A new collection of shirts, jackets, dresses and more from fashion designer Mary Katrantzou recalls two very different design movements, one focusing on the hand-made (Arts & Crafts) and one on powerful, industrial-age graphics and shapes (the Bauhaus).

Debuted on the catwalk of London Fashion Week, this series celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, featuring colors, geometries and typographies recalling the school and movement. These are imprinted, however, on delicate and decorative apparel.

“The collection explores an intermingling of two different breeds of aesthetic, using their components to discover a new hybrid,”says Katrantzou, who drew inspiration in part from vintage Bauhaus posters but also Victorian-era patterns.

“I don’t think anyone would put the Arts and Crafts movement and the Bauhaus together conceptually, but I think it was the beginning of modernism, even if aesthetically it is not as visible.” In a way, these divergent styles represent different paths, but both were built on attention to detail and a belief in the careful and complete designs of everyday objects. Her pieces stitch together the utilitarian and organic sensibilities of the two movements.

“We wanted to choose some of the colours that are present in William Morris’ work and the Arts and Crafts movement, and bring them into the Bauhaus posters, and vice versa. I always loved the Bauhaus posters for their symbolic nature, and equally, I think William Morris as a visual language is equally distinctive.” Katrantzou, who studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, draws a lot of ideas from architecture and built environments, often referencing structures from streets to steel trusses.

This is definitely not your grandmother’s embroidery. It’s stitched into the helmets of soldiers, onto car doors and fences, producing cats that pop out of shirt pockets and portraits so painterly, it’s hard to believe they’re made of thread. In fact, needlework stands in for everything from spray-painted street art to living moss in these extraordinarily artistic stitch-based creations.

Floral Cross-Stitch Urban Murals by Raquel Rodrigo

Cross-stitched street art is in bloom all over Madrid this week thanks to floral creations by artist Raquel Rodrigo, who wraps thick string around a wire mesh form and then affixes it to urban surfaces.

Cross-Stitched Microbes by Alicia Watkins

Rather than flowers and the other pretty things that are typically stitched within an embroidery hoop, artist Alicia Watkins puts the spotlight on nasty germs and microbes ranging from the measles to mad cow disease.

Pets in Pockets by Hiroko Kubota

Adorable, strikingly realistic cats and puppies pop out of pockets in this fun clothing line by Hiroko Kubota called Go!Go!5. The project started when the Japanese embroidery artist’s son asked for a custom cat-adorned shirt, and took off from there. You can even have a custom pet portrait created just for you.

Embroidery Gone Wild by Danielle Clough

Virtually anything that can be punctured or woven with embroidery floss is fair game for Danielle Clough, whose wildly unique creations have appeared on tennis rackets, shoes and fences.

Splotchy Embroidered Fashion by Olya Glagoleva and Lisa Smirnov

What appears, from a distance, to be splotches of paint roughly applied to textured textiles turns out to be hyper-detailed embroidery in abstract forms. Russian artist Lisa Smirnova paired up with fashion designer Olya Glagoleva to collaborate on this fun project for the eco-friendly clothing line GO!

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
In Stitches 45 Artistic Embroidered Cross Stitched Creations

Imagine your grandmother presenting  you with a knitted facehugger, dwarven helm or a life-sized boyfriend pillow for your birthday instead of a scratchy wool scarf. The world of knits goes far beyond beginner’s patterns for sweaters and caps, occasionally encompassing entire rooms or covering military tanks. This collection of weird knitted and crocheted things might even inspire you to break out a pair of needles yourself.

Facehugger Mask

Well, isn’t that cute. It’s a cozy little alien face hugger, just like you always wanted.

Brutal Knitting by Tracy Widdess

‘Brutal Knitting’ is a fitting name for this ongoing project by artist Tracy Widdess, which stretches the craft far beyond its humble origins of warmth and practicality. Her highly unusual knit works include some of the most bizarre hats you’ve ever seen, and a replica of the Lament Configuration puzzle box from Hellraiser.

The World’s Cutest Penguin Sweaters

Australia’s oldest man, 109-year-old Alfred Date, put his 80 years of knitting experience to work to create the world’s cutest sweaters for a bunch of oil-covered penguins after a spill on the Australian Phillip Island. The sweaters keep the penguins from ingesting toxins and prevent water from getting trapped under their oily feathers, which can cause them to freeze.

Gimli’s Dwarven Helm

“The helm I based directly on the helm that Gimli wears in the Lord of the Rings movies, the beard was my own design with massive creative input from my brother,” says DeviantArt member SadDaysCrochet of this creation.

My Knitted Boyfriend

If it’s a little lonely in your bed, but you don’t have the patience that a real flesh-and-blood boyfriend requires, there’s a solution. ‘My Knitted Boyfriend’ can be worn like a terrifying bodysuit by a real person, or stuffed to create a life-sized man-shaped pillow.

Surreal Knitted Room by Olek

The fiber artist known as ‘Olek,’ who’s responsible for yarn bombing practically every surface you can think of, knitted an entire gallery space for a piece called ‘Keith Meets Arch of Hysteria,’ a tribute to artists Keith Haring, Annie Leibovitz and Louise Bourgeois.

Next Page - Click Below to Read More:
Knit Wit 17 Fantastically Weird Fiber Art Creations

For any knitter who has ever looked at an ugly sweater and thought wistfully of all of the projects they could complete with that wasted yarn, the Un-Knitting Machine is a gift from the crafting gods. It was developed by Kingston University design student Imogen Hedges and is meant to salvage miles and miles of perfectly usable yarn.

According to the designer, her inspiration for the project was twofold. As a child, her grandmother knitted sweaters for her; when she had outgrown them, her mother simply threw them away because she didn’t believe anyone would want a secondhand hand-made sweater. More recently, Imogen discovered that many charity shops spend hours and hours unraveling old sweaters to reclaim the yarn. With this revelation, the designer conceived of a machine to make the process of recycling yarn far simpler.

The rather minimal machine utilizes an old bicycle frame to spin old yarn out of its previous incarnation and into a re-sellable, reusable heap of material. The user sits on a chair and pedals, spinning the bike wheel and causing the yarn to spool on the side of said wheel. As the yarn is pulled from the old project, it passes through the steam of a kettle which helps to straighten out the kinks and get it ready for a brand new life as something else entirely.

Alas poor mixtape, we knew you well… and you’re not forgotten! As a now-obsolete personal storehouse of the soundtracks of our lives, the ubiquitous custom recorded cassette tape has given it up to smartphones, iPods and MP3 players but it lives on in our hearts and minds: and in these 10 mixtape tributes.

Reclaimed Wood Mixtape Coffee Table

(images via: Freshome)

Cosmo Kramer gave us a coffee Table book that looks like a coffee table; now designer Jeff Skierka brings us one that looks like a mixtape… a vastly oversized one at that. What is that, like a C9000? But I digress: Skierka’s cassette coffee table is covered by clear lucite and rests upon a trio of lucite supports. You can even flip it from the A side to the B side, which seems a little self-indulgent. Next up, Skierka tackles the much-maligned 8-track tape cassette

Exorcising the “Ghost in the Machine”

(images via: Papky)

Erika Iris Simmons “Ghost in the Machine” series of artworks displays the spirit of the artists whose music was crystallized on countless mixtapes. Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” would be an appropriate choice, maybe it’s on Simmons’ list.

(image via: Iri5.com)

Simmons takes what for most of us was a disaster – a favorite tape spilling its guts – and turns it into a visually exciting invocation of musical expression. From Dylan to The Clash and more, Simmons’ metallicized ribbons turn one form of entertainment into another, very unexpected one.

Mixtape Cassette Tape Night Light Lamp

(images via: BreakTheRecord)

Where do old mixtapes go to die? BreakTheRecord, of course, but instead of going towards the light they actually become one. Each Mixtape Cassette Tape Night Light Lamp employs 8 upcycled audio cassette tapes, one CD and 20 soft white, cool-running LED lights. AS Jim Morrison once said, “When the music’s over, turn out the lights.”

Cassette Tape Tote Bag

(images via: ThisNext and Lushlee)

How many cassette tapes could a Cassette Tape Tote Bag tote if a Cassette Tape Tote Bag could tote cassette tapes? Get one and find out! The full-color printed tote may look retro but in today’s anti-plastic-bag environment it’s quite timely indeed. Bonus: the carrying straps look like unspooled tape ribbons.

Cassette Tape Business Card

(images via: Crate Kings)

Show potential business associates you’re a forward-thinking man/woman by whipping out Koji Sueyoshi’s cassette-shaped business cards in their accompanying cassette-styled case. Wait a sec, make that “innovative” and not “forward-thinking”, not that you’re “backward-thinking” or anything… ah, too late, they’re gone.

Mixtape Artist Notebook

(images via: BlackbirdandPeacock)

Back in the day, kids walked around with Moleskine Mixtape Artist Notebooks covered in real moleskine from real moles we caught with just a stick & a stone. Hah! Now, they’re lining up to put their money down on Hope von Stengel’s neat notebooks made without harming a single hair of a single mole. What’s up with kids these days?

Urban DJ’s Mixtape Portable DJ Mixer

(images via: Crate Kings and 2dayBlog)

Evoke the glory days of analog mixtape making on the fly with Urban DJ’s Mixtape Portable DJ Mixer! The gold-toned, cassette-styled mixer body features paired 3.5mm inputs, a single 3.5mm headphone socket and a mixer-style cross-fading control. Plug it in, turn it on, and go maximum mobile mixmaster blending tracks from two different portable music players.

(image via: Firebox.com)

All this on the power of just two AA batteries? Believe it, back-pocket mixer wannabes, and at just $30 apiece mixing up a storm on the road was never cheaper or easier.

Mixtape Bento Box

(image via: FrenchBento)

How many times did your car stereo eat a favorite mixtape? Well revenge is sweet, my friends… also spicy, salty and slightly bitter depending on Mom’s cooking skills. Of her artistic abilities there are no questions: the Mixtape Bento Box is just desserts or at least it calls for them.

USB Mixtape

(images via: ThinkGeek and Toxiferous)

Now here’s a practical demonstration of modern technology taking a leaf from yesterday’s tech trends: the USB Mixtape! Unlike other flash drives designed to look like cassette tapes, the USB Mixtape combines a relatively standard thumb drive with a modified cassette-styled case.

(image via: PressiePort.ie)

The USb Mixtape offers one other throwback delight to users – the case contains paper sleeves so you can list the music you’ve downloaded onto the USB drive. How mixtape-y of them! Now if only today’s tech-savvy generation knew what pens and paper are for. Doh!

Mixtape T-shirt & Jacket

(images via: Freshnessmag)

Japan’s APPLEBUM gives new meaning to the term “Tape Sleeve” with their mixtape-print hooded sweatshirts and t-shirts. Full-color images of a typical taper’s shelf are reproduced on fabric with just the right level of grunginess. Owning one (or both) of these will send any mixtape junkie into nirvana.

(image via: Lovely Living)

Is it so strange that an item of recording hardware made obsolete years ago remains culturally vibrant and instantly identifiable? Not at all, because the mixtape was more than the sum of its parts: it carried the music we loved, chosen by us and only us. It also carried a bit of our personalities inside its plastic case on magnetized particles fixed to loops of shining tape. Primitive? Maybe, from today’s POV. Evocative? Definitely… and only time will tell if its modern replacements have the same cultural staying power.