Highlights: Easter Extravaganza Craft Night

Our Easter Craft Night was cracking!

So many newbies came along including these two lovely local ladies who read about us in the local paper. They had NEVER knitted before but both took home finished egg cosies.

This pair had never knitted either.
Here they are in the early stages...

 Check out what they had turned into by the end of the night:

They made the hair pieces too, but more on that later!

Our resident Knitting Guru Madelaine was the woman on hand who showed them and others how to turn a ball of yellow yarn into something cute! She's here every month with her team so fear not if you missed out, she's always happy to show you how to get your knit on.

Crochet queen (in fact all round textile super woman) Catherine Hirst led a special session on crochet.

She brought along some patterns from her books including pretty Spring flowers.

 

A proud new crocheter with her first ever chain.

Our Becky attempting her own crochet fleurs.

In the Maker's Market we were joined by Larissa who runs the Etsy London Meet-Up Group.

She dyes and makes her own yarns in gorgeous colours.

You can't celebrate Easter without a bonnet so we asked our favourite Milliner Katty Janneh to run an Easter accessories workshop.

Chick fascinators were the order of the evening....

Momtaz and Sheree modelling their new hair pieces.

You can see Sheree's creations properly here. Cheep cheep!

Nasreen also had a good hair day, She left with these beauties:

More amazing makes alert alert! These girls made Faberge Eggs & fascinators?

Did we just say Faberge Eggs? Oh yes!

Rich people eat your heart out, we made ours from polysterene eggs, PVA glue, toothpicks, glitter, sequins and gemstones.

 In Collage Corner you could even make a basket to take your eggs home in.

Or make Easter Cards.

And no....boys were not forgotten! There's always something the lads will love at our Craft Night. As well as showing the girls how to make Easter Fascinators, Katty helped the boys make bow-ties.

Between them Aiyaz & Delwar made enough to have a market stall

As ever we also had crafters chilling out & doing their own thing. We totes fell in love with these AMAZING Bat themed gloves by Max. 

And good news about our DJs The Spinning Yarns...

They now have their own business cards which incidentally are the coolest cards ever.

There's no excuse not to book them for your next party now they are all official.

Missed our Easter Craft Night?

Don't worry, there's more making & taking next month.

We'll be back at the Hackney Attic on Tuesday April 30th for our Treasure Island Jewellery Making Special.

Hope to see you then xx

Coming up: March 26th - Easter Craft Night

Ok. So Spring isn't properly in the air, what with 1/2 the country being covered in snow during the last week and us Londoners battling wet, grey conditions...but it's in the shops - (at the least the ones that sell chocolate.)

Easter is not just about the sweet stuff - it's also about making, and because our next craft night lands during Easter week, we are laying on an Easter Craft Extravaganza!

Chicks and cute things

Our resident knitting crew will be showing you how to knit Easter essentials like egg cosies and oh so sweet animals. You don't need to have knitted before. They will show you how!

Happy Hooking

We're also delighted to be joined by crochet queen Catherine Hirst who will be showing you how to crochet some spring themed loveliness. Catherine is an expert in all things knitting, crochet and embroidery; she's even written books on the subject.

Seasonal styling

Milliner and hatmaker extraordinaire Katty Janneh is running a hair accessory workshop....think Easter Bonnet without the tackiness. Katty will be updating the classic Easter headwear essential into something that's far more desirable. 

Katty specialises in bespoke headwear, her fabulous fascinators are stocked in Selfridges and she runs workshops throughout London including at The Make Lounge.

How do you like your eggs in the morning?

We like ours with bling! Taking inspiration from one of our fave James Bond movies, Octopussy come along and make your own Faberge Egg....without the extortionate price tag. Led by Sheree Robinson who has previously wowed us with her wonderful winter wollies, this eggstremely fun workshop will prove that you don't gold and marble to create a masterpiece - polysterene works just as well.

Makers Market
Also look out for some beautiful handmade crafts being sold this month by members of the London Etsy Sellers Meet-Up Group. Our Makers Market is an opportunity for designer/makers to showcase their work and sell their handmade creations - so make sure you bring some cash along to support them. 



And remember handmade gifts last much longer than chocolate eggs so this could answer your present giving dilemmas. Larissa from the group aka Travel Knitter will also be selling some rather lovely yarn (pictured above) so you can stock up your supplies!

A spring soundtrack will be provided by our resident DJs The Spinning Yarns and our ever popular Collage Corner will be filled with Easter themed activities like cutting and sticking lambs and bunnies, you get the picture.

The event runs from 7.30pm-11pm inside the Hackney Attic, Hackney Picturehouse - entry and activities are FREE!!!!!!!!

A night out that can't possibly be missed!

Feb: Highlights from our Drop In & Draw Craft Night

When we curated last month’s Drop in & Draw we knew it would be popular but we had no idea how many of you are closet doodlers! You travelled from all over the capital and beyond to join us sketching, drawing, colouring, collaging and constructing.

We had seven craft stations – including one surprise one unveiled on the night….

Comic Crazy

First up there was some serious love for Lucky aka Farcreazy Farid’s Creating A Comic Strip session and the results were outstanding, so much talent was shared on the night, we were amazed! Each participant started with a simple scene...

 

 ....and then turned it into a gripping story..

 Making with Michail

Artist Michail Sionis led the most interesting workshop we’ve ever had….experimental drawing where supersize sketches were turned into 3D structures. 

Inspiring and rewarding one of our fave moments of the entire evening was hearing one person say are not creative and aren’t interested in doing anything, they were just there to accompany a friend, but then took part in Michail’s session and ended up with a masterpiece.

Sketch A Song

Our surprise activity took place on the stage!

Illustrator Matt Ponting set up a Live Drawing station….. 

….inspired by the top tunes being played by our DJs Spinning Yarns.

All you had to do was take a seat, grab some marker pens and ‘sketch the song’…the fun part being you wouldn’t know what was going to be played until you sat down.

As each person doodled away, their drawings were projected on a screen at the back of a stage... we’ve never had so much fun for free before! Even the most unconfident of drawers had a go and the best part was, each one of them left the stage smiling.
Here are some of the songs drawn on the night!

Keep Still 

We transformed one section of The Hackney Attic into a proper art class with a teacher and everything! Harriet runs Harries Drawing Club and for our Drop in & Draw she set up a still life station complete with interesting objects to sketch…

…and a gorgeous collection of drawing implements, pastels and crayons to use.

Cut & Paste

 Elsewhere in our Collage Corner we invited artists Libby Vickers and Jmebot to lead a session on drawing with paper, creating pictures, portraits and postcards.

Makers Market

We’re always looking for crafty types to come along and sell their wares at our night and this month we were joined by crochet designer Vaselina (Meko Designs) who sold her gorgeous accessories and showed folk how to crochet. Don’t worry if you missed out.
This month we’re having a crochetfest as part of our Easter Extravaganza on March 26^th.

Naughty Knitters

 And of course a night wouldn’t be the same without our knitting circle where Madelaine and her team of knit pros will show you how to knit. 

 Several of you learnt to knit for the first time and others had refreshers or just did your own thing. 

We were also  impressed by Heather who brought along some spinning to do….we had no idea spinning could be transported so easily!

This lovely lady even brought her homework along to do....some 'technical drawing.'

What an amazing evening!

Thank you so much to everyone who came and to all the folk who helped run a workshop.

It’s such a pleasure to be running one of the most fun nights out in London yay!

Do join us for our next event: Easter Extravaganza, Tuesday March 26^th at the Hackney Attic. Drop in any time from 7.30pm.

Hope to see you there!