Valerie Williams - Try Handmade

Little Blue Pretties

June 21, 2018 by Valerie Williams 4 Comments

When I came upon Maria’s booth at the Fenton Street Market, I nearly had chest pains. Her lovely little space was brimming with so much prettiness, I didn’t know where to look first! As a sewer, I am always drawn to lovely things made with fabric, and Maria’s creations were the prettiest fabric things I’d seen in a long time.

Maria makes a variety of jewelry and fashion accessories for her shop, called Little Blue Studio. She uses fabric, crystals, semi precious stones, wire, and even sea shells. Every item is a little bit different from the last, because she’s always looking for something new to make, and new ways to interpret old favorites.

In addition to her gorgeous flowers that become hair accessories, brooches, and necklaces, I was particularly impressed by her mermaid lures, jewelry pieces that are created from found sea shell fragments and pearls.

Not only did I find the concept of a mermaid lure undeniably seductive (like living in a fantasy novel!), I completely fell in love with her modern and unusual presentation of pearls. It’s so easy to dismiss pearls as old fashioned, but that would be impossible with Maria’s creations.

The imperfections in the found shell fragments are what inspire Maria to turn them into something gorgeous…to force viewers to see the beauty in something that was discarded and overlooked.

Maria comes from a family of makers. Sewing, cooking, gardening, carpentry, and many other creative pursuits made up her home life. Although she started her creative career as a painter, making jewelry became more practical as her family grew, and she needed to be more flexible with time. She was drawn to using fabric, because of her mother’s skill as a sewer, but is looking forward to incorporating more metalsmithing into her creations.

Maria’s favorite thing to make is always the item she’s working on at the moment! “When you make something, it carries an intangible to your customer,” she says. “The only way to do that, is to love what you are doing.” Maria believes that when you are no longer in love with the thing you are making, it’s time to move on.

You can find Maria’s work in her online shop, and visit her Facebook page to find out where to find her at local markets and craft shows.

Fibre Space: A Home for Yarn Lovers

June 15, 2018 by Valerie Williams Leave a Comment

If you love yarn and making things with yarn, then your new favorite place is Fibre Space. A beautiful, full-service yarn shop in Old Town, Alexandria, Fibre Space is the brain child of Danielle Romanetti and the brick-and-mortar manifestation of her popular mobile knitting club, Knit-a-Gogo.

Danielle started Knit-a-Gogo in 2006, teaching knitting and hosting fibre-loving events at coffee shops and bakeries in the DC area. Two years later, her client list and faculty had grown so much, she knew they needed a permanent home. In 2009, after careful planning and research, Fibre Space was born.

Danielle has created the perfect haven for knitters and crocheters because nobody loves yarn more than she does. She has done careful research and works hard to find the most beautiful and high-quality yarns in every imaginable category, for any project, and at every price point.

Fibre Space customers know they can rely on the shop for lovely natural-fiber yarns from both national brands and local spinners and dyers.

One of the most popular brands in the store is Neighborhood Fiber Company, from a local hand-dyer who names the colorways after beloved DC neighborhoods. The yarns are a favorite with locals and tourists alike, for both the ties to the nation’s capitol and their gorgeous, saturated color, which is unusual for hand-dyed yarn.

Danielle stocks her store very thoughtfully, and would love to tell you why she has chosen any particular product. Just ask!

In addition to the beautiful array of yarns, Fibre Space also provides books, patterns, needles, roving for needle felters and spinners, and notions of every kind. There’s also a space to sit and hang out with your latest project, as well as classroom space and an always-full calendar of events.

One of the most unique events hosted at Fibre Space is the Yarn Tasting. Periodically, Danielle partners with a local Alexandria business – a chocolatier or a bakery, for example – and invites her customers to come in and experiment with a new yarn and taste some locally-made goodies.

No full service yarn shop would be complete without an educational department, and Fibre Space definitely does not disappoint. With six experienced instructors (in addition to Danielle herself), the shop provides an extensive schedule of knitting and crocheting classes, appropriate for anyone ranging from the spanking-new beginner to the seasoned veteran. Private and semi-private lessons are also available.

Additionally, Fibre Space also hosts workshops on unique projects and techniques, like yarn dyeing or spinning. Other events include a Lock In Sock In, and the monthly Friday Night at the Movies. You can even host your own knitting or crocheting event at Fibre Space!

Fibre Space is located at 102 North Fayette Street in Alexandria, Virginia, and is open seven days a week, extra late on Thursdays and Fridays. You can keep up with what’s happening at the store, as well as progress on Danielle’s latest project, at the Fibre Space blog.

Obsessed With Beads In Alexandria

June 13, 2018 by Valerie Williams 2 Comments

Patricia Woodhouse is the owner of Bead Obsessions, Old Town Alexandria’s first bead shop. She’s also been a designer and needlework artist for more than fifteen years. Although she has been making things her whole life, her journey towards bead obsession began in the early ’90s, when she took a class on knitting with beads.

She fell in love with the technique, and quickly became interested in all types of needlework and embroidery, but especially any that involved beading. She formed a beading group with women she met in class, and together they experimented with design, and shared techniques, stitches, and sources for the best materials.

Since learning how to weave and embroider with beads, Patricia has favored extremely detailed work featuring hundreds of seed beads. She compares seed beads in bead work to pixels in a photograph: the more per inch, the more vibrant and interesting the final image.

Patricia has never been interested in selling her work; embroidery and beading and all her needlework was only ever a hobby, but one she adored. However, in 2005 she became weary of working in an office, and frustrated with the frequent buyouts and uncertainty that went along with the corporate world. At the time, there was no other bead shop in Alexandria, Virginia, and Patricia saw her opportunity.

Bead Obsessions was opened in 2005, with the goal of catering to beaders like Patricia: artists who loved to focus on the details, and wanted to create complex, decorative arts pieces in addition to wearable jewelry and accessories.

In addition to a wide variety of seed beads, Patricia’s store stocks glass, lampwork, and semiprecious beads, craft and precious metal wire, plus all the tools, notions and books and magazines needed to create art with beads.

Bead Obsessions is also all about getting others obsessed with beads, and therefore there is a class going on nearly every day! Patricia teaches many of the classes herself, but also recruits locally and nationally famous bead artists to teach classes as well. The day I visited, bead artist Amy Katz was leading a small group in making a bracelet. The bracelet, an original design of Amy’s, features glass pearls and seemingly millions of seed beads. The technique uses a peyote stitch to create bezels around the pearls, and is incredibly labor-intensive, but produces incredibly gorgeous results.

The extensive class schedule includes sessions for all levels of beaders, and does not focus only on embroidery and needlework. You’ll also find classes on making chain maille, knotting and stringing beads, metal work, wire work, and wire crochet.

Bead Obsessions is located in Alexandria, Virginia at 619 South Washington Street, and is open six days a week.

The Legendary Eastern Market

May 18, 2018 by Valerie Williams 2 Comments

If you love handmade goods, locally grown produce, and supporting independent businesses, Washington DC’s Eastern Market is more than just a shopping destination, it’s heaven on Earth.

A unique combination of crafts market, farmer’s market, Victorian-era food stall, and community arts center, Eastern Market is also the unofficial heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It’s also a major tourist attraction with it’s own Metro stop, and a source of pride for the entire city.

The history of Eastern Market goes all the way back to the original plans for Washington, DC drafted by Pierre L’Enfant, and an initiative from the Jefferson Administration to create and maintain a series of markets throughout the city. While its cousins in other parts of the city have long since been swallowed up by development, Eastern Market has prevailed. Numerous events have challenged the Market’s survival, not the least of which was a devastating fire in 2007, which wiped out the Market’s historic South Hall.

The fire completely destroyed more than a dozen independent bakeries, butchers, and food stalls that were housed in the 134-year-old South Hall. However, ninety percent of the art and craft vendors were unaffected, and the market was open as usual the following weekend. Temporary stalls for the displaced food vendors were in place within six months, and the market has flourished ever since.

The renovated South Hall re-opened in June of 2009 with all of its original vendors, including the legendary Market Lunch. Ask any Capitol Hill resident or Eastern Market regular, and they will give you an earful about the culinary bliss that is Market Lunch, especially the crab cake sandwiches and the blueberry pancakes.

Today the Market features more than 120 exhibitors, selling a huge variety of handcrafted goods, antiques, fine art and crafts, locally grown produce, and fresh flowers. Visitors love Eastern Market because it truly is one-stop shopping, but not in a soulless, strip-mall kind of a way. Where else can you pick up handcrafted goods like soap, ceramics and clothing, fresh cut flowers, original artwork, and locally-grown, organic fruit all at the same time?

The Eastern Market complex also includes the North Hall, a community arts center that houses permanent installations from local artists, musical performances and other neighborhood events.

Eastern Market is located at 7th Street and North Carolina Avenue SE, one block from the Eastern Market Metro. The South Hall is open Tuesdays through Sundays, and the Arts & Crafts Market, Flea Market, and Farmers’ Market are open Saturdays and Sundays.

A Stitch to Wear

May 12, 2018 by Valerie Williams 1 Comment

Allison Taylor’s story as a crafter begins in a familiar way: she first learned to crochet at her grandmother’s knee at the tender age of six.

Despite her grandmother’s considerable skill as a fiber artist, not to mention her infinite patience, crocheting didn’t quite stick with Allison that first time around. Six year olds aren’t famous for their attention spans, so it’s not really that surprising!

It wasn’t until much later when Allison was a college student that she picked up crochet hooks and some yarn again. Although she had never gotten into the knitting, crocheting, sewing, and other fiber arts that her grandmother had mastered, Allison had always admired her grandmother’s talent and skill with needles, yarn, and fabric.

When her grandmother became ill and was no longer physically able to craft, due to side effects of a stroke, Allison was inspired once again to take up the craft she had not been able to master as a little girl.

She made her grandmother a blanket, to show her how much she appreciated her, and how impressed she had always been with her fiber skills. Blankets are still Allison’s favorite thing to make, and friends and family can count on one for a gift whenever there’s a wedding or baby on the way.

Allison was “hooked” on crochet from then on, and turned her hobby into a side business with her Etsy shop that opened in 2008. Although she has a day job unrelated to crafting, it in no way diminishes her fierce love for making.

The best part for Allison is having strangers own something she made with her own hands: “It’s a way of sharing something tangible with people across long spaces, which is so rare,” she says. “It’s really exciting and touching, and I never get over it.”

She also feels a connection to her grandmother every time she picks up her crochet hook, another feeling many crafters can relate to. The emotional connection associated with creating and sharing handmade goods is probably one of the big reasons handmade is so popular these days.

The most popular item in Allison’s shop is the best friends beanie, which also happens to be her favorite thing to make for the shop! Customers also respond well to her continuum scarves and continuum collars, with their unusual shape.

Like most of her creations, Allison let the continuum scarf emerge on its own, without too much planning ahead from her. Her general technique is to pick up her crochet hook and yarn, and experiment with different stitches until something she loves emerges.

You can find Allison’s crocheted gems in her online shop. If you see something you like but are fixated on a certain color, don’t worry because Allison loves to do custom work!