Sewing with Crazy Mary

October 15, 2013 Leave a Comment

We’re pleased to welcome Mary Halbert or ‘Crazy Mary’ Crafts as one of our sewing instructors here at The MAking House. This autumn she’s delivering a couple of one day workshops to support people in developing their creative textile side.

Mary says about her work;

“My passion is art & craft, particularly textiles, and it has long been my secret (or perhaps not so secret!) ambition to make at least part of my living from this obsession. Between 1999 and 2002 I completed a City & Guilds Creative Studies course in Creative Textiles/Embroidery at Warwickshire College, with the aim of eventually dropping my teaching hours in order to devote more time to my crafting. Since then I have expanded my repertoire of skills and can officially say that I am ‘into’ loads of textile related stuff, including hand/machine embroidery, felting, needle felting, papermaking, patchwork, quilting, beading, slightly random toymaking, mixed media etc etc….!”

This Friday you could join Mary to Create a lovely folksy style festive quilted wall-hanging as a unique Christmas decoration for your home, or a festive gift for a friend.

You will learn how to use hand and machine stitching, fabric bonding, appliqué and quilting techniques; before embellishing the finished piece with beads, sequins, buttons and ribbons.

This course is suitable for both beginners and more experienced stitchers alike, Mary will guide you through the design and construction of the piece.

Friday 18th October; 10am to 4pm £45

We had a productive day on Mary’s ‘Dig Out Your denim’ workshop last month, upcycling your old jeans into make up bags, pencil cases, greeting cards and super cute owls!

I was amazed at how beautifully finished and professional the pieces were, but do check them out for yourself below.

We like to make people feel at home at The Making House and so provide a simple homemade lunch. As it’s very autumnal out there, one of our regulars provided us with a pumpkin and vegetables from her allotment, i whizzed it up with a few herbs and spices and we had a hearty warming soup and roast veg to keep people going and sewing through the day.