Make the presents, make the presents
a textile-girl tradition
A day of thoughtful present making with Craft Show’s Chloe and Rachael.
Inspired by a time-honoured tradition within our textile-girl friendship group, every year we make each other a present to sit under the tree for secret santa.
Strange and wonderful things have been found under the tree over the years, from nude-embroidered cushions, neatly folded napkins, stripy ceramics made in Romania, perfect ribboned scrunchies, handmade quince chutney to personalised sketchbooks and crocheted checkerboard cloths.
It’s a special tradition, with no element of competition or pressure, just a lovely way to show each other we’ve been thinking of them and a chance for us to get making. The tradition has lasted 10 years already and we thought it’d be a fun one to share with you all. In December we’ll be holding a day of making presents.
Make the presents, make the presents will see 3 workshops over the day, in a beautiful cosy studio setting, in Hackney. There’ll be twinkling tunes and lights and something mulled, we’re sure.
As always, there’s a discount just for newsletter subscribers: SUBSTACK15
Make a tassel charm
Chloe’s favourite gift to make at this time of year is a tassel charm.
A natural continuation from an obsessive exploration of tassels, these wreath like sun and star charms make the perfect wall or tree decoration to welcome in the winter.
Choosing from a range of different coloured wools and yarns, first we will make a simple tassel to warm up and get our creativity flowing. We will then use this simple and meditative technique to create our own circular charm designs, using a small wooden ring for structure.
Your palm sized charm makes for the perfect festive gift for your pals or yourself, and chances are you will have the bug to keep making more.
Make a set of bundle dyed napkins
Rachael’s go to gift is a stack of neatly folded, naturally dyed napkins.
Make these with her using a favourite and very simple natural dye technique, bundle dyeing.
After some fun experiments on paper, Rachael will show you how to get the best colours from what nature has to offer at this time of year. From foraged plants to floristry waste all the materials will be provided, it’s a lovely introduction to colour from plants and an intuitive way to play with colour.
You’ll leave with your own little stack of two cotton, bundle dyed napkins for your Christmas table or to give as a colourful gift.
Make a bracelet for Palestine with Beading for Palestine
A fun workshop experimenting with colourful beads to raise much needed funds for Medical Aid Palestine.
Sit with us and our incredible collection of beads and jewellery making paraphernalia and design your very own bracelet. Take inspiration from our carefully chosen books and examples and spend some time designing your jewellery whilst raising funds.
Whether you want to play with colour or spell out a message we’ll have plenty of beads for you to experiment with and you’ll come away with a bracelet (or necklace if you’d like to add that to your ticket on the day).
It’s a lovely, grounding and meditative way to spend the evening, come alone to chat with a like-minded group or book with your pals, we’d love to see you there.
Beading for Palestine has been making bracelets and necklaces to raise much needed funds for essential charities and initiatives in Palestine. They’ve raised over £800 so far making jewellery inspired by textiles and patterns. One Beading for Palestine necklace has been designed with Aya Dawes, who is currently displaced in Gaza.
Need more craft?
This month our heads, hands and feeds have been full of beads. Here are some of our favourites
These beautiful beads support the people of Palestine and they’ll make one to match your favourite shirt for you
Beads found on the Thames foreshore
Absolutely in awe of this beaded vest
Shell earrings so beautiful we wanted to gatekeep
Turns out you can bead anything
Foraged second-hand beads made in London
Shopping for beads in Japan
Craft Crits
Our Craft Crits are in full swing and we can’t tell you how much we’ve been enjoying them.
It’s been a real privilege to see what you’re all working on and get a glimpse of sketchbooks and plans before they’re ready to be out in the world. We’ve found them really useful for our own practices too.
Bring along your current project, ideas for a new project, meet other makers and chat through your inspirations, the third Thursday of the month, in Brockley. We can’t wait to see you there. Remember to use SUBSTACK15 if you’re joining us.
