Tricia C. Adler — Dingmans Ferry, PA
Recycled inner tubes from tractors, trucks, motorcycles and bicycles all have a place in my current work - designing handbags, hats and other fiber wearables. The design process is intoxicating. As sections of cut and scrubbed inner tubes are manipulated one-of-a-kind handbags begin to materialize. The development of each bag is informed by a spontaneous cut of the inner tube. My hat designs commence by cutting inner tube shapes to create the top or sides of each hat. Fleece frequently becomes the body of the hat while handmade wool felt is often used as embellishment. Hand sewing, machine sewing, riveting, grommet setting and bolting are all construction methods employed. When applicable, surface design may include found objects, expired license plates and/or oil pigment.
I delight in re-purposing materials usually destined for a landfill.
Elyse Allen — New York, NY | elyseallentextiles.com
I make fine knit accessories - hats, scarves, and fingerless gloves. I find the best materials I can, because they're worth it and they last, and make the work by hand where I live because it's better for the work and better for my neighborhood. I love to mix yarns, to play with colors and patterns, and to make them all explode a little bit with some sparkle and gleam. Cashmere gives beauty, warmth and durability; Swarovski crystals activate the surface, adding depth and motion. I try to make my pieces special to be near, like reuniting people with their long-lost favorite thing.
Lori Bacigalupi — Norman, OK | kissofthewolf.com
I employ direct dye application including batik, shibori and silkscreen printing. We use Japanese, Korean and Chinese silks along with hand-woven Indonesian cottons and more recently Belgian linens. My inspiration comes primarily from recognizing my instinctive place in the world community. For example the circle or diamond pattern is universal withstanding time and cultural barriers.
Ignatius Creegan & Rod Givens — Petersburg, VA | ignatiushats.com
Braided Wheat straw is stitched together to form a hat body that is finished with wire and ribbon. It is then trimmed with findings and milliner made trims.
Deborah Cross & Gordon Heinel — Freedom, CA | deborahcross.com
My clothing is hand dyed and appliqued. I design my styles to look elegant and attractive on a woman's body. Each season I am inspired by the fabrics I buy.
Teresa Crowninshield — Easthampton, MA | crowncoats.com
I create a collection of elegant silk and cashmere coats and jackets for women. The Crowninshield design aesthetic is both classic and fashion-forward. I believe that a return to the traditional master-apprentice system is the key to renewing American arts. As such I have studied 6 years under 77-year old Master Pattern Maker Shirley Willett, studying design and engineering techniques nearly lost in the computer age. Through her guidance I have learned to personally design, drape, and draft each pattern, sculpting every curve by hand with old-world techniques.I believe that an elegant well-fitting jacket can transform and even make an outfit. I believe that skillful draping and sensitive pattern work is the key to unlocking the unique beauty of each woman's figure. This, combined with our use of sumptuous silks and cashmere, creates a winning combination of art and style.
Randall Darwall & Brian Murphy — South Yarmouth, MA | randalldarwall.com
We are studio clothmakers, trying to weave and dye the best fabric possible for the marketplace, working with methods and techniques not possible in commercial production. We particularly like the unpredictable potential that only the hand weaver is free to explore in process. We design as we work, struggling to keep up our end of the conversation with color, fiber, structure, and the constantly chiding voice of function. We use many different kinds of silk yarns in order to make the color glow, to create depth, and to record the motion of weaving.
Marla F. Duran — Bethlehem, PA
I create 2 bodies of work — limited editions and one of a kind pieces. The limited editions have an original point of view, incorporating vintage and Asian inspired fabrics and patterns. The clothes combine reprints of retro patterns made in updated, sophisticated shapes. These pieces are affordable, and work easily into a wardrobe. My one of a kind pieces expand on my point of view, creating couture pieces with hand worked details. Strengths lie in the interesting fabrics I use, the attention to detail, the tailoring and cut of the clothes, and the sophistication. It is my desire that women feel confident as well as comfortable in my clothes. I strive to create pieces that are modern, edgy, timeless, sophisticated, and original.
Anne M. Emlein — Providence, RI
Designed in the spirit of playful sophistication, my knitwear, a collection of mix & match multi-seasonal separates is an exuberant, feminine approach to tradition, with a twist! Every piece is created in my studio using a variety of knitting techniques that I have developed and perfected, specifically hand-manipulated lace, short-rowing, and felting. Blending natural fibers such as wool, cashmere, silk, linen, mohair and angora, I create knitted fabrics of uncompromising quality. My exuberant approach to color and design brings yarn to life and life to clothes!
Rae Gold — Pittsburgh, PA
This year I am applying with a brand new line. It is still wool but these are hormone free merino sheep. the yarn was spun in Rhode Island and custom woven in PA. I am very particular about material so this is extremely soft and supple. It woven now so the world has opened up. The resist work is so much more exciting like creating wearable sculpture. Light, flattering and unique. I do not know anyone who is using this technique right now in wearables so it very exciting to feel like being on the cutting edge. What is most important is the material feels so good and looks so beautiful on the body.
Leni Hoch — Glenmoore, PA
It has been my life's work creating fashion with fabrics. The collection of Metallic fabric is the current new material. The cutting, dying, and finishing processes have been the challange. Tension of the metal gimp yarn's twist creates textures with twist. Styling feminine drape and fluidity in the garments has applied the natural infinity of this fabric. Color is now applied to silk over metallic gold, silver, and copper opening the color pallette and it's complexities. I've but only begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities for beautiful wearable metallic garments.
Joy Horvath — Southport, CT
I create one of a kind art handbags using reclaimed objects. Leather skins & textiles are shaped, by hand & machine stitching, to found metal and bakelite forms with imagery that is both meditative and spiritually stimulating. Most bags are comprised of over 50 separate pieces. I use intricate lost art techniques, abandoned by present day studios. By blending these ancient techniques with a modern sensibility, each handbag is a collage incorporating old and new.
Kaoru Izushi — Madison, WI
I have heard that knitted piece is alive - it grows and contracts. But as I practice my art, I have also come to realize that each loop has life, like a cell, and when I knit I am combining these cells to create a whole organism. Because of this, the spirit pf each piece depends on how I feel. A piece is happy or calm based on my mood and my condition as I think the cells of this knitted life. In the same way, I feel the spirit of the piece will be transferred to the person who wears it. I believe that happy sweaters will bring happiness to the soul inside. I use a hand-loomed knitting machine and knit with natural fibers mainly 100% cotton, sometimes wool, alpaca, lama or paper.
Selma Karaca — Brooklyn, NY | selmakaraca.com
I have been working on "Spirals", "Whirling" since 2000, Spirals one of my signature style that one long Stretch Cotton fabric spirals around the body, as I stitch them together, also make the shape of the body as an infinite movement. The Whirling style, I use a bias ribbon fabrics while swirling (sewing) around the foundation fabric to create layers of dimension around the body. To be able to create the texture and layers I use wide variety fabrics (canvas, silk, cotton, contemporary horse hair ribbon "synthetic" and more). As well as the pieces made out of long fabric strings and the other style helps me to create my unique way of making wearable pieces (spirals, whirling), as i use painting on whirling dresses or Agape collection from the web page. Also if i need a special color I use dyes and paint and wide variety of techniques and fabrics as well as recycle materials.
Lisa M. Klakulak — Asheville, NC | strongfelt.com
Original designs created solely by the artist are brought to fruition by wet felting protein fibers from silk cocoons and animal fleece, applying natural dyes, texturing with free-motion machine embroidery and constructing with hand stitching. Felted fabric has an antiquity of use based on protection of the human body and it is, therefore, an ideal material for use in conceptualizing human emotional and physical vulnerability. Works range from body ornamentation to figurative sculpture and incorporate re-purposed natural materials and human-made products as well as felted and stitched imagery that relate to concepts of comfort and security.
Amy Nguyen — Jamaica Plain, MA | amynguyentextiles.com
Ancient and contemporary--light and shadow--form and space. These opposites are explored in my artwear. The art of shibori has been a focus--force and resist--an art form that embraces both planned manipulation and an unknown nature. It can be both architectural and organic in its nature. Drawing upon the rich heritage of this handmade artistry, I layer new spatial dimensions and modern technology. My process begins with a single piece of white cloth. Intricately folding and sculpting, I prepare each piece of cloth to accept deep rich color during stages of the dye process. I move between two- and three-dimensional form, building depth, layering. Machine work enhances my final piecing, folding, and shaping. The possibilities are endless.
Gina M. Pannorfi — Chicago, IL | ginapannorfi.com
There is a parallel between the process and meditation found in creating any textile, to that which is found in Mother Nature's rhythms and undulating patterns. The perfect harmony of color, its hues, brightness, lightness and contrasts saturate the world around us. " This work is the tactile evidence I have for the countless observations of Her delicate balance between the simple and the complex, my interpretation of our greatest and most delicate resource" These one of a kind textiles are individually crafted. Hand dyed silk is puckered and gathered when combined with merino wool. Traditionally these pieces are used as scarves, shawls and wraps, but their function is only limited to that of the imagination.
Heidi Paul — Stinson Beach, CA | designbyheidipaul.com
As a working studio artist, I combine techniques and fibers to create one of a kind garments, hats and accessories, conceptual and sculptural work. I am a redesigner. I take discarded clothing and give them a new life. I reclaim wool sweaters from friends, family and thrift stores. After disassembling each piece I over-dye them, sometimes using a Japanese Shabori technique. I am also a felt maker and include some bits of hand-felted wool or Nuno into some of the pieces. I work mostly in Cashmere but don't exclude other beautiful fibers. The finished piece becomes a visual composition of new intention.
Noellynn Pepos — Victor, MT | noellynnpepos.com
A restless landscape, shifting outlines and perceptions, fragments of understanding.... layering. My current textiles are rooted in the poetics of our environment. I combine my hand painted and dyed silk with merino wool, cashmere, mohair and alpaca, then hand felt to create a luxurious wearable garment.
Lynn Reintsema & K Meta Reintsema — Malta, NY
As a partnership we collaborate on the selection of the fabrics to the finishing details. Our wearables begin with the careful selection of beautiful natural fibers including cashmere, silk, wool & linen. We hand dye, manipulate, &/or piece fabrics together to make unique textures & shapes through surface design. We then create our own designs of vests, jackets, dresses, & scarves. Because each piece is individually made by us no two are ever the same.
Maureen Roberts — New York, NY | momofalana.com
Having started as textile artists reinventing vintage lingerie for the downtown fashionistas, we gradually developed a very particular brand of artisanal painting and dyeing that has come to define our label for more than a decade. Our inspiration is drawn from nature ~ the graceful lines of a Japanese maple, the subtle shine of a crumbling shard of pyrite, the intricate pattern of a butterfly wing, the beauty of a ragged coral reef ~ channeled into layers of texture and color. The result is a classic silhouette that combines couture sensibility with bohemian spirit. Our vibe is straight up 1930's glamour with a twist of 1970's rock n roll, or as one client put it: Jean Harlow meets Joan Jett!
Ann Williamson — Portland, OR | www.annwilliamson.com
My work reflects a diversity of hand-sewn techniques: beading, applique, piecing and embroidery. I construct my jackets, coats, tops and separates from fine silks and wools and often incorporate vintage textiles.
Ping Wu — New York, NY | pingwudesignstudio.com
An Italian trained fashion designer and American trained physical therapist, completed her fashion design studies in 2006 at the Istituto Marangoni, Milan, Italy. Following graduation, she interned with Luisa Beccaria in Milan and with BLESS in Paris. She was invited by its French salon director to her first trade show, Premiere Classe in Paris, France in Sep, 2007. Her first collection was bought by the museum store of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2007. In 2009, she was selected as one of 16 contestants for the American TV show Project Runway season 7. She uses traditional hand knitting techniques to create original modern designs with natural fibers. Her versatile unisex fashion accessories offer unique transformable options that are both stylish and multi-functional, providing comfort, individuality, and inspirational energy.
