Brooklyn Bridge » Markets of New York

Recycle Your Closet Party With Grace Napoleon

I’ll never forget the first time I met Grace Napoleon at the Brooklyn Flea in the summer of 2009 under the Brooklyn Bridge. Her tent was swarmed with hip, cool women of all ages trying on her dresses, skirts and tops. Each garment was unique and made by hand from other pieces of clothing. They were flying off the racks then, just as they do today!

Grace is the founder of Folk Couture, the art of making clothes out of vintage and previously owned clothes. Since Grace first, well, graced the Brooklyn Flea, her Folk Couture has garnered a cult-like following. Her clothes themselves are perfectly wonderful, whimsical and often wild. Her use of existing clothing as virgin fabrics makes her work eco-friendly. She has an eye for color and pattern combinations; pieces I would never think of putting together become a vibrant new dress that turns heads on New York City streets.

The term “Folk Couture” is perfect for Grace’s creations, which are handcrafted designs, one-of-a-kind, and stylish. (Check out these images of her collection.) Purchase a piece of Folk Couture and rest assured that nobody else in the world will ever have the same one.

And now Grace will teach you her secrets! She has started giving Recycle Your Closet Parties. We all have beloved sweaters or dresses we can’t bear to part with, even though we know we’ll never wear them again. Now you can invite five or more of your best friends to bring their favorite no-longer-used clothing. Grace will help everyone turn their pieces into something brand new that they will wear and love. She brings the buttons, threads, ribbons, trimmings, scissors, pins, and more, and she will help each person create and stitch a new garment. She has an amazing talent for determining what will look good on someone, and she’ll sit on the floor, cut up the pieces with you, and help you sew them together – every step of the way.

The fee is $50 per person — barely the cost of a random sweater at Macy’s or The Gap. Your friends will go home with new, exciting pieces of clothing they made with their own hands — and a little more space in their closets!

If you’d like to host a Recycle Your Closet Party, simply send Grace an email for details!

Grace sets up shop most weekends at the Brooklyn Flea, and sometimes at the SOWA Open Market in Boston too. Follow Folk Couture on Facebook for inspiration and for updates on where she’ll be showing her creations next!

(Photos provided by Grace Napoleon)

Folk Couture Designs by Grace Napoleon

Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market Featured Designer!

Grace Napoleon has an eye for colors. And for patterns. And buttons. And somehow she can see how they all might work together in the must unusual ways as she cuts up recycled clothing and stitches the pieces together to create an entirely new, singular design. “I make clothes from clothes,” she says.

I met Grace two summers ago at the Brooklyn Flea underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. She had a gaggle of hip girls under her tent trying on adorable mini-dresses with stripes, appliqués, and other unusual details. Grace has a lovely, fun manner, and a glorious head of long, salt and pepper curls. Her displays at the Flea are always inviting. She sells vintage items, from eyewear to kitchenware, but Grace’s clothes are what first grabbed my attention. She calls her designs Folk Couture. The concept is around creating new and fun things to wear out of previously owned pieces. They are handmade, unique and meant to be worn every day. You and I might wear a sweater for a few years and then discard it. But if you are Grace Napoleon, you breathe a whole new life into it instead.

Now that it’s wintertime, Grace has brought out her one-of-a-kind designs for colder temperatures. She’ll cut out the collar from a colorful sweater, add a beautiful button accent and some bright embroidered details, and voilá! It’s a stylish new neck-warming accessory! She cuts the sleeves from a sweater, passes a few stitches over them, and suddenly you have yourself a pair of stylish and practical fingerless gloves. Her dresses feature combinations of colors, fabrics and patterns, and they fly off her racks every weekend, both at the Brooklyn Flea and at the SOWA Market in Boston. For me, though, Grace’s sweaters are where the real fun is. She has been doing lots of scalloped cuts and asymmetrical wavy necklines, with swatches of brightly colored appliqués and vintage buttons sewn onto felted wool cardigans and pullovers. No two Grace Napoleon Folk Couture Designs are even remotely alike.

Starting in January 2011, Grace will be offering Recycle Your Clothes Classes. Invite 5 or more of your friends over for wine and snacks, and have them bring 2 or 3 pieces of clothing to turn into one great new item. Grace will spend the evening helping everyone figure out what to do and then how to put it all together. At the end of the party, everyone goes home with a great new thing to wear and a little more room in their closet. The fee is $45 per person, and Grace supplies all the needles, thread, great fabric swatches, loads of patience and great advice. If you are interested in learning more about these classes, leave a comment here. Grace will get back to you!

Come see Grace Napoleon’s designs for yourself at the Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market!

Photo of the Day – November 17, 2010: Marly Malone at the Hand Laundry

Marly Malone Sells Vintage Linens and Lace at the Park Slope Flea

It had been quite a while since I’d last been to the Park Slope Flea. So it was nice to go back and see all the great treasures there. It is a classic flea market in the playground of P.S. 321 in the heart of Park Slope in Brooklyn. I saw a lot of really great small things, from ceramic figures and old photographs to collectible glassware and beautiful vintage jewelry, including a beautiful brass mermaid pin that I totally regret not taking home with me. I should know better by now.

It was great to see Marly Malone at the Hand Laundry at the Flea. (Decades ago, her Brooklyn Brownstone housed a hand laundry, hence the name.) She sells a variety of new and vintage items. Her Brooklyn Bridge collection includes tea towels, sun catchers, and oven mitts with a drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge printed on them. She also sells Irish and Scottish jewelry and keepsakes, like Claddagh rings and silver Celtic knots. I personally love the vintage linen handkerchiefs and blouses, as well as her antique laces. Her antique silver baby spoons would be a perfect baby shower gift.

Visit Marly Malone at the Park Slope Flea or online at www.marlymalone.com.

Citybitz – Mini Tributes to New York City

Artisan of the Week for the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Food and Craft Market!

If ever there was a great idea for a New York City artisan, it’s Citybitz’ “photographic creations,” featuring the details and culture of the city.

Artist and designer Joan Huggard creates functional art, such as jewelry, mirrors, card cases, money clips, pillboxes, and compacts, all featuring photographic images. She does her own photography of iconic sites, both macro and micro. She takes beautiful angles of the Flatiron Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Empire State Building. But she also admires the smallest details, like the subway tiles in the Chinatown station, the crosswalk guy, and signs in Coney Island. Images you love and images you’ve never even noticed before show up in Joan’s work.

These items appeal to both New Yorkers and to visitors alike. Joan’s reversible Uptown/Downtown pendant is perfect for those New Yorkers who never go below 14^th Street as well as those who never venture above Houston. The cardholder with the word “Drama,” from a theater façade, is the perfect gift for the drama queens in our lives. For visitors to New York, it is often so hard to find unique, quality souvenirs to take home to friends and family. How many people actually appreciate receiving a foam Statue of Liberty crown (I mean, besides me)? But a money clip with an Empire State Building image, or a necklace with the Coney Island parachute jump on it are beautiful, handmade, and very special souvenirs.

Joan also does custom work. If you are commemorating a special occasion, such as a wedding, a birth, a favorite pet, or anything at all, she can take your images and create a wall mirror or other special items just for you.

Joan will be selling her creations on May 1 and 2 at the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Food and Craft Market. Citybitz is a regular at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturdays and Sundays, and you can check the Citibitz website for other market dates as well. Citybitz is also a member of the NewNew Etsy Artisans Group, and she sells her work in her Etsy shop online.