt, but we suggest that before 2008 is out, you read David Samuels' fascinating New Yorker profile of John Coster-Mullen, the Wisconsin truck driver who has solved myriad mysteries of the first atom bombs. Say what?

Coster-Mullen, 61, is the author of the self-published book Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man. He has spent the last decade compiling the most accurate known account of the Hiroshima bomb's inner workings, what Samuels describes as "an unnervingly detailed reconstruction," and building a full-scale model bomb in his garage. Samuels teases out the details of the bomb's design, the "community of civilian nuclear obsessives," and Coster-Mullen himself by tagging along with him on a series of cross-country trucking runs and bomb-related research adventures. We learn, for example, how an old photograph and a 1942 Plymouth were the catalysts for a breakthrough in Coster-Mullen's knowledge of the bomb's exact measurements. Also, he really really likes Diet Coke. Meanwhile, his quest to know—and publish—all there is to know about the bomb continues apace. Says Coster-Mullen, "The secret of the atomic bomb is how easy they are to make."

If Faith Popcorn's prediction that the 1950s, 1960s even the 1970s are set to make a roaring comeback with the recession in full swing, be prepared to see a lot more bow ties and not just on the likes of Pete Wetz or Tucker Carlson. Thrifty types will eschew the pricey varieties at the department stores for the Do-It-Yourself variety. Prom-goers will make 'em for the big day; brides for their spouses and they should be a hit in sewing classes such as these. Here is Burdastyle's step-by-step how-to complete with a pattern template you can download and print out on your printer. What's infinitely great about the bow tie is its simplicity. You can also make 'em from silk or brocade scraps. Hard to believe but sewing a neck-tie is actually a lot more complicated than it looks. Vogue Patterns has one if you're inclined to sew one.

While stores like Michael's and scrapbooking supply shops might be doing well during this economic crisis, small knit shops have reason to worry about what the new year will bring. On that note, Yarn Market News is offering scholarships for its March 15-17 conference in Chicago. Westminster Fibers is kindly funding 50 percent of the Early Bird tuition for 10 lucky recipients (independent yarn shops only are eligible). That includes a Yarn Crawl Shop ticket. Deadline is January 30. This particular conference is all about keeping doors open. Topics include reimagining, reinventing and recreating your store and keeping on top of your cash flow. Here's our thought: An urban yarn shop with a Zipcar office in town or another not-for-profit car-sharing company could have a shared auto available in the parking lot. Auto users could get coupons, good toward purchase of yarn or classes. That would be keep them from ripping up old sweaters at home for new projects.

Right about now, many knitters are frantically stitching up socks, sweaters and hats for loved ones in what should be the most handmade, homemade holiday season in recent history. All this handiwork now amounts to carpal syndrome symptoms later. So all that means is that after the holidays, the hands need a rest, making it a good time to check out new books on the topic. Just days after 2009 goes live, Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting will be published. It "represents a sampling of works that reflect the energy, vitality and innovation demonstrated by a diverse group of contemporary artists," according to the publisher. Author David Revere McFadden is the chief curator at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York. It's hard to imagine to anything more rebellious than tagging public utility poles with grafted bits of knitted lace, but we're up for anything during what is traditionally the slowest month of the year.

We've long assumed that most customers of Build-a-Bear Workshop stop in to build, well, bears, but we just learned that the make-your-own stuffed animal shop also offer buildable bunnies, monkeys, and even a suspiciously chipper groundhog. Now the DIY ursine retailer is offering you the opportunity to make your own plush turkey. The 15-inch version pictured at right is kitted out with a four-piece pilgrim costume and black rubber boots. But why stop there? For a few dollars more, you can add a gobble sound or a slightly creepy simulated heartbeat. Or go crazy and add a festive "I Love You" sash, aviator shades, or the ability to play "Jingle Bell Rock" at the touch of a button. If your turkey is a fan of Karim Rashid, you can't go wrong with this hot pink inflatable bed (a steal at $8), a stylish replacement for the turkey coop included with each bird. Build-a-Bear reminds you that as a "Beary Limited edition Collectifriend," the turkeys aren't long for their stores, so hurry in or be stuck with leftovers.