A few weeks ago we visited Battersea in South London to catch up with Inma at The Old School Club. You may remember we did a The space behind the creative feature with her when she was in the process of moving into new premises and now she is in, so we thought it was about time we went to have a look!
We went to check out the Craft Night and had so much fun chatting away with Inma that we went on for much longer than is usual for a craft night! ooops. There are loads of different workshops though as well as the craft night, so do check out their website for more information.
The Old School Club is based in some industrial units just off the main road and there are lots of independent businesses as well as designer/makers who are based there, making a nice atmosphere to work in. We were there for the Craft Night and so most of them had gone home but it was a nice relaxing space all the same.
We started off with a tour of the venue - great for our nosey selves!
There is a big open space for the huge crafting table in the centre. Inma's husband has been hunting on Ebay to get all the furniture that is in the venue and he has definitely come up trumps - very envious. The crafting table holds the craft nights and some of the other workshops that do not require lots of space. As you can fit quite a few people around the table it gives a real homely feel to the workshops.
There is a bank of sewing machines on your right as you walk in, which is always nice to see. So alongside hand-sewing you can learn some new machine sewing skills too. We really wanted to get our hands on them, but not this time!
There is a corner nook with sofas and magazines to read which can also be used for knitting or crochet workshops or just for somewhere to have a comfy sit down.
There is a creche which has been lovingly decorated by Nicola from BB-Berkeley with a Peter Rabbit Theme. Parents can bring their children and let them play in the creche or there are plenty of workshops for children too! The Spanish lessons and sewing school are always a winner with kids of all ages right up to teenagers, amongst many other workshops of course, have a look.
There is a second floor which at the moment is dedicated to studio for hire space and storage. You can hire this space as a studio or office (they call it Cocrafting, cute), have a look at the rates here if you are a company nearby and need a bit of extra space. Well needed for all those work-from-home companies I would have thought!
Once we had finished taking a look at the venue it was down to Craft Night! yey. It was nice for us to take part in one for a change, rather than run it!
We were going to be embroidering a linen handkerchief with an initial. So first thing first was to blind stitch the edge to make it nice and neat. It had been a while since I (H) had done this and so Inma's instruction came in very handy. Then it was over to choosing the text style we wanted the initial in. Inma photocopied us some pages from her mum's very lovely collection of font styles. Then it was over to transferring it onto the linen to start embroidering using plenty of different stitches.
It was really nice to sit down and chat with some biscuits and a drink - You can get drinks or biscuts throughout the time you are there. Also it was lovely to do something a bit different than we would be doing at home.
Do let us know if you get to go, it really is a little oasis space in the middle of Battersea and so really central to London for a different night. What's your favourite workshop space? Let us know if there is anywhere you think we should check out? We are always on the hunt for new workshops or places to visit.
Love it
H
