Try Handmade

Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

Me&Yu

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This week I’m profiling Me&Yu, a small fashion label specialising in hand-made and hand-printed clothing for men and women.

I first encountered the label in offbeat shopping mecca Affleck’s Palace in Manchester, UK. There I had the fortune of meeting Angie, one of the label’s co-founders. Angie has wanted to be a fashion designer since she was a child and luckily she has turned that dream into a reality – albeit with a lot of hard graft along the way!

“We had the idea for creating clothes together back in 2003 whilst we were living in Sydney,” Angie explained. “We just wanted to create clothes that were a bit different, that had a bit more personality than what was available on the high street.”

Me&Yu’s designs are cool and unique, appealing to a wide audience. I particularly adore their quirky, hand-drawn prints and stylish handmade dresses! Unlike many smaller labels, Me&Yu offers both girl and guy garments and many of the designs are unisex, allowing the wearer to put their own slant on things.

Me&Yu started in 2003, with stalls at weekend markets and events in Sydney, Australia then in Manchester and Liverpool, UK during 2004-2006. The designers had to balance developing the label with working full-time – what a challenge! Finally in 2006, Me&Yu moved permanently to a shop in Affleck’s Palace, complemented by its online store and presence in a handful of boutiques in the UK.

“Affleck’s Palace is a great place to be as it houses lots of small independent businesses together – you have the support of other people around you, and that’s the best thing. When we first started we got loads of helpful advice from other small businesses, obviously every business is different but you can get some great tips!”

Designs are made up at the label’s studio in an old cotton mill in Manchester, and it is important to the company to keep the city’s heritage alive. The mill houses a number of other artists and fosters a creative and collaborative atmosphere.

Me&Yu is a great example of excellent self-promotion – the label blogs at www.wearemeandyu.blogspot.com, uses Facebook and Twitter, distributes flyers and has even secured features in magazines. In addition, Me&Yu gets involved in charity fashion shows and fundraisers – contributing to important causes as well as raising awareness of the brand.

“There is something special about selling something that you made yourself, its very personal,” finishes Angie. “However, it’s hard work. Handmade = labour intensive and not everybody understands quite how much work goes into each item.”

What’s your favourite Me&Yu design? Post your link below!

Alternative Wedding Dresses

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Celebrities and friends are getting married all over the place and photos are appearing everywhere from Hello magazine to Facebook. Unfortunately I haven’t had any invites this year (not even from Kate Moss!) but I do love looking at all the wedding dresses. Of course the wedding of the year was Prince William and Kate Middleton, and whilst I did like her dress, I preferred Lily Allen’s vintage style dresses. The price for all of the ones we see in magazines are usually somewhat astronomical and out of reach for most of us, which makes handmade dresses on sites such as Etsy, even more appealing.

The dress above by blackmirrordesign is no doubt a brave statement to wear as a wedding dress, but if you like it; why not? Surely your wedding day is the best time to wear something that truly reflects you.

I have never understood why people pay so much for a dress that is worn for one day only and tends to look pretty similar to everyone else’s. Young girls dream of their wedding dress long before the boy has even been met; and the dream usually consists of stepping onto the aisle, the organ playing and everyone turning to look at you. I dreamt of a train so long it would reach the door while I was stood at the alter! In fact, it was only two or three feet long, and that got trodden on often enough! My wedding dress was bought in a charity shop for £5, which I then customised by opening the back and adding red ribbon lacing, tying ribbon around the medieval style sleeves and gluing on hundreds of beads to form a gothic style flower on the train. I was very proud of my dress and especially loved knowing that no-one else would have one the same.

I am still happily married, but if I were to get married again, I’d be brave and go for a dark red one. Something like this from thesecretboutique is just the thing.

My dress is packed up in a box in the roof, but there’s no rule to say you shouldn’t think of the future and get better value by buying a dress that can be worn on other occasions. Some simple dresses look absolutely stunning, and it does seem a shame that they often never see the light of day again. This dress by K T Jean Designs is so pretty and could easily be worn to a summer evening soiree.

ArtLab

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Aphrodite Spring Tank by ArtLab.

{ Does it seem kind of quiet around here? I gave the columnists the week off — Yay Spring Break! I hope you enjoy this week even though we’re on a very reduced posting schedule, and we’ll be back to full-strength on Monday. }

Inspired by Nature Spirits

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There is something about a bluebell wood with dappled sunlight streaming through the leaves that makes me believe in nature spirits. They’re there, I know they are. I just wish I could see them. I imagine them often though, wearing clothes made from their surroundings; woven grasses, leaf skirts, flower petal dresses and crowns made from dew drops. They are in fact, just the sort of clothes I’d like to wear myself. Fortunately, talented people are out there making them in actual human adult sizes!

The above outfit by Spiralina from her shop Fractal Wings is made from raw silk with beautiful embellishments and I just love the way the shapes emulate summer leaves. I’m a big fan of her work and actively encourage you all to take a look at her shop. In fact I will show another one of her items because I love them so much. Her philosophy is to offer unique and beautiful clothing that brings out the goddess in us and it is clear that nature inspires her.

Another great item of human-sized clothing is this fantastically cool skirt with a sort-of leaf tail. Yes, I did indeed say a leaf tail. Unusual yes, but I love it! By Nature Reworked.

Nuno felting is like a mysterious magical technique that I will never understand no matter how many you tube tutorials I may watch. This butterfly top by FeuerundWasser utilises this wonder brilliantly. The colours are beautiful too, especially the way the greens and yellows blend into each other.

Barefoot Weaver

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Barefoot Weaver: I have been in love with color since my first box of crayons and I fell in love with weaving in the 70s when I watched a girl weaving (barefoot, of course!) in the back of a store in Brattleboro, VT. Here was not just color but dance as well! By the early 90s I had my first loom and there was no looking back. Looms have a way of multiplying and taking over the house (as my family can attest) and now I have four (we won’t count the one in the barn). I am always amazed seeing them warped and vibrant with potential.

Colors live in my living room and cones of thread fill my bookcases. I dye my threads on a big plywood table upstairs in one of my workrooms (did I mention that I have taken over the entire house?) and my clothes line is often draped with skeins of freshly dyed thread. I do my designing on my warping mill and my work now is mostly warp driven which just means that I want the warp to show more than the weft (or weaving).

I started adding more texture to my weaving some years ago as well inspired in part by knitting yarns that have flags and tufts and wraps and shiny bits and skinny and fat parts.

So, I overproduce. And I have three grown sons who really don’t wear my creations aside from a very plain chenille scarf or two. I live on an old farm with my two horses, three cats, one small dog, and a very supportive husband. We heat with wood, snuggle down in the winter up here in the North Country, and I am content.