The Make Lounge

Made at The Make Lounge: Metal Snap Frame Purses

We love seeing what students make with skills they've learned at The Make Lounge. Take these lovely bags Laura created after taking our Metal Snap Frame Purse workshop.

Head over to her blog, Well I'll Be Darned, to see more. Laura is also one half of the talented duo known as Lazy Soozan, so go have a look at their site as well! (P.S. The other half, her friend Lucy, made some purses too!)

Rose Bloom Fascinator - Festive Hen Hats!

We smile when we hear the refrain of the hens each weekend as they enter The Make Lounge: 'I'm not creative!' 'I'm never going to make something!' they chorus. A few hours later, however, these doubters always emerge wearing something gorgeous, such as this amazing rose bloom fascinator!

A few other works-in-progress. (For some reason, this group was particular keen on veiling!) Gorgeous, every last one of them.

Although most of our Festive Fascinators are created during group events such as our weekend hen parties, we also run public workshops.

We have two Festive Fascinator workshops coming up: Sunday, October 11 and Sunday, November 11. For details of each class, click here.

'Fancy Pants' - Knickers Customising Hen Party

We love hen parties - so much so that we run at least two every weekend at The Make Lounge! Here's a look at one of our newest hen offerings, the 'Fancy Pants' Knickers Customising Party.

Each guest brings a pair of knickers (either for the hen or to keep for herself) and we teach the group how to transform them into glamorous, gorgeous pants!

In addition to expert instruction, we provide heaps of sparkly Swarovski crystals (plus applicator wands), ribbons, fabric, iron-on treasures, plus applique motifs (geared toward the hen’s personal interests and hobbies, if desired) and more.

At the end of the workshop, we wrap everything up in our famous red tissue and a box for you to take away.

To see more 'Fancy Pants' photos, visit our Flickr set. And to find out more about hen parties and other bespoke events at The Make Lounge, please visit our parties page.

Banish the Fear! - Overlocker Workshops

Crafters are often a bit apprehensive about using an overlocker machine (aka serger if you're visiting from the USA). With four spools of thread and some fierce looking cutting blades, it's easy to understand those feelings. 

With a bit of practice, however, the overlocker can (and should!) become your best friend. (Do these students from last night's workshop look scared? Nah!)

An overlocker is an incredibly useful machine as it cuts and stitches in one step. You can use it for sewing seams on jersey, neatening edges on denim, and even making decorative rolled hems like the ones on these lovely napkins we created in class!

If you'd like to learn how to use these brilliant machines, we're running additional Overlocking 101 workshops at The Make Lounge. Click here for all the info.

Needle Felting - The WOW Factor

We recently spent some time perusing the Flickr craft pool (as you do), and found this incredible polar bear:

He’s made using needle felting, a process where barbed felting needles are repeatedly pushed into lengths of carded wool to condense the wool into specific shapes. Here’s another stunning example from Flickr:

We so want to learn how to do that! So we are excited to have an upcoming needle felting workshop on the books. When you come to the workshop, you’ll learn how to make this little guy:

Isn’t he amazing?

Sugar Sweet - Learn to Decorate Cupcakes

It’s spring in London, and is there a more wonderful place to be when the sun is shining? The new crop of workshops is up on The Make Lounge website, and in keeping with the sunny weather, we have fun, bright projects to try. The cupcake decorating workshop is selling out fast, and that’s just the beginning. Click here for a complete listing of upcoming workshops.

Bon appetit!

Crafty Kids Holiday Club at The Make Lounge

We've gone a bit quiet this wek, but it definitely hasn't been quiet at The Make Lounge! Quite the contrary, as we've had 14 kids on hand for our Crafty Kids Holiday Fun Club. We've been making monsters (above)... 

... batik T-shirts (using easy-to-wash-out soya wax)...

...in a variety of lovely designs...

...including this one from football mad Emma.

We've craved colour...

...decorated photo frames...

...and made plenty of other projects, from snow globes to gorgeous marbled paper, which we used to create Japanese stitched journals.

What a week!

Plastic is fantastic

I've always admired the striking, geometric necklaces that feature bold Perspex shapes in their designs, but have always been floored by how much they cost.

The reality is that the individual elements are not terribly pricey (though shops do require a fairly large minimum order when laser-cutting the shapes).

In fact, armed with the proper tools, a bit of creative know-how and some practice, you can easily create something to rival what you'd find in the designer boutiques, at a fraction of the price.

Taught by jewellery designer Merle O'Grady, students in last Saturday's Geometric Necklace class fashioned chunky, oversized necklaces using oversized wooden beads, grosgrain ribbon, bold laser-cut shapes, vintage chains and jewellery findings. 

Here's proof.

 

Chain maille jewellery

Wednesday was our first Chain Maille jewellery workshop. (Our next one takes place Tuesday, 17 March). I was downstairs teaching, so didn't get to sit in on the class (not fair!), but I did get to see some of the amazing creations toward the end of the workshop.  

I'll admit, I didn't know much about this ancient technique before I met our instructor, the lovely Jean Power. And I was a bit skeptical about how someone might make an gorgeous necklace (and possibly finish a bracelet, too) in just three hours. (Note: photographs just don't do the jewellery justice.) 

And the rings! So many rings! 

Yes, the process involves fitting together dozens and dozens of jump rings, plus coloured beads (in a wide variety of colours) in specified patterns, over and over again. This pattern is known as Byzantine chain. The work is repetitive, but also quite meditative and stress-relieving!

Students learned the same technique that was traditionally used for making armor to wear in battles. Jenny, pictured here, knew someone who worked in the costuming department on the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. She said that apparently the team worked so hard and long on creating the armor for the films, using tiny metal rings, that some of the crew literally rubbed away their fingerprints!

(Thankfully, each of our students left the workshop with fingerprints intact.)

Creative creature-making with Julie Arkell

Over the weekend, The Make Lounge hosted a creature-making workshop in conjunction with Loop featuring the lovely and talented Julie Arkell. (Yes, she really is that adorable in person!) 

If you aren't familiar with her work, Julie is London-based contemporary folk artist who works in papier-mâché and mixed media. She runs workshops only occasionally and when she does, participants are in for a real treat!  

The creatures, hand made by Julie, arrive looking very bare and slightly embarrassed. . .  

Then throughout the day-long workshop, their new owners lovingly fashion hats, dresses, tops and tiny aprons from wool, scraps of vintage fabric, buttons, tiny pins, charms and other ephemera.

 

Aren't they amazing?

Fabric manipulation workshop

A few of the cushions created at the Fabric Manipulation Workshop last week at The Make Lounge.


I wasn't quite sure how the techniques, which create quite sculptural effects, would play out on the printed fabrics, but I really do love the results.

Sew pretty!

Delicious new fabrics - these are home decor-weight cotton sateen Amy Butler prints, to be used in our upcoming Cushion Cover workshops. If you've never used a sewing machine before, but would like to learn (and take home a completed cover, plus cushion pad and fabric corsage!) stop by The Make Lounge.

Back to school at The Make Lounge

It's hard to believe that summer is just about over - where did it go? Or (more appropriately), why didn't it ever arrive?

Anyhow, we've got a few spots left on some of next week's workshops so book yourself a nice little bit of me-time and learn something new!

Survival sewing, Tues. 2 Sept: If you're tired of paying a tailor for simple alterations and repairs, this two-hour class is for you. Bring a garment to fix or adjust and we'll teach you how.

Recycled plastic bags tote, Wed. 3 Sept: Create a stylish, water-resistant tote bag or wallet using plastic shopping bags you probably have languishing in your kitchen cupboards. We'll also give you instructions for making a larger bag at home.

Autumn workshops now online

We've been away for a bit, but only because we've been working hard to get our full range of Autumn workshops prepped for you. The good news is that they're now online, so please take a look!

The calendar features everyting from super-cute knickers (above), A-line skirts, tops and dresses, to bath and body products, cocktail rings, leather cinch belts, soya candles and much more!

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.

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).

Relax...it's sewing! :)

We're finally getting around to posting a few pics from our Relaxed Dressing Gown workshop which took place last weekend.

Other sewing-related news...we're excited to announce that we've signed a deal with Simplicity to provide commercial patterns for our clothing workshops this Autumn. So students will each get a pattern, in their size, to learn on during classes, make a great piece of clothing (with help from one of our lovely instructors), then keep the pattern! We're choosing patterns now - will likely start with skirts, tops, and dresses.

We may even offer a French knickers workshop...are any of you interested in learning how to make your own lingerie?

Hats vs. horses!

[Hens at The Make Lounge]

As if you didn't already know, it's Ladies' Day at Ascot - and with it comes lots of crazy, er, amazing hats. :) Check out some of these!

We especially liked the pic of the girls in fascinators as it reminded it of a recent hen party at The Make Lounge (pic above). Thirteen hens and their hats!

If you'd like to learn to make your own fascinator hat, The Make Lounge is running a workshop on Saturday, 9 August from 10:30 am to 2 pm. Book online here; places are filling up fast!

Reuse, remake, rejoice!

Even if you reuse your plastic shopping bags, chances are you still have far too many of them lingering in your kitchen cupboards or under your sink. So what to do with them? On Sunday, July 6 at 1 p.m., The Make Lounge will demonstrate how to transform them into stylish, water-resistant tote bags or wallets at The Good Food Festival in Islington Green. The Festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to dusk and showcases delicious, sustainable food from Unpackaged, Food Lab and many more.

We'll distribute free tutorials at the Festival (and we'll post it here as a PDF) so you can make a tote bag or wallet at home. Or we'll help you make one at The Make Lounge on Saturday, July 19 at 10:30 a.m. Details here. (UPDATE: That class is sold out but check our web site for other dates). Just bring your bags (the thicker ones work best) and we'll help you iron and fuse them, then stitch them up. Sorted!

Crafty Kids summer holiday club

Plenty going on here at The Make Lounge - am feeling so busy that my head is spinning! Ever since we opened for business our customers have been asking when we'd start craft workshops for kids and, well, here they are - just in time for the summer holidays. So if you or a friend has a boy or girl aged 7 to 12, please spread the word! The Crafty Kids Club runs three mornings a week from 29th July and features wonderfully creative projects, lovely instructors, high-quality materials and even daily organic fruit snacks to keep the little ones happy and healthy. See here for more details and to book online.

We're also super-excited about the after-school kids' courses starting at The Make Lounge in September 2008. First up, knitting! More details about to be announced in coming weeks...