Brokelyn

How badass is welding? Find out at 3rd Ward.

When it comes to creative pursuits, there are dreamers and doers. Dreamers talk, fantasize, scheme and concoct, but seldom act on their visions, brilliant though they may be.

Then there are doers – the people who take their artistic and entrepreneurial ideas and make them happen.

If you’ve ever been to 3rd Ward, you know it’s where dreamers can become doers.

3rd Ward is a hub of classes and workshop facilities where you move those jewelry designs out of your head and into silver, pewter or clay. This is the place to transform your sketch of a coffee table into a real-life prototype. Maybe you want to forge a new career path as a 3D graphic designer. Maybe you’re just tired of working in your living room. By all means, pull up a Mac and join your new insta-colleagues in 3rd Ward’s co-working space. Read the rest of this entry »

You know how your grandmother could take a tattered piece of clothing, apply needle and thread and then, in a blur of old-world legerdemain, the thing was suddenly better than freakin’ new? Well, time to dredge up some of that innate garment-reclaiming handiness and save yourself a trip to Goodwill. Tonight’s the first-ever Mending Circle, a free monthly workshop at the Textile Arts Center in Park Slope. Along with the Sewing Rebellion, the center’s bringing together menders, sewers and stitchers to share their almost-lost arts and help you save your most “lovingly”-worn stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

One quiet night a couple of weeks ago, I was pumping away on my sewing machine in my apartment in Bed-Stuy when my neighbor, Stephanie, knocked on my door to ask if I could hem a skirt for her. She took out a bag from Cookie’s, the children’s department store on Fulton Street, and proceeded to lay out all the makings of a Catholic school girl’s uniform: knee socks, hair ribbons, a pleated skirt in a girl’s size large.

Her explanation? The guy she was planning on seeing Saturday night had requested this particular getup for their rendezvous. Read the rest of this entry »

The storefronts don’t exactly scream “style destination,” but Blessed be Allah: there is some fine shopping along the stretch of Coney Island Avenue between Foster and Avenue H that we’ll affectionately call Little Pakistan. (By the way, is it kosher for infidels to mention Allah—in a nice way?) When Brokelyn style scout Eliza Gran went on a recent jaunt, phrases like “exactly like John Robshaw” (about block-print fabrics for $4 a yard) and “Omigod, just like Calypso!” (cotton sequinned pajamas, $30) were all over her lips and money was flying out of her wallet (in singles). Read the rest of this entry »