Photo by Veronica Meewes on flickrAs expected, this year’s Stitch was both fun and overwhelming. We tried to take it all in, circling around the booths bundled under Austin Convention Center many, many times. However, it really is impossible to experience everything thing unless you dedicate at least three hours to paint a Carlo Rossi jug, sew a sweater at First Samples, watch the runway show… and then, of course, shop! The latter was easy.... more ›

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is... more ›

Poster by City On Fire Stitch AfterpartySaturday, November 10thThe Mohawk (912 Red River)10 pm, $5[info] If you attend The Stitch Fashion Show and Guerrilla Craft Bazaar at the Austin Convention Center you're gonna leave with a bellyful of terrific Austin homemade couture. You're also gonna be sad that it's over. To extend the experience, sometime tomorrow around 10pm you should find your way over to the Mohawk for the afterparty. DJ Abominatron (Indirect/Blue Noise) and... more ›

Photo by Fort Cloudy on flickr StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez Street)Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]We figured we'd end our Stitch Preview series by interviewing Matthew Stinchcomb, who does PR for Etsy. We learned that the online store is kind of a big deal in the DIY world. Several Stitch vendors sell their homemade wares on the site so it'll be a treat to meet the... more ›

Photo courtesy Ornamental Things StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez Street)Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]Austinite Natalie Tischler's reworked vintage jewelry, Ornamental Things, has a strong magnetic pull on us every time we walk into Parts and Labour. It's always hard to decide what's cooler, the button rings or the dangle-y earring and necklaces she creates from things found at flea markets. Natalie's bringing her beautiful pieces to... more ›

Photo courtesy 31 Corn Lane StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez Street)Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]31 Corn Lane is all about girls wanting to have fun. It's the brainchild of three sisters—Teeter (the youngest), Amy and Heather Sperber (the latter two are identical twins who rock out with The Boxes). We've loved their pony necklaces, novelty totes and bright floral print belts ever since we saw them... more ›

Album cover of McLemore Avenue, Booker T. & The MG’s The hilarious kids of ColdTowne bring their audience-driven film/music/improv spectacle, 3, 2, 1 Kill!, to the new downtown Drafthouse digs Austin Music Commission hosts a very important town hall meeting tonight at Momo's on the resurrected sound ordinance proposal, which could dramatically transform our city's live music landscape -- and not in a good way Stitch, Austin's ultimate gathering of D-I-Y fashion and design, takes... more ›

Photo courtesy Jessica Plymate StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center [map]Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]Jessica Plymate revives the art of appliqué in super rockin' way with Aorta Designs. Gone are the days of mom's innocent poodles sewn on skirts. Jessica's animals are hardcore; drinking wine and smoking cigarettes. What is your design/art background? This is where I have to confess I have no formal training in design, art or anything. I've... more ›

I Like Applejuice is the playful and witty work of Travis Nichols. Travis wears many hats as an artist, writer and a rocker. He's also been profiled in VegNews Magazine as one of the "25 Most Fascinating Vegetarians!" Where else do you sell your work? I sell stuff at Parts & Labour here in town, and also on my website. I also have an Etsy store that has current art for sale, as well. What... more ›

Freshie and Zero is made with love and a hammer. Beth Porter is bringing her jewelry line down from Nashville again for the second year in a row. Although she only started her business a year and a half ago, she won last year's $1000 Stitch Grant. Beth says her jewelry is "light and modern, delicate and feminine." Her irregular, one-of-a-kind earrings and necklaces are made from sterling silver or gold filled wire formed into... more ›

We remember Austin Tinius over a year ago, peddling his Burger and Friends line at Circa 77, a boutique in Denton, Texas. Everything was made with a light-hearted, punk-rock sense of humor—from acid colored T-shirts silkscreened with line-drawings of Playboy models posing with a grizzly bear, to Star Wars-inspired wallets and purses. We knew he was on to something. Sure enough, Burger and Friends (finally) got some attention shortly after last year's Stitch. Austin... more ›

We're looking forward to Stitch. It's probably the most anticipated fashion-show/craft-bazaar in Austin, recognized by so-hip-it-hurts Nylon magazine as "a runway show that's as much about the community as it is about the clothes." And it only gets bigger and better each year. We're not just blowing smoke up your Simplicity pattern skirt. We think this year's Stitch is going to blow your DIY mind. After flipping through the six-page press release, we learned that... more ›

One of the big components of next month's Maker Faire Austin festival is the Swap-O-Rama-Rama, an enormous clothing swap and DIY workshop series. Through the recycling and repurposing of used clothing, Swap-O-Rama-Rama seeks to explore the benefits of community reuse and creativity. During the festival, you'll be able to bring your own bag of unwanted clothing to be added to the collective pile; in turn, you're invited to take away as much as you'd like.... more ›

Peyton’s Place is celebrating its grand opening tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be complimentary drinks, in-store makeovers (courtesy of Sage Salon), and a trunk show by jewelry designer Joani White. Peyton’s Place is on 215 Lavaca. Re- is going out of business! Voted Best Recycled Goods by Austin Chronicle, this little South Austin vintage store is calling it quits after over two years. Owner Chris Walker said he and his wife... more ›

• If you haven’t noticed, the Austin American-Statesman has a new fashion and style reporter, Marques G. Harper, replacing Jean Scheidnes. You can read his Style & Substance columns here.
• Get ready, aspiring fashion designers. Applications for those wanting to participate in Stitch 2007 will be posted on the event’s website in June. If you want to sponsor Stitch now, go here.
• Also, the deadline for the Runway to Heaven fashion show is May 30. Go here for more information.
• Some of us just discovered Puma’s super-awesome interactive Mongolian Shoe BBQ, following the coat-tails of NikeID. We must warn you: your $130 dream sneakers might take you an hour or two to perfect.

There's no question that Jenny Milne is a serious designer. Jenny, the woman behind Machine Ballerina, moved her work out of her bedroom last year to a studio in her house. Dozens of block patterns hang from the walls and two sewing machines share space on a large wooden table in this modest living area. But it doesn’t even contain Jenny’s source of inspiration: fabric. “This is my commitment to my craft,” she says, pointing... more ›

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KUT's Laurie Gallardo dishes about local music. more ›

An annual showcase and celebration of all things DIY, the Stitch Fashion Show and Guerrilla Craft Bazaar returns for its fourth installment this Saturday with an even bigger and better lineup. Back in 2003, local designers Jesse Kelly-Landes (Amet and Sasha), Tina Sparkles (Sparkle Craft), Karly Hand (Identity Crisis Clothing) and Jennifer Perkins (Naughty Secretary Club), dismayed that Austin lacked an effective outlet for independent designers to exhibit their work, orchestrated one of the city's... more ›

- Rolling Stones tickets are on sale tomorrow at 10am via Ticketmaster. Prices are $75 for students, $95 for general admission, and a whopping $350 for bleacher seating near the stage. Expect at least an additional $10-20/ticket in service charges. - ACL Fest acts continue to drop like flies: Feist and Kasey Chambers have both left the bill. They join a parade that also includes Editors, Damien Rice, Alexi Murdoch, Fields, and Goldfrapp. To... more ›

Now four years in the running, Austin's annual DIY fashion extravaganza known as Stitch is just months away. Combining a juried fashion show and a craft bazaar with live bands and DJs, Stitch is a tour de force of sights and sounds that's earned its producers -- who happen to be founders of Austin Craft Mafia and hosts of Stylelicious and Craft Lab on the DIY Network -- national recognition, and given Austin some... more ›

The local design mavens known collectively as the Austin Craft Mafia -- members of which include Sparkle Craft, Naughty Secretary Club and Amet and Sasha -- have certainly made a name for themselves since forming back in 2003. With their various creations having been featured in a slew of magazines (Jane, Budget Living, Real Simple), various and sundry other Craft Mafias sprouting up all around the country, and the tremendous success of annual shows like Stitch, you'd think these fashionistas would be content in their extraordinary accomplishments, or at least exhausted. But, no. Last year, eight out of the ten mafiosa flew out to Los Angeles to film a new series for the DIY Network, called "Stylelicious." The 39 episodes each feature three of them showcasing a different type of wearable art, from purses to jewelry to clothing, along with special "field pieces" by local Austin designers (Mark Joiner, Will Heron, Amy Barber, Chia Guillory, Parts & Labour and more). DIY's synopsis puts it best:

Stylelicious makes life delicious! This half-hour series is a tasty concoction of fashion, accessories and fun as a round-robin group of fashionistas show viewers three unique takes on the same project. Viewers get three crafty points of view on each show as our designing divas tackle purses, shoes and all kinds of fashion treats. Viewers will be craving more and more of Stylelicious!

M O N D A Y [ 2 8 ] film · End of an Ear hosts a free screening of Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer's "Drift" at the Alamo South Lamar (Free, 10pm) [link] music · The Kingsbury Manx, The Standard and The Heavenly States at Emo's film · KOOP Radio's Monthly Film Benefit at MonkeyWrench Books - Gillo Pontecorvo's “The Battle of Algiers”, about the French occupation of 1950s Algeria. (Inc. Beer and... more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [culture] End of Ramadan (EID) Festival, 9:30am-4:30pm @ Richard Moya Park [homework] Deadline for the Soup Peddler's Soupie Cookbook [film] New Movies! @ Your Local Theater! [dance] Armagetdown with New Berlin, DJ Big Face and DJ Manny, 9pm @ Progress Coffee [music] Cruiserweight, The Fall Collection, The Always Already and Paper Airlines @ Emo's [music] Fluffer's Union and American Graveyard @ Trophy's [theatre] Paul Rudnick's "The Most Fabulous Story... more ›

For a while after all of our friends moved to the North Loop area, we cursed them. Their relocation meant more money spent on gas, longer commutes for reality t.v.-watching, and packing on the pounds from all those Parlor pizzas and Ararat hummus. We changed our tune when we drove down 53rd St. one day and spotted our new favorite store, Slinky Whistle Bait. The boutique (whose name apparently comes from a World War... more ›

This is your last week to apply to be in the Stitch Austin fashion show and guerrilla craft bazaar thrown by the sexy ladies of the Austin Craft Mafia. Applications are no longer accepted after Oct. 1. On Sunday, November 13th the mafiosa will transform Emo's into a fashion frenzy, showcasing the work of hundreds of designers and crafters. DJ Mel and DJ Jen (Ear Candy) are slated to be on hand, ensuring that... more ›

Stitch Austin, a fashion show and guerrilla craft bazaar affiliated with the Austin Craft Mafia just announced the date for this year's event. The mafiosa will be taking over Emo's on Sunday, November 13th. DJ Mel and DJ Jen (Ear Candy) are slated to be on hand, ensuring that folks have something to move to whether on the runway or on the floor. Applications are now open for anyone wanting to get their designs... more ›