Over 100 craft fans, makers, designers, fashionistas and general curious folk, packed out The Hackney Attic for our Make Escape Double Launch party!
Not only was it our first ever event, we also hosted the launch of Rosie Martin's incredible new book DIY Couture, modelled here by some fabulousy dressed Make Escapees.
Our Collage Corner was the most popular activity. A space we'll have every month which is filled with materials to make and do whatever you fancy - paper, glue and scissors (giant ones if you prefer) provided. This month we hosted a special competition where participants were challenged to make a paper doll of themselves. The best entry won these super fabulous, specially created DIY Couture biscuits.
Loving baked and iced by The Little Bench Bakery.
There were even some DIY Couture templates with cut out clothes to colour in and put on your dolls, or you could just do your own thing.
Oooh who's this? Hurrah! It's a boy crafting!
And he wasn't the only one!
Not everyone made paper dolls; you can make whatever you feel like in the Collage Corner. Need an emergency birthday card for a friend? Come to The Make Escape and create one!
The Collage Corner also has a big pile of magazines because they are great for cutting up. If you're reading this and have any collage materials you don't need, please donate them to us - we promise to use them up!
The entries were laid out on the stage....
And Rosie had to make the difficult decision....
The worthy winner was presented with the yummy box of DIY Couture Cookies. (The only box to exist in the world!)
In our Maker's Market we had some stunning handmade crafts, sold by their designers. Emma Slater presented her elegant yet quirky vintage jewellery collection inside a beautiful antique trunk.
Felt queen Susanne Wallis (who later in the year will be running a needle felting session at The Make Escape) sold some of her stunning, colourful creations, and ran a brooch making workshop.
While Chloe from Dot Your Ts presented a stunning collection of jewellery, clothes and accessories. She also ran workshops on how to make her signature fabric pom-poms.
Seen being made here!
And here's one of the finished masterpieces.
We also had stalls from local creative businesses. Here Today Here Tomorrow is a sustainable shop and studio which shows customers how products are made by sharing skills. A strong emphasis is placed on recycling, using organic materials and natural dyes.
Siobhan from Shop Floor Whore who sells gorgeous vintage clothes in her ASOS store brought along some of her stunning handmade turbans. Momtaz is now regretting she didn't try on the fabulous Carmen Miranda floral one : (
This is probably because she was too excited to think about shopping. Especially when she took to the stage to welcome everyone to the night.
Rosie then gave an excellent speech about her new book and why clothes-making is so much easier than you may think. She also reiterated our Make Escape values that there is no right or wrong in craft.
Rosie's book is on sale now and was also available on the night at a discounted rate.
We also set up a dressing up rail backstage in the Red Room where all the clothes featured in the book were put on display. The rail was manned by the wonderful Kerrie Curzon who makes handmade underwear.
And here they are being modelled by some more Make Escapees.
Sewing is so accessible in London with a whole host of sewing schools across the capital where you can learn how to sew. Rosie created a fabulous map where all the sewing schools were plotted on. If you are aware of any that are missing, please let us know!
To give you a taste of what's possible, Barley Massey from Fabrications brought along some of her sewing machines and ran a turban headband session where throughout the evening she showed people (many of whom had not used a machine before) how to sew.
Be sure to visit the Fabrications website to watch a video about Barley, her shop and studio.
The instructions for how to make the turban came from one of the projects in Rosie's book.
This couple worked together.
And here's Barley with some happy customers, showing off their fabulous designs.
Yay! Another finished creation!
We were overwhelmed by the number of people who turned up to support our launch night including members of the London craft community like Sarah and Sarah from the Craftivist Collective (who will be leading a special workshop at the July Make Escape on July 31st), and fashion blogger/sewing heroine Tilly Vanilly (pictured on the right).
It was really nice to see that the Make Escape appealed to girls and boys. Ayaz and Zak made paper dolls of each other! A great way to subtley tell your mates what clothes you think they should wear without offending them!
Finally the most anticipated workshop of the night - the Design a Show Station run by Amanda from I Can Make Shoes.
Participants were given a template on which to design their dream shoe and fabric swatches were provided so they could get an idea of how the shoe would actually feel.
Some rather intricate designing took place.
While the colour application on this shoe was remarkable!
Entries were taped to the windows and as it darkened outside, the shoe wall grew.
Choosing the winner wasn't easy!
Thank you so much to everyone who came to The Make Escape. We still can't believe what an incredible night it was. Also HUGE thank you to Al from the Hackney Attic for looking after us and to all the wonderful DJs who provided the soundtrack to the night.
By the way....what do you think of Rosie's outfit? She made it especially for the night,
while Momtaz wore her lucky fish dress!
See you next month for our Stitched Not Stirred James Bond spectacular!
Same time. Same Place.
Tuesday June 26th, 7.30-11pm at The Hackney Attic, Hackney Picturehouse Cinema, except for one month only we will be inside the Middle Floor Gallery instead of the Attic but don't worry....it's just as fab.
Don't forget to email us at themakeescape@gmail.com if you want to get involved, run a workshop, DJ, have a stall at the Makers Market or just to say hi.
