Cheap Thrills

This week's featured crafter has been making stuff since she was a child. A recent holiday gift spurred her interest in designing her own t-shirts. Let's meet Kimm!

Name: Kimm Alfonso, 33
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Graphic designer
Craft: Silk screening
Web site: kimmchi.etsy.com

How did you get into your craft?

My mother taught me how to crochet, embroider and sew as a child and as I grew up my crafting progressed to decoupage and even making paper if it meant pulling sheets in my bathtub! I always enjoyed the tactile component of crafting, so when my sister and her husband designed and made hand-screened t-shirts for our family as gifts, I took this as a new challenge. The first small run of shirts I did on their kitchen table and everything just sort of went from there.

What's your best craft tip?

Always spring for the best sewing machine with most decorative stitches! (Also my biggest craft regret)

Where do you find inspiration?

I am the sort of person who has to carry around a little notebook around everywhere to sketch out ideas as they come to me. I like to take the forms, shapes and patterns I observe around me and let them inspire me, and then translate them in a new way. My current collection of t-shirts are stylistically expressed by Art Deco forms with their concentration on decorative elements in a clean modern way, but the actual moment of inspiration may have come from observing circles of water splash up from a puddle!

What craft would you like to try next?

I just got Jenny Hart's, "Sublime Stitching" for my birthday, so I really want to try my hand at embroidery again, which I haven't touched since I was a kid. But as far as something I've never tried before, I would really love to try felting, but I haven't mustered up the courage.

Where do you get your supplies?

I use these great feminine cut t-shirts from American Apparel. They are American made and sweatshop free! I really love their fine cotton jersey because it holds the ink really well. The screens and other supplies I get from a local silk screen shop down on Varick Street in Manhattan.

What's your biggest challenge?

Having the space to do everything that my little heart desires!! It's always hard in a New York apartment to find the space to work on projects and I am constantly challenged by my own clutter.

Any advice for beginners?

Try everything! If the first time you try out a new craft you suck, be patient and try again. Also, a good crafting buddy helps.

Why do you love designing t-shirts?

I love designing designing t-shirts because it is a very tangible way to see your artwork displayed and used. Even more so than a traditional let's say textile design, a t-shirt is something that can appeal to a very broad range of people in a very usable way.

For more information on Kimm's designs, please visit her Web sites: kimmchi.etsy.com and www.kimmchi.com.

Want to show off your creative side? Send me an e-mail with pictures showing off your favorite craft and you might be chosen as our next DIYer of the Week!