Local artisan’s hat to appear on TV show

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The virtual doors of local artisan Dori Fitzpatrick’s Etsy shop, Hunky Dori Boutique, have only been open for a little over a year, but in no time she’s made a name for herself on the online marketplace, having sold more than 700 handmade creations.

Now one of her items will make an appearance on the popular CW television show “The Vampire Diaries.”

Leigh Leverett, stylist for the show — a teen drama about a town full of supernatural beings — contacted Fitzpatrick recently to let her know that charcoal heather grey crocheted-brim hat will be worn by the show’s heroine and main character, Elena Gilbert ( played by Nina Dobrev), in an upcoming 2013 episode.

The hat retails for $34 on Fitzpatrick’s Etsy shop.

Fitzpatrick is a member of the Artisan’s Group, an exclusive community of artisans who handcraft their products and gift them to celebrities and members of the press at events like the Oscars and Golden Globes. Members of the group were asked to send their products for consideration for the show. Fitzpatrick’s hat, along with 13 other items, were chosen out of 80 submissions.

This isn’t the first time Fitzpatrick’s designs have made it into big- name hands.

Her shop’s web banner says she “creates handmade accessories for your little one’s big sense of style.” Her specialty hats were included in “swag bags” gifted to celebrities at events like award shows and have already graced the tiny heads of Bryn Hoppy, daughter of Bravo reality TV star Bethenny Frankel, and Eloise Joni, youngest daughter of Denise Richards, as well as soap star Alison Sweeney.

The Artisan’s Group also paved the way for a pair of Fitzpatrick’s fingerless gloves to appear on the HBO show “True Blood.” While Fitzpatrick isn’t an avid watcher of “The Vampire Diaries” — she said “it’s a little out of her age range as a mother of two, and it’s on at a hectic time, (bedtime)” — she will most definitely be watching to see her hat’s small-screen debut.

It will appear in episode 13 of season four, sometime in early 2013, but an exact date has not yet been set.

Fitzpatrick attended The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and created her Etsy shop in July 2011 when she couldn’t find the baby blanket of her dreams for her baby- to- be. She returned to her creative roots, cred- iting “all those hours in the knitting and weaving lab” at FIT, as well as her grandmother’s crocheting lessons, to her boutique’s success.

The busy mom and Etsyextraordinaire says owning her shop is “one of the most rewarding and hardest things she’s ever done.”

To find more of Fitzpatrick’s handmade items, go to her Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/HunkyDoriBoutique.