Try Handmade

Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

ISH Shoes by Randy and Claudia

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I’m not sure who Randy and Claudia are but I have a theory. In my imagination, “Randy” and “Claudia” are the summer home aliases of Mr. & Mrs. Claus. You know, their witness protection program names that they use when they summer in the Great Lakes or Spa in Sedona. Everyone needs a name to put on their Safeway Club Card and Yogurtland loyalty account.

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When they are not busy making sure that Christmas happens, apparently Randy and Claudia are making these adorable leather “ISH” newborn booties. These booties are not cheap, but aren’t your little elves worth it? The level of detail and craftsmanship on these elevates them to a place halfway between clothing and art.

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Even though I’m not so sure about who Randy and Claudia really are, I am sure about something else: The whimsical curlicues on the toes of these shoes just makes me want to smile and giggle.

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Hold me just a little bit tighter

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About De Novo Coats: I absolutely love coats! I can think of nothing I’d rather do than design a new coat, make the pattern, and fit it. I have 10 years of experience, working in San Francisco as a pattern maker and designer. A few years ago, after making a clothing collection for a few seasons I became pregnant with our first child. I then decided to focus my time on coats and jackets, where my heart is anyway.

Each piece is an original design. I work hard to find the best fabrics, and most are in very limited quantity. If you see a style you like but not the ideal fabric/color, please email me with requests. I have others fabrics in my studio and will be happy to send swatches!

The Devil Made Me Do It Clothing

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upcycled sweater flounce skirt

Tamara Embrey has been making up-cycled, recycled, and refashioned clothing since she was a teenager, long before it was the latest and the coolest to do so. At sixteen, she would create her own interesting and unique items to wear, having been inspired by both a trip to Goodwill and the latest issue of Vogue.

Tamara was not interested in anything that could be found at the mall, and was happy to apply her sewing skills (courtesy of her mother and her aunt) to update and personalize her thrift store finds.

upcycled sweater garden dress

She loved making clothes so much, she even contemplated attending fashion school. The male-dominated industry and the emphasis on boundless consumerism did not appeal to her, however. Still, all throughout her schooling she never gave up making things, and never stopped making new, fantastic clothes out of old, forgotten ones.

upcycled sweater ruffle neck dress

Tamara’s creativity has never been just about making clothes – she is also a writer and a painter, but she never put down her sewing, even while pursuing advanced degrees in other subjects. Upon finishing her MFA in writing, a friend of hers encouraged her to sell her upcycled clothing at a local market in the small town where she attended graduate school.

With a ten dollar table fee, it was hard to say no…and The Devil Made Me Do It clothing was born!

upcycled sweater skirt

She found she really enjoyed both the creative and business side of making and selling her clothes, and the thrill of seeing her creations on other stylish people never got old. By the time Tamara moved to the DC area in 2008 and planned to apply to the Torpedo Factory as a resident artist, The Devil Made Me Do It was well established and already enjoying success!

upcycled sweater flounce hem skirt

All of Tamara’s clothes are made from high quality, upcycled wool and cashmere sweaters. Her creative process begins by looking through her considerable stash of thrifted sweaters for inspiration. An unusual color or pattern might catch her eye, and call out to her to be made into a ruffle hem or a collar detail, and soon a garment is under construction in her head.

She uses her own sense of style, her “jagged-edge sensibilities,” and her considerable skill with a serger (gained from a little instruction plus years of experience) to piece together sweater remnants into new, fabulous clothes.

upcycled sweater skirt in black and white

Each item in the Devil Made Me Do It collection is therefore one-of-a-kind. Although Tamara will sometimes repeat a certain style, the nature of her found-object materials means that no two garments will ever be exactly alike, even those that started life as parts of the same sweater!

upcycled sweater flounce scarf

You can find The Devil Made Me Do It clothing in Tamara’s Etsy shop, and in the Fiberworks Studio at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA, as well as at the occasional local arts and crafts market. Tamara is always looking for gorgeous sweaters to cut up, so if you have any that need a new life, let her know!

Soy Lovely

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Soy has long been labeled a healthy and sustainable crop, with dozens of uses in the culinary world, but have you seen how many other uses artists and designers have found for soy in the worlds of fashion, beauty and housewares?

Shown above: soy, acrylic and wool scarf from Fluur; soy milk beauty bar from soapsrus; solid perfume (soy-based) from sweetanthem.
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Soy is considered a sustainable, or renewable, crop because it is fast-growing and quickly replenished. Like most legumes, soy also helps fix nitrogen in the soil, enriching the land for use in raising other crops. The fibers left over after soybeans have been processed to make oil, soy milk or tofu can be recycled into a silky fiber used in clothes and accessories. Soy silk, as it’s called, is often blended with cotton or other fibers to create a range of fabrics and yarns.

Shown above: letterpress print printed with soy-based ink from hijirik; soy/bamboo fingerless gloves from reasdesigns; hemp, organic cotton and soy top from conscious clothing.
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Soy is also used to take the place of petroleum-based substances, like oil-based inks in printed artwork, or paraffin wax in candles. Soy ink is becoming more and more popular on presses. Soy candles burn cleaner and are better for your health than traditional candles. And soy products are used as a base for many natural beauty products like soaps and perfumes.

Shown above: soy and organic cotton cowl-necked top from conscious clothing; soy candle from nettiescrub; letterpressed coasters with soy ink from UncommonEnvelope.