Workshops « Seaside Sisters

Crafty Pint North

May 16, 2011 at 8:55 pm | Posted in Events, Workshops | 1 Comment
Tags: brooch, corsage, crafty pint, sewing, workshops

Seaside Sisters ran a workshop at the first Crafty Pint North event at the Stapleton Tavern in N4 last Saturday. The staff at the pub made us very welcome, and soon the crafty pinters arrived to rummage through the fabric stash and enjoy a relaxed afternoon making pretty brooches with a drink or two.

First we made flower brooches, and then a sort of half pom pom frilly style that looks particularly good in felt. There were variations on yoyos, ruffles and some simple twists of felt to add, and people combined the fabrics in really interesting ways, using layers of contrasting fabric and different types of centre.

It was great to see several people make a bee-line for the pretty 70s crimpolene. Often shunned for making clothes these days (unless you are Lorraine Bowen), this polyester miracle fabric proved to be a fantastic choice for plump, colourful brooches. It always delights us to see what different colour ways people choose – there were some great muted greens & browns, and brilliant pink & purple combos.

We each baked a cake so there was flapjack, rhubarb & custard cake, and lemon madelines for the crafty pinters to tuck into, and with some help from the bar staff we managed to leave only crumbs.

We’re now looking forward to the Crafty Pint North in July, it’s all about printing on fabric. If you pre-book you’ll get the bonus freebie of a tote bag to print on.

Printing Fabric Designs – book now

Textile Brooch Workshops

May 5, 2011 at 9:40 pm | Posted in Events, Workshops | Leave a comment
Tags: brooch, crafty pint, workshops

Brooches made with Fabric Nation

More textile brooch making opportunities coming up with Seaside Sisters, as we’re running some Crafty Pint workshops in both North and South London.

Crafty Pint is a collective of local designer makers, encouraging people to shop local and teaching new craft skills in affordable and informal settings.

In this workshop we’ll be taking it a bit further than our drop in flower brooch sessions. You’ll be able to make several pretty styles of textile brooch over three hours. All the designs are deceptively simple to sew, and you can choose whatever you like from our stash of vintage, upcycled and contemporary fabrics. Use them to brighten clothes or bags, wear as a hair accessory or corsage, or make them as gifts for lucky friends or family.

As the Crafty Pint venues are pubs you’ll be able to sip drinks from the bar, have a chat and relax while making lovely things. Suitable for all levels, whether you’re already handy with a needle and thread or have never sewn before.

Crafty Pint South workshops take place on the first Saturday of each month at the Tooting Tram & Social, 46 Mitcham Lane, Tooting, SW17 9NA, 2pm – 5pm
Saturday 7th May Textile Brooch Making with Fabric Nation

Crafty Pint North is at The Stapleton Tavern, 2 – 4 Crouch Hill, London N4 4AU (Stroud Green/ Finsbury Park), 2pm – 5pm.
Saturday May 14th Textile Brooch Making with Seaside Sisters
Saturday 16th July Printing Fabric Designs with Seaside Sisters

The Stapleton Tavern - Crafty Pint North

All tools and materials are provided, homemade cakes are included in the price and drinks are available from the bar. Children age 10 and over welcome with an adult. A place on our three hour workshops costs £15.

You can turn up on the day, but pre-booked places will receive a free gift. For some courses there will be a limit to the number of places, due to materials and space available.

To book a place, click on the Paypal link below or email gillian@craftypint.co.uk

Printing Fabric Designs

Visit www.craftypint.co.uk for the full Crafty Pint programme. Take a look at a review of a Crafty Pint workshop

Crafty Fox Market

May 5, 2011 at 8:51 pm | Posted in Events, Fairs, Workshops | Leave a comment
Tags: brooches, craft fair, workshops

This event in Brixton’s Dogstar was one of our favourite craft markets. Such lovely people, fine wares, a great venue on three floors and lots to do. A big tip of the hat to Mr & Mrs Fox, who did a grand job of organising.

Seaside Sisters stall at Crafty Fox Market

We ran a drop-in brooch making workshop all day, and had great company chatting and sewing with everyone who took part. They made very pretty brooches, and we were impressed that our stall holder neighbour Vanessa managed to make one in between selling her Lovely Gorgeous Things.

Raspberry ripple cakes from Ms Cupcake were very yummy, and kept us going until time to leave. Check out her new shop on Coldharbour Lane. They’re vegan, but still very naughty and you’ll find it hard to choose between the flavours.

Vanessa sewing

Brooch workshop

Crafty Fox market

Showing off & getting crafty

March 18, 2011 at 3:57 pm | Posted in Events, Workshops | Leave a comment

This year sees our seaside and British holiday themed work popping up all over London and in Kent. We have three exhibitions planned, and are working with shops, cafés, pubs, festivals and arts venues to get folks sewing and printing.

Keep an eye on our Events page and the Seaside Sisters calendar to catch up with everything we’re planning. We’d love to see you on our crafty voyage, here are some highlights.

Printed Wonders at Craft Central
June 14 – 19th, 2011
With bunting, bags, prints and stationery, this exhibition will showcase new Printed Wonders lines including Seaside and Wedding themed bunting banners and lucky motif wrapping paper. Xtina will be running ‘Craft It Yourself’ print workshops in the evenings and at the weekend for adults and children.

Seaside Sisters’ Souvenir Shop at Craft Central
August 16 – 21st, 2011
Our shop will be full of goodies upcycled from souvenir tea towels, tablecloths and wooden jigsaw puzzles, as well as bags purses and accessories made from retro, seaside-themed fabrics. We’ll also have a collection of sweet vintage British coastal souvenirs such as Blackpool tower snowdomes, Norfolk beer mugs and Cornish tea trays for sale. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, we’ll be making 50s fabric souvenirs and running vintage-inspired pattern printing and sewing workshops.

During the summer, the Seaside Sisters exhibition will expand and tour to the LV21 lightship, Gillingham Pier, Kent.

Crafty Pint
Gillian and the Handmade in Tooting designer-makers have launched a series of craft afternoons. Held on the first Saturday of the month at the Tooting Tram and Social. The three-hour workshops cost just £15 and will range each month from jewellery, textiles, and bookmaking to mosaic, ceramics and fused glass.

We love Workshops!

March 16, 2011 at 11:01 pm | Posted in Events, Workshops | Leave a comment
Tags: Eco Design Fair, Gillingham, Kent, lightship, LV21, Medway

It’s already shaping up to be a busy year ahead with several shows of our work lined up, and some exciting new workshops. We loved doing these last year. It’s been fantastic seeing how happy people feel after making something in a crafty workshop. So more on the upcoming plans shortly, but first a round up of events we enjoyed at the end of 2010.

Eco Design Fair - Seaside Sisters stall

At the Eco Design Fair last year we set up shop in the wood panelled Islington Assembly Hall, with a bunting making workshop on the side. We also printed and sewed bunting to order as shoppers made their way around the stalls. One customer, who chose pretty fabrics for bunting with her daughters’ names, said that this was the nicest present she’d ever bought!

We had a lot of fun meeting people and selling our upcycled accessories and Christmas ranges, Gillian wrote about it and posted more photos on her Fabric Nation blog.

: Lottie & Holly bunting from the workshop

LV21 YuleTIDE '10 stall & workshop

YuleTIDE ’10 was a another great event, held on the incredible LV21 – a lightship moored at Gillingham Pier in Kent. We filled the Look Out gallery with our colourful wares, and set up a little printing workshop. Brrrr it was chilly, but we had some heaters and got quite toasty printing bunting with the lovely people who braved the weather. We chatted with local crafters including Sara of One Little Bird who had a stall with fun moustache brooches, and enjoyed hearing Colin Turner tapping out morse code below us in his radio workshop.

Around lunchtime, the pretty dusting of snow outside turned into a blizzard, and we realised we were going to have to abandon ship. Shipmates were getting calls from friends and family who told them it was chaos on the Medway roads. So sadly we shut up shop and headed off towards Rochester on foot, past unhappy motorists stuck in cars, and gleeful folks rolling giant snowballs. Next day we made it back to the pier, and were amazed to find a few people still showed up as visitors! They were treated to a warm welcome and hot cups of tea.

We’ll be back at LV21 in the summer, for a week long show of Seaside Sisters work. Gary & Paivi, the ship’s owners, are hard at work cutting out some of the interior steel walls and opening out the spaces. It’s looking superb already and we can’t wait to work with them again. Fingers crossed we’ll be sunbathing on deck and sewing al fresco this time!

YuleTIDE’10 – a seasonal jolly aboard LV21

December 14, 2010 at 4:59 pm | Posted in Events, Fairs, Workshops | Leave a comment
Tags: christmas fair, custom bunting, Kent, lightship, workshops

LV21 lightship

We’re really excited to be joining in the nautical fun at YuleTIDE’10, an open weekend and craft fair onboard the stunning decommissioned light ship ‘LV21′ at Gillingham Pier this weekend.

LV21 is a 40 metre steel-hulled lightship, undergoing a transformation into an amazing floating arts venue. It recently won Best Heritage Project at the Medway Culture and Design Awards.

YuleTIDE’10 has Christmas shopping and free workshop activities suitable for all ages:

Buy beautiful handcrafted gifts and accessories including: sailor berets, ship hats, anchor and swallow necklaces, bunting decorations, cards, log books, prints, souvenir tea towel bags, deck chair pencil cases, toys and other quirky bits and bobs suitable for the modern day sailor or pirate girl.
Make free screen printed bunting for a gift or Christmas decoration, with the Seaside Sisters. Flags with xmas motifs, names or messages naughty or nice – we can even make them for you while you explore the ship.
Join radio wizard Colin Turner to learn the art of soldering and morse code
Follow a treasure trail to explore the vessel
Add your own seasonal paper boat to the growing fleet

YuleTIDE’10
Sat 18th & Sun 19th December
11am – 4pm
LV21 Lightship, Gillingham Pier, Pier Approach Rd, Kent, ME7 1RX
Admission: free
Parking: free
Map

http://www.lv21.co.uk/2010/11/yuletide10-deck-with-holly/

LV21 Shipmates on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=164473227147

Vintage inspired printmaking

November 17, 2010 at 9:08 pm | Posted in Events, Workshops | 1 Comment

As part of Fabric Nation’s show at Sprout, Gillian held a textile design and printing workshop. Participants spent a lovely evening looking at vintage textiles and mid-century designers before designing and carving their own blocks.

Next week we will print our lino blocks and then make our fabric up into something fancy for the home, a cushion, a tea cosy or a bag!

Handmade in Tooting

October 27, 2010 at 11:48 am | Posted in Events, Workshops | Leave a comment

Gillian will be joining local artists in her corner of South London for the first of the Handmade in Tooting exhibitions. Setting up in an old green grocers, now appropriately called Sprout Arts, Gillian will be exhibiting her Fabric Nation vintage textile accessories and homewares and running a packed programme of textile workshops during November.

Workshops include…

Textile Tuesdays on 16th and 23rd November 7-9.30pm

Print your own vintage inspired fabric and then make it into an apron, bag or purse. Gillian will be sharing her vintage fabric collection for inspiration and providing tutorials in lino printing and textiles. No previous experience is needed and all materials are provided. By the end of this two-part workshop you will have gained an insight into textile design, created your own lino block for printing and will take home your own printed fabric made up into a useable item of your choice.

The cost of £25 per person includes two evening sessions and materials. To book a place and for more details, contact Gillian.

Drop-in brooch making Saturday 13th & 27th November.

Brooches made by Open House visitors

Delve into Gillian’s vintage fabric and haberdashery collection to create a unique flower brooch or hair slide. Perfect for creating your own handmade christmas presents. Suitable for all ages.

Gillian will be exhibiting with local illustrator Caragh Buxton who will be running her ceramic painting workshops on Saturday 20th and 27th November.

The exhibition runs from 9th to 27th November and is open Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11am to 6pm.

You are very welcome to attend the Private View from 7pm to 10pm on Friday 12th November.

Sprout Arts is on 74 Moyser Road, a short bus ride (333 or 57) from Tooting Broadway tube on the Northern Line or from Brixton tube (333 bus). Overground trains also run to nearby Streatham and Tooting stations.

More vintage fabrics

October 21, 2010 at 8:54 pm | Posted in Workshops | Leave a comment

Here’s even more vintage fabrics, sourced from around the world, some will be kept for personal projects, some will be made into owls, bags, purses, cushions etc. And some will go into a big bag to be used at the next workshop. Can’t wait.

Vintage fabrics galore

October 15, 2010 at 2:47 pm | Posted in Events, Products, Workshops | 2 Comments
Tags: material, vintage fabrics, workshops

Wow, we’ve been busy collecting fabric for upcoming workshops and making new bags, owls, cushions and accessories. This lot was amassed in one morning at boot sales and a big jumble.