Kids Couture
Little girls no longer have to play dress-up to be more like their mommies. Project Runway Season 8 contestant Valerie Mayen's new line for girls, MiniCake, takes cues from her popular, trendy adult collection, Yellowcake. "[The line] is not so obvious for kids," says Mayen. "A lot of it is stuff that women would wear too, in their size." MiniCake, launched in April for girls ages 3 to 10, includes staples such as coats, skirts and dresses. But don't count on any cutesy prints or matchy pieces. These classics also have an edge, with bold colors and graphic prints. We love the black, white and red party dress ($56) so much we might start raiding our daughter's closet. 6500 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, 216-236-4073, yellowcakeshop.com
Vintage Cameras
While everyone seems to be going digital, Tremont-based Aperture Photography & Variety Store is focused on staying old school. Here you can buy film for your 35 mm Polaroid camera and rent a darkroom by the hour. It's also a mecca for old, vintage, antique cameras — 62 at owner Scott Meivogel's last count. Everything's been vetted, and everything's for sale. "There is absolutely nothing like holding a camera from the '50s or '60s," says Meivogel: "They're better built, they're heavier, the noises that it makes when the shutter clicks." At 35, Meivogel doesn't know everything about every old camera. But every day he learns more, as people have realized his store is the place to take the attic finds and the stuff in boxes from grandparents. Before he sells a camera, he cleans it, loads it with film and goes out for the fun part of his job — taking real pictures. "All you have to do," he says, "is read about it, try it and learn from your mistakes." 2541 Scranton Road, Cleveland, 216-574-8977, aperturetremont.com
Baby Bowties
On the cuteness scale, it's hard to compete with a baby boy dressed up like a little man. Simple Hands Studios founder Alicia Zeigler Costello realizes the way grown-up clothes — shrunk down to a smaller size — can tug on our heartstrings. While pregnant with her son, she saw a picture of a baby in a bowtie. "I was like, 'Oh my god, it's so cute!' " she remembers. "I bet I can make that." The former headband maker found a new calling and a destiny for the quarter-yards of "masculine, but still interesting" fabrics she'd been collecting for months. Her clip-on bowties ($12) use a simple design paired with beautiful, unexpected fabrics, such as a red-on-red modernist line-and-dot pattern, or a purple, blue, black and white geometric design. "[They're] a nice way," she says, "to add that little splash of interesting design to a basic outfit." etsy.com/shop/simplehandsstudio
Vintage Gowns
Brides-to-be will scour the Internet and drive all over town in search of that perfect, one-of-a-kind wedding dress. But one place they probably don't think to look is their grandmother's closet. Luckily, Miranda Park has essentially done that for them. She visits antique stores, vintage shops and eBay looking for unique gowns dating as far back as the 1920s. Then she modernizes them and sells them at her Tremont boutique, Miranda's Vintage Bridal & Alterations. One of Park's favorite finds was a 1940s-era dress ($3,150) made of soft lace with tulle ruffles and lace appliqués. But some of the lace wouldn't hold up. "It was shattered," she says, "so I took the top off and replaced it with a new, silk organza strapless top. Then I made a flower out of the lace from the [original] top to put on the bodice with ribbon." 2671 W. 14th St., Cleveland, 216-298-9070, mirandasvintagebridal.com
Bike Rehab
travis Peebles and James Rychak revel in the joy of the old stuff. The co-owners of Blazing Saddle Cycle are surrounded by it. Dozens of bikes from the 1960, '70s and '80s line the wooden shop floor, hang from the rafters and crowd every corner of the former Detroit Road hardware-store-turned-bike-shop in Gordon Square. Even the display cases, pegboard and trophy 42-inch northern pike (caught in June 1975) remain. "The room kind of fits us," says Peebles. That's because Blazing Saddle specializes in custom restorations of vintage bikes. Made of steel and quality components, they're perfect for commuters because of their versatility and comfort. "Those bikes were built to last and the stuff today is not," says Rychak. And with cycling's resurgence, that's a good thing. "It's become fashionable to be on a bike again." 7427 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, 216-218-1811, BSaddle
Fabric Store
When is cotton not cotton? When it feels like silk and sells for $33 a yard. The fabrics at Little Italy's Bolt & Spool are not the cheapest on the market, but dollar for dollar, owner Nan Webb's handpicked cloths are some of the most luxurious, beautiful things we've ever laid eyes on. Webb's store is a fraction of the size of a typical fabric shop, which means she's got to be choosy. She buys fabric during trips abroad: purple silk shantung and block prints from India, linens from Egypt and decadent bolts of cotton designed by high-end fabric companies such as Liberty London. "The quality is amazing," she says. "If you've got good fabric, the whole sewing process becomes much easier." The shop is a tribute to beauty, from the spools of intricately embroidered ribbons to the wicker baskets and Japanese pattern books. "You can't really read them," she says with a laugh, "but they're just so inspirational!" 2026 Murray Hill Road, Cleveland, 216-229-2220, boltandspool.com
Personalized Wedding Gift
the two-color Cleveland skyline, like much of Brooke Witt's art, is deceptively simple, yet incredibly clever. The linear, Etch-a-Sketch-style graphic features the Detroit-Superior Bridge and the city's iconic skyscrapers. It paints our beloved Rust Belt city in quick strokes, anchored with an incongruous red heart and rounded typography — which is when you realize this piece of art is really a love note. A popular wedding gift ($27), the heart connects the names of the newlyweds with the date and location written below. "I've been giving gifts like this to my family and friends my whole life," Witt explains. "Not much personal information is needed to make it personalized." Within a month of launching her Near & Dear collection on Etsy, she was able to quit her day job. Which is good, because it gives her more time to add her personal touch, including hand-delivering a piece to one of her Cleveland Heights neighbors. "A couple houses down from me, I just walked a piece right down," she says. "They had no idea that I was even on the same street. It was very funny. I like to surprise people that way." etsy.com/shop/betweeneverything