By-Kara G. Morrison / The Detroit News
Those who venture to the Detroit Urban Craft Fair in the Majestic Theatre today will find more than cool T-shirts, handmade cards and funky wares.
For this group of 51 hip vendors, crafting is less of a hobby and more of a movement.
These are tech-savvy 20- and 30-somethings who came together online to showcase their renegade "do-it-yourself" art and business skills.
"A friend of mine jokes it's not having a garage band anymore, it's having a garage business," says Maggie McGuire, a 22-year-old crafting addict from Dearborn, who is selling silk-screened T-shirts of Michigan's state bird. "Pretty much everyone I know is doing something like this."
The Detroit Urban Craft Fair found its roots when 28-year-old Stephanie Tardy of Pleasant Ridge -- who had hosted handmade goods parties for friends -- posted a call to area crafters on a MySpace.com page. People swarmed.
It's not just a Detroit phenomenon. Across the country, GenXers and GenYers are flocking to Web sites such as Etsy.com (a sort of eBay of crafts) and Craftster.org and are hosting national alternative craft fairs such as Bazaar Bizarre in Boston and the Renegade Craft Fair in New York and Chicago.
Leah Kramer, creator of Craftster.org, is a computer programmer who had to quit her day job when her love for alternative crafts drew a crowd. Her Web site proclaims "No tea cozies without irony," and draws "rebel DIYers" who dismiss the notion of crafting as cross-stitching "Home Sweet Home" signs.
Today, Kramer's three-year-old, Boston-based site boasts almost 70,000 members and draws more than 500,000 visitors a month. She's also just finished an eight-city book tour with "The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty and Kitschy Crafts" (Ten Speed Press, $17.95).
Kramer, 31, concedes crafting used to have an uncool stigma of being outdated and dorky. In her 20s, she started looking for new takes on old craft projects.
"Now with the Internet and things like Craftster, people's eyes are open," she says. "The Internet in general brings people together who have these niche interests and helps fuel each other's fires."
Nicole Lindner, a 19-year-old fashion designer from Chesterfield, agrees.
"I really do network a lot through MySpace," she says. "I sell things on eBay, and Etsy is really popular. You meet other people who are interested in what you love, and see what other people are doing."
What else has renewed the younger set's fascination with knitting, sewing and making stuff?
Tardy says she simply loves it when people appreciate the time and creativity that went into something handmade. She crochets belts and gadget cozies and makes handmade mini books and note cards.
Alicia Dorset of Plymouth works as a blog editor for an Ann Arbor public relations firm and spends her nonworking hours beading and working with vintage buttons. She thinks part of the crafting fascination is a backlash against the sameness of big-box retailers and chain stores.
"There's something really great about knowing you didn't get it at Old Navy," Dorset, 26, says.
Mix that with the notion that sewing and knitting today are a choice, not a task.
There's also the Gen X and Gen Y spin of hosting craft fairs at unexpected venues. You'll catch many of them after 6 p.m. Wednesday nights at Baar Bazaar at the Garden Bowl, a bar and bowling alley in downtown Detroit. But organizers describe the Detroit Urban Craft Fair as the biggest gathering so far of the area's alternative crafters.
Customers will find everything from clothing and accessories made from recycled rubber to glass art fused with pop culture.
"Expect to see some things you've never seen before," says Kristen Ray, a 26-year-old color and materials designer for Ford Motor Co., who will be selling handmade pillowcase sets.
"We don't have the church grandmas," Tardy adds. "But I love the church grandmas!"
You can reach Kara Morrison at (313) 222-2021 or kmorrison@detnews.com.