Our friends and sponsors ReForm School have relocated to an all-new location one block from their old haunt, at 3902 Sunset Blvd. Tomorrow night they will be celebrating with a book signing by Faythe Levine, author of Handmade Nation! It's also serving as a nice kick-off party for Felt Club weekend (and we're even giving away a silkscreened Felt Club poster as a prize!) so if you're in the hood, be sure and stop by.

If for some reason you can't come by, you can visit Billie and Tootie from ReForm School at Felt Club on Sunday, where they will be running a Recycled DIY Giftwrap booth! You can also catch Faythe again at Felt Club with Handmade Nation co-author Cortney Heimerl, or at their Saturday afternoon book signing at Barnes & Noble in Glendale.

It's kind of ridonkulous how many amazing crafty workshops we have happening at Felt Club this time around. In addition to all the great activity in the Quarry Books booth, The Urban Craft Center will also be hosting make 'n' takes and offering kits for sale in their booth. PLUS we've got not one but two crafty superstars sharing their skills with our visitors.

Jenny Hart (above left) from Sublime Stitching will be teaching two embroidery workshops at Felt Club. To take part, just stop by the Felt Club Info Table to sign up and purchase a kit. Kits are $20 each and the workshops will take place at 1pm and 4pm.

Kaari Meng (above right) from French General will be teaching a jewelry making class featuring her signature vintage beaded charm bracelet kits. Again, just stop by the Felt Club Info Table to sign up and purchase a kit. Kits are $30 and her workshop will take place at 2:30pm.

Class sizes are limited, but both Kaari and Jenny will be hanging out at the Felt Club area off and on throughout the day to sell additional kits and/or sign and sell their books when they're not teaching. So come on by and meet them on Sunday!

One of our lovely sponsors, Quarry Books, will be hosting a variety of fun book signings and workshops in their booth. (They've also donated 250 various books for our swag bags...whoo hoo!) PLUS they'll be holding raffles in their booth all day, just stop by and submit your name to win! Here's their programming schedule for the day:


Angela Cartwright will be signing her books from 12:00-1:00pm.


Lisa Sonora Beam will be signing her book, The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real from 1:00-2:00pm and will then be hosting a make and take on Mini Journals from 2:00-3:00pm.

"Mini-journals are a delight to behold and work in. Their very essence beckons creative acts in regular, organized, simplified fashion. Mini-journals are a tactile splendor for both sides of your brain, another key for creative minds in getting off it and getting things done."


Author Stefanie Girard will be hosting a Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things from Old Sweaters make-and-take project from 3:30-4:30pm. You can come by and make a needle felted ornament.

For more about Quarry Books, keep an eye on the Craftside blog.

Buy Handmade Video from Etsy on Vimeo.

Here's a message to y'all from ETSY!

What does handmade mean to you, Los Angeles artists and crafters and you who buy from indie sellers?

At Felt Club on November 16th from 2pm-6pm, Tara (Etsy admin and video shooter) wants to meet you and tape very short (15 second) individual videos. Please bring something handmade you've bought or made and tell us why you buy/wear/sell/gift handmade. There will be a sign up sheet and each shoot will only take a few minutes. So pop by and help us spread the word about the handmade movement!

These videos will be used on Etsy's blog and BuyHandmade.org as part of the Handmade Consortium, among other places. Thanks for your help!

For more info visit The Storque.

Please join us tomorrow night at the Santa Monica Museum of Art for a sewing marathon where we'll be stitching up little blankets for shelter animals. We'll also have piles of felt and stuffing on hand for making kitty toys! Have fun learning basic quilting and hand-sewing skills while earning huge karma points helping the SPCA. Plus we'll have snacks, drinks, and music. Hope to see you there!

We're lucky enough to work with several amazing sponsors at Felt Club, and they have been more than generous with their time, promotional help, and SWAG! Every year we hang out some amazing swag bags to the first 250 visitors through our doors, and we strive to make these bags fun and fresh each time. In the coming weeks, we'll be posting sneak previews of some of the goodies you can expect to find if you're one of those lucky 250 peeps.



Check out these fantastic contributions from Chronicle Books! Each swag bag will feature one of the following items: French General: Home Sewn, Lace Knitting to Go, Picture Perfect Knits, or the French General Labels & Stickers pack.

Thank you so much to our friends at Chronicle! Stay tuned for more info about our Holiday 2008 event, coming very soon!