The Make Lounge

Great British craft tour

Roseanna Wyatt and Tjobbe Andrews are on a mission.

The duo, from Byfield in Northamptonshire, are embarking on a tour of England, Scotland and Wales beginning in August to visit as many crafters, artists and makers as possible. 'We have got the use of a classic VW Camper Van for the duration, we have our laptop and our plastic cutlery and are ready to go!' says Roseanna.

We're pleased they'll be popping into The Make Lounge to say hello!

To find out more, visit their website: The Great British Craft Tour.

 

Edible architecture

[image Bompas & Parr]

Who said jelly was simply a gelatinous dessert?

Not when it is elevated to high art, as part of the ongoing Architectural Jelly Design Competition auction, created by Bompas and Parr, the dynamic duo of English jelly creation, with proceeds going to charity. Bids close 4 August. (Check out the complete lots, including the nod to Richard Rogers' Barajas Airport in Madrid). Amazing stuff!

Beautiful books

 

A few pics from our recent Japanese stab-stitch journal workshop.

Our lovely and patient instructor, Lorna Crabbe, arrived with an armful of beautiful papers, including Japanese prints and nearly translucent 'bible paper'. By the end of the class, we'd each expertly wielded scalpels, awls, and chubby glue brushes to cut, stitch and construct -- and came away with three handmade books of our own design.

If you'd like to learn this ancient art to create books to keep or give as (very impressive) gifts, Lorna is teaching again at The Make Lounge on Tuesday, 14 August from 6:30 pm to 9:30 p.m. Details and booking info here.

Nothing says summer like a fete...

Stop by the Innocent Village Fete on Saturday and Sunday August 2nd and 3rd and say hello!

We've been invited by the Innocent Drinks folks to teach paper flower-making at 2 p.m. both days in the demonstration area. We'll also have a stall featuring hand made fabric corsages, bespoke paper envelopes and more goodies! Best of all, you can register to win a free workshop at The Make Lounge. See you there - and please, bring a stash of sunshine with you. . .

Look at these!

Yes, three brand new overlockers! (Literally fresh out of the boxes.) We'll use them for our upcoming knickers workshops at The Make Lounge. Come Autumn, you can learn how to make briefs, thongs and boy shorts...dates still to be announced but we couldn't resist showing you these new toys. :) And a very special thanks to Janome for their help providing sewing machines and, now, overlockers!

Super sewers!

We had a great sewing workshop last night at The Make Lounge. Ten fantastic, fearless women learning how to use the machines and creating these great totes with floral corsages before they went home!

Most of our guests were telling me how much they want to learn how to sew clothes. Their ears must have been burning (so to speak) as we're about to launch clothing workshops featuring Simplicity patterns! Starting this Autumn, you'll learn how to measure yourself and work with a commercial pattern (yours to keep) to create your own skirts, tops and dresses. We're really excited and hope you will be, too.

In the meantime, book on to one of our Intro to Sewing Machine classes (make totes or clever aprons) to get the prerequisite skills you'll need. Happy stitching!

P.S. If you'd like to hear about upcoming workshops at The Make Lounge, please sign up for our monthly e-newsletter (you can do that on our main web site).

Enterprise Nation

The Make Lounge was featured on Enterprise Nation today! Read the 'Crafty Entrepreneurs' story here, and be sure to check out the rest of the site, as it's a wonderful free resource for individuals looking to start their own businesses.

To see what else the press is saying about us, click here.