Coming up July 31st: Teddy Bear's Picnic

As London and the world goes Olympic crazy we're creating our own indoor craft oasis; away from the crowds. An alfesco themed craft event where you can stitch jam jar lids that could help save the world, and take home your own hand-made, needle felted teddy bear. 

Meet the Craftivists
You may have heard about the Craftivists, or seen one of their works in situ...or perhaps they're new on your radar? One thing's for sure, as soon as you meet their amazing founder Sarah Corbett you will feel inspired to join them on their mission to raise awareness through craft: as their saying going:a spoonful of CRAFT helps the ACTIVISM go down.
Read about some of the important campaigns they've been involved in here.

We are absolutely delighted that Craftivists will be joining us to lead a very special session. Sarah will be talking about their work and you'll then have an opportunity to take part in their Craftivist Jam Project which is part of OXFAM's GROW Campaign  AND taste test a very special tomato jam recipe.
This really will be a very unique event so don't miss it!

Give Bear a Home

Needle felting is one of those 'wow' 'miracle' crafts where it's hard to believe you have actually created a masterpiece using a needle and ball of fluff...without any sewing whatsoever.
Our session is led by the incredibly talented felt artist Susanna Wallis who has written several books on felting and needle felting - she really knows her stuff. Susanna will be showing you how to make your own mini teddy bear (like the cutie above) or other cuddly toy of your choice or a felted tea cup like this fine specimen:

Maker's Market
We're delighted to be joined by two wonderful maker/designers who will be selling their work and running drop-in workshops.

Elizabeth Oniri is a quilter who makes stunning textile art using a patchwork of unique fabrics. She will be selling her unique handmade teacloths and leading a session on stitching your own postcard.

We're also really lucky to have the wonderful jewellery designer Emma Slater who makes one-off, antiquey and quirky pieces including earrings, pendants and necklaces. Emma is only in London for the summer so come and meet her and buy her work while you can! 
She will also be running a jewellery making workshop.

Stars of last month's Stitched Not Stirred James Bond Craft night, the amazing Use It Up Wear It Out will be selling their spectacular hand crafted collection of Surreal Sunglasses. Don't miss the opportunity to own a pair!

 Collage Crazy
As usual our collage corner will be brimming with scissors, glue and collage materials galore - it's where you can let loose and make whatever you like. Card for a friend? Picture for your wall? Or even some paper art? Warning: it may give you flash backs to nursery school and everything you loved about it!

Listen Up!
We are also delighted to invite back our fabulous DJ trio Dan, Alice & Isabel who'll be providing the soundtrack to the night.

Momtaz with Barney who met Wenlock during the Torch Relay

Teddy Bear's Picnic
Finally some public places aren't pet friendly but our craft nights are Ted friendly so bring your cuddly friends along and have a go at stitching some new clothes for them. 
Stacks of fabric, needle & threads supplied. 

If you're worried about getting to Hackney during the Olympics please don't, we reckon it won't be anywhere near as bad as they claim so don't let that put you off coming! 

As usual the event is free, it kicks off at 7.30 but you can pop in whenever you want. 

The Craftivists  talk kicks off at 8.30 so try and arrive by then!

Hope to see you there!  

TEDDY BEAR PICNIC IMAGE FROM WWW.G-WIZZ.GROUP.ORG.UK

June Highlights: James Bond Craft Night Stitched Not Stirred

Bond fever is currently spreading through the UK as excitement builds around new movie Skyfall and the opening of the Barbican's new exhibition which celebrates 50 years of the great British spy. But because The Make Escape is the coolest night out in London, we got in their early and hosted the first ever James Bond Craft night. (It's fair to say Google does not suggest there have been any others!) And what a night it was...

We had Bond Girls.....

Crafty ones in the form of Karen & Jo from Use It Up Wear It Out who ran a  stylish Surreal Sunglasses workshop where participants were given their own pair of sunnies to customise.

Here are some they made earlier.

Check out their Tumblr for pictures of the shades make on the night.

More Bond girls in the form of  Amy and Chloe from The Merry Bobbins who ran a session in making the ultimate Bond accessory...

A bow-tie. 

Find out more about their fab workshop in this great blog post by Rebecca from Forget Me Not Crafts who is already wearing her bow tie with pride.

We also had diamond, bejewelled cookies made by the wonderful Amy Angelbabe.

An action-packed soundtrack thanks to Djs Isabel (The Fireworks) and Alice (Cosines).

And Bondtastic visuals to rival any Bond movie opening sequence.

There was no casino, but there were prizes! Tickets to see Skyfall at the Hackney Picturehouse when it's released in October which was awarded to these lovely ladies who designed the most extravagant cocktails in our college corner, run by fashion illustrator  Danielle Meder from Final Fashion who drew the beautiful glass templates.

All the materials to make projects were provided - like these gorgeous boxes of bling! 

In our Maker's Market we had three wonderfully talented craftswomen selling their crafts. First up, jewellery designer Emma Slater.

Quilter Elizabeth Oniri

And felt loveliness from Susanne Wallis.

Oh...AND we had an appearance by the man his self - 007, disguised under the mask of what people could be fooled into thinking was Al from the Hackney Attic.

Thank you to everyone who came to our James Bond Craft Night

Our next event takes place on Tuesday 31st July (from 7.30pm) As ever it's free, you just turn up, grab a drink and make stuff - the perfect night out!

As it's summer (kind of!) we're hosting a Teddy Bear's picnic - so bring your teds and soft toys. We'll be running some alfresco themed crafts projects and will be joined by The Craftivists who will talk about their latest crafty campaign and author Susanne Wallis who will be running a needled felted teddy workshop.

More about the night to follow on this very blog,  in the meantime, get it in your diaries!