By Steph Auteri

Leslie Hall calls herself a “cewebrity,” due to a craft/music career launched primarily via sites such as Etsy, MySpace and YouTube. In fact, it was on her own site that the 26-year-old Iowan originally drew over two million unique hits within the space of a month, due to word-of-mouth buzz surrounding the images of an extensive gem sweater collection that she uploaded. Bandwidth was exceeded and Hall turned to hip-hop as a means of paying her mother back for the $800 bill that she received. She rallied her former classmates, and Leslie and the LY’s were born.

In a nod to the origins of the group, Leslie and the LY’s “make outfits and then sing and dance about making outfits…” with tracks such as “Gold Pants” and “Gem Sweater.” When asked how she came up with the link between crafting and hip-hop, Hall elucidates with a description of “the craftiness of the music being kind of homespun.

“You can tell she’s trying kind of hard, but she doesn’t know what she’s doing,” she says of her alternate, bedazzled performance-persona. It’s this unsophisticated quality that helps create what Hall describes as “craft music.”

Since the songwriting stylings at work on “Gem Sweater,” the group has recorded three albums in all, with the latest, Cewebrity, now available.

“The show’s a good excuse to just get down with it…to just start crafting something,” Hall says. She is often approached at her shows by those looking for gem sweater advice, and audiences usually comprise a healthy amount of the craft-besotted, decked out in jewel-toned and bedazzled tops.

Though concerts usually involve a dizzying array of costume changes, the Project Runway–style fireworks are not the only draw. Anyone who has seen the music video for “How We Go Out” on YouTube, or even the fan-produced video of “Shake Your Hips,” has most likely been drawn in by the promise of the group’s catchy party jams and lyrics such as “We take the back seats out of your mini van/Now we roll like a hummer or a full size sedan…”

Still, the wacky outfits remain in the spotlight. At her concerts, Hall will be rocking her signature gold spandex jumpsuit, as gem sweaters themselves are typically too heavy for performances. “I wanted to move swiftly, and I wanted my body to be free, without showing the nips,” she explains. It doesn’t breathe well, but “it’s so darn shiny.”

Still, an Iowa-born-and-bred twentysomething whose age is masked by bright makeup, teased hair and lots of curves—and who raps about crafts, zombies and dance movies—is the type of joke that not everyone gets. Despite the plethora of fan videos and marriage proposals floating around out there, Hall still gets her share of web naysayers. While many YouTube comments are along the lines of “hotter than a stick of hot glue,” others are distracted by her size and the ludicrous nature of her lyrics. Leslie purists out-shout the haters, though, leaving behind the echoing afterglow of their love for the daffy songstress.

New Yorkers may not know what they’re getting into when they put this particular show into their calendars. But it’ll definitely be atypical Valentine’s Day evening.

Feb. 14, Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St. (at Ave. A), 212-260-4700; 10:30, $10.