Highlights: Spooktacular Halloween Craft Night

Natasha, Mia, Tone & Momtaz

Last month saw a packed Hackney Attic of costume clad creatives, ready for a night of creepy crafting at our free Halloween craft night. 

There was a record number of newbie crocheters who got hooked on hooking, oodles of sparkly glitter for accessory making and we turned coffee jars into clever lanterns. As ever we were joined by The Spinning Yarns DJs behind the decks who treated Make Escapers to eerie sounds and terrifying tunes throughout the night.

The Spinning Yarns DJs aka Isabel, Dan and Alice

If you attended the shenanigans we'd love to see your pics, tag us on social media @TheMakeEscape (Twitter & Instagram). Here's our own pics from the night. 
Thanks to everyone who came. 

GLOW-IN-THE-DARK CROCHET GHOSTS WITH TONE WARD

When our in-house Crochet Queen Tone Ward suggested running a glow-in-the-dark session we were like wooooaaaah! Really?! Yup! it actually happened! Tone taught a record number of newbies who had never crocheted before to make crochet ghosts with glow sticks inside. Huge congratulations to everyone! 

 

SPARKLY SPIDERS & OTHER EERIE ACCESSORIES WITH NATASHA STEER

Natasha Steer is the creative brains behind Creatabot where she regularly teaches community craft workshops in Kent. Her ethos is the same as ours to make crafts accessible to all and she always values the contribution craft and creativity plays in mental wellbeing. Natasha designed a fun glittery session making spooky but sparkly brooches of bats, spiders and skeletons. 

PAPER SHADOW LANTERNS WITH MIA LITTLEWOLF

A London cabbie called Sian messaged us recently and said she had collected lots of glass coffee jars and would we like them? We accepted them instantly! We love receiving donations of craft supplies. Mia designed a clever paper shadow lantern workshop which was our most popular craft session of the night. Thanks Sian!

COLLAGE CORNER 

And finally in our free-form collage corner there were some kooky cat masks being conjured up.

Well done crafters! 

The Make Escape's Momtaz & Mia

See you next month for more free crafting (Dec 12th Xmas spesh) - we also run workshops across London and have several other Christmas sessions lined up which we will be shouting about on social media or head to our main website www.themakeescape.com for more details. 

Momtaz & Mia 
xx

FREE Fairytale CraftNight Wed 22nd February 2017 - Once Upon A Time

Poster design: Matt Ponting - Doodling Around

Hello and welcome to our first craft night of 2017!

ONCE UPON A TIME - WEDNESDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 7.30pm +Hackney Attic 

(sponsored by Hobbycraft) 

 Note the date! After 4.5 years of running on the last Tuesday of the month, we're now the last Wednesday! Hope you can still join us, we have some mega fun projects lined up along with a story themed soundtrack by our DJs the Spinning Yarn DJs

Enter a fantastical world at our fairytale themed craft night...

Sew your own Sleeping Beauty eye mask

In need of some beauty sleep? Hand-stitch your own fabric eyemask, perfect for when you're in need of a rejuvenating nap or simply trying to hide from the world in our sewing workshop run by Mia. OR how about...  

Make a Peter Pan collar

Update your wardrobe with this elegant accessory that will transform any outfit and may, just may even give you the power to fly. 

Collar designed by Jo Tubbs

Collage a story bookmark

Perfect for marking a page in your favourite Hans Christian Anderson tale, make a traditional bookmark that was made for storing inside a fairytale book.

Knit something!

We've got the needles & the yarn come along, join in or learn how to DIY. In fact this month we are delighted to have Knitting Expert Maddy back, she was our in-house knitting expert for over two years and she is the best teacher their is! She's making a special appearance this month. 

Sponsored by Hobbycraft? What does that mean?

We are very excited to be teaming up with the UK's biggest craft shop. Their stores are packed with materials, ideas, specialist craft supplies and loads of things that will inspire you. They will be supplying materials for us to use on the night which is amazing because it allows us to continue to run our night for FREE. So far we've relied on donations and crafts swaps from kind crafters who come to our night but stocks were running low so it's great Hobbycraft can help out. Thank you! (Oh and if you've never been check out their website it will wet your appetite!)

See you there!

Hackney Attic, 270 Mare Street (5th floor, Hackney Picturehouse Cinema) 
FREE ENTRANCE
7.30pm-10.30/11pm
Wed 22nd February 2017

Highlights Disco Fever Craft nIght

You came, you made sparkly stuff and you helped us raise £61.45 for mental health charity MIND, THANK YOU! 

Your Crafty Host Mumtaz with Special Guest Tutors Maria & Mia

Missed it, or want to rejoice in a recap of what we got up to? Here goes... 

Disco Ball Mania

Sal, who designs our amazing fliers donated us lots of lampshades & shimmering disco fabric which Mia miraculously turned into a disco ball workshop and wow, it was popular! 

Xmas cards

Super cute bears 

This project was one of the ideas you'll find on the MIND Crafternoon webpages. The charity is encouraging people to hold their own crafternoon events to raise money and to give you a helping hand, have designed some craft projects, including how to make a bear to show someone you are 'bearing them in mind'. 

Get the instructions here and make your own.

And lots of other awesome stuff too...

Star brooches 

Xmas embroidery

We also had our best soundtrack yet, courtesy of The Spinning Yarns DJs...

Alice, Dan & Isobel aka The Spinning Yarns

So that's it for 2016!
We're back WEDNESDAY 22nd FEBRUARY 2017 at The Hackney Attic. Yes! You read that right. After 4.5 years of being a 'last Tuesday' craft night we're now switching to last Wednesdays! 

We've still not decided on what the theme will be, if you have an idea, get in touch!

Merry Christmas and here's to a Crafty New Year!

FREE African Charity Craft Night Tuesday 27th September

Come and make African fabric earrings with Karen Arthur

YAY! After a summer break we're back with an Autumn, African themed Craft Night AND it's also our FIRST EVER CHARITY event. We're supporting a new fundraising project by mental health charity MIND who are encouraging people to hold Mind Crafternoons, events where you can get together, craft and make a small charity donation. So this month while entry, workshops & craft materials remain FREE we ask you to bring a donation (around £3) to donate directly to MIND.

Never been to our Craft Night before? Here's a recap...

The Make Escape is a voluntary run, London based Craft Night which takes place bi-monthly at The Hackney Attic. It's aimed at adults (making stuff isn't just for kids) and it's a chance to take a break from normal life, work stress etc and have some chill out time using your hands whether that's for knitting, sewing, drawing, collaging or doodling. 

But don't worry, it's nothing formal or like going to school. 

We have a fully stocked bar and DJs and all the craft materials you need, all you're required to do is bring yourself. 

We usually have 2-3 tutor-led workshops, a knitting area where you can learn to knit (this month it's led by Alison Beadnell) and a collage corner where you can do what you like. 

For our Art Of Africa night we're planning sessions in jewellery making, mask making and instruments and we're super excited that we have Special Guest Tutor Karen Arthur from Reddskin lined up to run a fabric earring workshop.

We're also delighted to be joined by Jewellery Designer Elizabeth Joseph who'll be showing you how to make an African pendant necklace. 

The night and workshops are drop in so turn up when you can, but we recommend coming by 8.30 in order to be able to finish something that you can take home with you. 

The Essentials:

Date: Tuesday 27th September

Time: 7.30pm-10.30pm

Location: Hackney Attic, 5th floor Hackney Picturehouse Cinema, 270 Mare Street, London, E8

Entry: FREE but collect a ticket from the box office when you arrive to get in and don't forget you donation for MIND - hopefully you'll get inspired to maybe even run your own Crafternoon too!

See you there! Come alone or with friends!

DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THE BATIK SESSION WILL NO LONGER BE RUNNING BUT THERE'S STILL PLENTY MORE GOING ON SO COME ON DOWN!