June 2011
1 post
We've moved!
The Make Believe Cafe blog has a new home. You can find us at http://www.makebelievecafe.com/
Check it out and tell us what you think.
K, L & E
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May 2011
1 post
Free Crochet Event
Just to let you know that Lou and I (Emma) are leading a free crochet drop-in at Much A Do About Books in Alfriston this Saturday. We are encouraging people to drop in and crochet granny squares which will be made into a blanket to be raffled at the Alfriston Festival this summer. For more details visit Much A Do About Books’ website. It’s a great opportunity to visit this lovely...
April 2011
1 post
NoteMaker - Australia's Leading Online Stationery... →
Saw this and it made me smile. Kx
March 2011
2 posts
Hair today. Gone tomorrow.
One of the things I love about Make Believe Cafe is how easy it is to pop up, make and go. When we cover the tables and unpack our boxes, it’s like opening a charm; something alluring and warm spills out, women appear at the dark doorway, shake off the damp evening and step into the light. We all sit together, just for a couple of hours. We chat, laugh, drink, make and suddenly it’s...
Hand Made Tales: Women and Domestic Crafts
If you have time before the end of March, you must try and squeeze in a visit to a wonderful exhibition currently showing at the Women’s Library in London about domestic crafts. This is how they describe it:
“(Hand Made Tales: Women and Domestic Crafts) is a timely exhibition focusing on the role domestic crafts play in many women’s experiences. It draws on the connections between...
February 2011
2 posts
March Hair
It’s nearly time for our March Hair event at Wickle!
This picture of vintage ric rac flowers inspired me to learn how to make them as decorations for hair accessories with a flavour of spring!
There are some great tutorials on the internet. I liked this one at Flower Allie.
This is not a great photo of what I came up with.
If you can, join us for an evening of wine, cheese, and...
Secret Pants Club
In a world that is stressful there is something so comforting about coming together to giggle and make.
Saturday saw 15 ladies gather for Pimp Your Pants.
The room was part of a bigger warehouse. We dressed it in the most simple fashion - I wanted it clean, bright and uncluttered. Think a cross between Warhol’s Factory and a fairy wedding and you have it! Nina Simone belted out that she...
January 2011
4 posts
5 tags
101 Things To Do With A Toast Catalogue
I think I could write a column about things you can do with a Toast catalogue. It’s worth signing up for it just for it’s usefulness around the house. The wonderful photography and Farrow and Ball colour palette make it a good substitute for wrapping paper. I have made origami stars out of it. A friend of mine uses it as sketch books for her children, the scenes are already there, her...
Meet the Teach!
Introducing Sam Reece - Sam will be the guest tutor at our forthcoming Pimp Your Pants event.
“I am a graduate of Chelsea school of Art and after a successful career as a designer, have crossed the Rubicon between commercial ‘needs must’ and passionately inspired artwork.
I delicately restory/rework intricate found pieces andbreathe new life into them. The pervasive...
Pimp Your Pants
In preparation for Valentine’s Day, Make Believe Cafe invites you to Pimp Your Pants.
Bring your (clean) undies and together we will turn them into lovely lingerie.
Ticket price includes drink on arrival, expert tuition and all the materials you need to tart up your knickers/boxers/Y-fronts.
Cafe Des Artistes will be serving their delicious suppers, should you wish to linger.
What you need to...
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December 2010
6 posts
In a flap
Do you remember those girls at school who could whip up fascinating origami secret-number-finger-things from bits of exercise book at break time? And jump about, in and out of elastic, singing complicated rhymes. They usually ended up in the hockey team.
Each flap revealed a secret message or vicious barb.
Or pointed a sharpened pencil at our destiny.
It happened to the best of us.
So...
Wakelin Hall
I have been having a brilliant time, making a vignette in a shoe box. I’m doing it for a number of reasons. Firstly as preparation for our forthcoming event, Paper Caper, on 12th December, and partly for an exhibition of work by local artists called Artists on Parade, being held this weekend to raise money for a very wonderful thing which happens each summer in Lewes called Patina Moving On...
Brilliant
THIS is brilliant. Watch it. It’ll only take a minute.
I’m investigating papercraft. Properly. Before our Paper Caper on the 12th. Talent is unfolding itself everywhere. Yesterday at the Artists And Makers fair at the Foundry Gallery, I discovered Lydia Crook, artist and paper engineer. Why didn’t I take a picture of her stall? Or discover her months ago? Here is just a...
Extreme Make Believe
Emma and I sat like mad gypsies outside the Round Barn, Firle last Saturday. In flurries of snow, we lit a bold fire, brought out wooden lanterns and blankets that we could have sold for a small fortune.
We had visitors.
Little fingers in the button box.
And David from the Dutch House came to stand by the brasier and chat. He brought warmth and spirit with him from the other open houses...
November 2010
12 posts
Paper Caper
It’s so important to us that from the moment you enter the Make Believe world that you feel something special. With that in mind it’s hard to explain our next event as it is so much more than origami.
Our Paper Caper workshop will take place from 10-1pm on Sunday 12th December @St John’s Church Hall, Talbot Terrace, Lewes, East Sussex.
Enter our wonderland and learn how to...
Butter me up
Jumpers, frost and school again. So I went to The Buttercup Cafe to work. I was gorgeously thwarted. The candles were lit, someone had thrown crocheted blankets across the wooden benches and added to the pile of magazines in the corner. And, oh joy, Clare had left knitting out on each table. “It’s communal knitting”, she said. “Anyone can pick it up. It’s particularly...
Should I or shouldn't I?
The clouds had cleared and parents began to drift in to collect their children from the party. Someone opened a bottle and I found myself sitting on the stoep surrounded by funny, engaging and warm strangers. Instead of switching to performance mode, raising my game and searching for witty remarks to contribute, I wanted to pick up my crochet and listen.
Would they think it odd? Or rude?
I...
It's a wrap.
Time to wrap presents for The Birthday.
And to fold and tease more paper flowers to decorate the tent.
My tongue and the tips of my fingers turned pink and purple with that old lady habit of a lick and a rub to separate sheets of paper.
We decided to leave a few flowers half opened to lie them flat on the table.
Then we hung flowers from tent poles, added crocheted cushions and vintage...
4 tags
More Wrapping.
I had an early Christmas experience in front of the box last night. I wrapped my first present. Lots of people know how to wrap without tape, but not me. A great video by Bonnie explained it all. Here is my effort. No tape what so ever.
Emma x
5 tags
All Wrapped Up.
I have been doing a little research on present wrapping, the theme for our next craft evening at Wickle. In this day and age we are all trying to use less packaging so I thought it might be a good idea to bring a little of this thinking to our Christmas wrapping.
My first thoughts were of the way they wrap things in cloth in Japan. They do (did?) this often instead of using a bag to carry their...
P.S
Thanks Em. For creating the montage with my photos. You forgot this one of a tutor lurking in the background, drinking..
Lou xx
Hygge.
Every time we open the doors of Make Believe Café, we invite Hygge. And Hygge always appears clothed in the candle light, in the warmth between us all, the chatter, the pleasure of making something beautiful or useful, a sip of wine, a bite of home made cake, the sense of being a part of something that is bigger than ourselves, community and connection, the possibility of friendship, the...
Starring role.
This morning we appeared at Laporte’s with arms full of tissue paper. At the long, red table by the window, we made huge white flowers and origami stars and drank our favourite (mother) Pukka teas.
We felt very much part of the colourful life that flows through Laporte’s - people popped in and out to shelter from the rain, grab a handful of carrots or five minutes to sit and savour a coffee and...
Wish You Were There
Wowser! Tonight our making workshop was a great success. Thank you SO much for supporting us.
As one woman said, “It was better than a night out in the pub”. High praise indeed!
I was so thrilled to hear from my fellow Make Believers tonight and hear that our workshop @Wickle in Lewes had gone so well.
Having had to work late in London I had missed the event. When the call on my...
Tying the knot
I couldn’t remember how to sew a french knot. Did I ever know?
It didn’t matter. I had YouTube. And there it was.
Better still, I had Scandinavian Needlecraft by Clare Youngs. This book is the business. Have a look. It took me home to Denmark; to summers in red clogs with my family; to tables set with candles, fresh flowers and runners that Mormor had cross stitched; to the...
Make Believe Café at Wickle
Starting next week Make Believe Café are going to hold a monthly craft group at Wickle. For those of you that don’t know, Wickle is a wonderful shop in Lewes that describes itself as ‘a mini department store’. And indeed it is. Spread across three shops, they sell toys and children’s clothes, ladieswear, menswear, books and stuff for your home. When I take friends from...
October 2010
8 posts
Don't forget Make Believe Cafe is on Facebook →
Comment is free
Today we have enabled comments to our blog!
It has taken a while to figure out how to do it but here we go!
At the end of every post you can leave us a message.
We are moderating comments so please bear with us if your voice isn’t instantly heard.
We will only edit your comment if it’s rude or irrelevant.
We really do welcome your thoughts and ideas.
Kelly x
We made it
We made ourselves comfortable with vintage cloth, piles of books, orchids, fairy lights and the promise of a stiff drink at the end of the day. We made pear and chocolate cake and endless cups of frothed coffee. We made collars, scarves, cuffs, crocheted flowers, cowls and buttons. We made each other laugh.
We made it happen. All of us.
...
Bring it on!
So have your bought your ticket yet?
Here at Make Believe Cafe we are getting very excited!
On 10/10/10 we will be launching our first ever making event.
Pimp Your Wardrobe takes place Cafe Des Artistes, Lewes , East Sussex.
Each morning/afternoon session includes of expert tuition in embroidery, crochet, sewing and knitting.
Ticket price includes tuition and all the materials you need to tart...
Small batch, great coffee
This afternoon I sat on a high stool by the window in the Small Batch Coffee Company savouring a latte, the smell of freshly roasted and ground coffee and the people who flowed in to chat, pick up a bag of beans or reward themselves when they stepped off the train.
They are a boutique coffee roasting company based in Hove, East Sussex committed to roasting coffee in small batches; experts in this...
Tea, flowers and raised heads
Emma and I have been talking over our Mother Pukka tea about how good it is to raise your head above the parapet. Since we began Make Believe-ing it is as if people can suddenly see us clearly. Unlike the Emperor, we are fully clothed - in our pimped wardrobe, enthusiasm and hope. All three of us have felt our small, sometimes unnerving, step has been worth it and welcomed by our local community...
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Let them eat cake
I never know what date it is but I do know when it’s Friday. Every week I go to Lewes Farmer’s Market to buy bread, apple juice, carrots, falafel, humous and cake from the stall holders. It is the way to shop. Today I felt blue and hungry when I arrived. When I came home to empty my basket and prepare lunch, I felt wealthy and well fed.
Sarah from Pleasant Bakery is...
September 2010
15 posts
Almost yesterday.
I have fallen in love with textile specialist Margaret Callagan and her Kemptown shop. Emma and I went visiting today to rifle through hat boxes full of embroidered napkins and buttons, rails aching with vintage clothes and floor to ceiling shelves stacked with beautiful linens and scraps of fabric. We could have bought a whole new wardrobe to pimp. It is like being invited in to a Tim Walker...
3 tags
Embroidery and Me
I am going to teach embroidery at Pimp Your Wardrobe so I thought I’d write a little bit about my experience of it. I have grown up surrounded by embroidery. When I was a child my mother sent off for an embroidery kit of massive proportions from Good House Keeping magazine. It was a bedspread with squares arranged in a grid resembling a vegetable garden. Each square containing rows of...
Bring it on!
So have your bought your ticket yet?
Here at Make Believe Cafe we are getting very excited!
On 10/10/10 we will be launching our first ever making event.
Pimp Your Wardrobe takes place Cafe Des Artistes, Lewes , East Sussex.
Each morning/afternoon session includes of expert tuition in embroidery, crochet, sewing and knitting.
Ticket price includes tuition and all the materials you need to...
Art hole.
Cafe Des Artistes is verging on deeply cool. Art hole meets Ikea. Huge windows, flea market chairs, a still life on the pool table, dinning pods, low floor cushions, photos clipped to a washing line, and formica tables cluttered with colour pencils, candles, satsumas and the kind of oil paintings our grandmothers would have bought at a charity lunch and wrapped in tissue paper.
We...
Ebay Love
Sometimes I love Ebay. Today I love it. We have been frantically bidding on tablecloths for our first gathering. I’ll be glad when we’ve got enough, my nerves are shot to pieces. I never knew that tablecloth buyers could be so sneaky, devious and sharp. I imagine loads of grannies placing their bids in the last ten seconds, cackling at my lack of expertise and dragging on their...
Corsages and Bows
I have been rummaging through the latest magazines to find interesting bits and pieces to put on clothes, bags or in you hair. I’m going to stick them all on a board for inspiration at Pimp Your Wardrobe. I spent a very pleasant afternoon with Diana who is going to be our sewing teacher at ‘the do’. We experimented making felt bows and flowers which we’ll turn into brooches...
Just sew you know
It was Emma. Who sewed, well, embroidered, the tiny coffee pot for our shiny good-girl-at-Make-Believe badges. We plan to leave them lying around town.
The beginning.
The middle.
More middle.
THE END.
Lou
About Us
Make Believe Cafe is powered by three women and one great idea.
How could we possibly fail?
Emma is a creative genius. Never more happy than when she is making something. Emma is the talent behind our logo, posters and so much more.
Lou is a tribal dance teacher and writer. A creative spark who juggles family life and work. Lou somehow fits in lots of making and seems to know everyone worth...
Tickets Please!
At Make Believe Cafe we had a busy weekend. Our posters are being put up today so we needed to have the tickets ready. With the aid of a trusty badge machine and our children we churned out two hundred badges and eighty tickets ready to deliver to Kelly’s brother Si at Si’s Sounds on Station St (Lewes). He’s agreed to sell them for us though he did point out that it’s not...
Tapestry Patches
The latest Cath Kidston magazine arrived in the post today and I found these diagrams for sweet little patches that they have sewn on to a bag, but you could sew any where. You can get your own copy here: http://www.cathkidston.co.uk
Grandma's Cardies
I am very lucky to have some of my grandma’s old cardigans. However she lived with lots of moths and they also liked her cardies. To cover up their handy work I decided to do a little handy work of my own. Here are the results:
You could do any type of embroidery to cover up a hole. On a plain woollen garment it’s very hard to hide even the neatest stitching, so making a feature of...
It's real.
It is. Real. Today it felt as if it could really happen. Kelly had baked and ‘maked’ all sorts of things - almond tart, chicken and roasted aubergine salad and an idea for the perfect ticket, (based on an old hotel room tag). Such a happy afternoon eating and sorting.
Emma at the door.
This is going to be such a pleasure.
Lou
