Urban Craft Uprising

I recently attended Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center. If you think of knitted slippers and quilted tea cosies when you think of crafts, think again. UCU is a very rock ‘n’ roll craft affair. The vendors are young, modern trendsetters and they create wonderful arts and crafts—from handmade soaps and jewelry to one-of-a-kind hats and bags.

I bought a few things that I’ll be showing off in future posts, including two skirts from Erin MacLeod, and an amazing bag from Crystalyn Kae. The funny thing is that the first time I posted about my Crystalyn Kae Clutch, I was wearing my Erin MacLeod skirt. At UCU, I got to meet Erin and Crystalyn.

Meeting Crystalyn was great. She’s so friendly and personable and loves what she does (heck, I love what she does too). It was hard to decide which bag to buy. Can you blame me? There was such a great selection of shoulder bags, clutches in cool new colors, and (what I eventually chose) larger laptop-type bags.

Her bags are all hand-crafted in Seattle using beautiful vintage fabrics, a surprisingly realistic leather alternative called glazed fabric, and sometimes, reclaimed leather.

Erin MacLeod specializes in amazing one-size-fits-most, wrap-around snap skirts. The skirts are really comfortable and flattering and come in a wide array of colors. Erin spends most of her time making skirts, and not a lot of time building her website (which, if you think about it is preferable to the other way around). You might not find a lot online, but she welcomes email. So if there’s a skirt you’re looking for or you want to know where she’ll be vending next, drop her a line.

I’ll model the skirts for you in future posts. I already had a winter-weight plaid skirt, so I bought two lighter fabrics this time. One in cool tones and one in warm tones. I put them in my new tote from Crystalyn, finished shopping at UCU, and grabbed lunch at a Thai restaurant down the street from the Seattle Center.

The next UCU is on December 3rd and 4th, just in time for gift shopping. Mark your calendars. On your way, look for the Space Needle, the monorail, and Experience Music Project. When you see all three, you’re almost there!