Live it: The Makery Re-visited

When we visited Bath a few weeks ago, we just had to go visit The Makery again.  Since we last went for a visit, they have moved to larger premises and so been able to expand what they do.  Plus they now have a gorgeous bright yellow door and a rainbow staircase!

They gave us such a great welcome and let us wander around checking out all their different rooms they now have.  'The Snug' and the larger workspace were our favourites.

We also got to have a chat with the lovely owner Kate about everything that has been going on lately...

For everyone who doesn't already know how long has The Makery been a business?  and a passion?
As a business - since 2009. We got the keys to our first location just 10 days after we had our first baby! We had been planning for a couple of years at that though.
As a passion - lifelong. It sounds so cliche, but it's really in my blood. My mum, Gran and Grandma were are/were all keen seamstresses.

How has the business changed since you started your journey? 
It's changed dramatically - reading our first business plan from 2008 the direction of the company was very different. We were purely workshop-based at the beginning. Our aim was (and still is) to teach as many people the joy of crafting as possible. Over the years, we have just keep finding more and more ways of doing that. 
We've just signed a deal with a company which has licensed our brand to release a range of kits and haberdashery in the UK and internationally, which is something we would never have dreamed would happen already. We'd never have thought we'd go on Dragons Den - I mean, seriously! But it turned out to be a great move for our business and a big learning curve for us too. In fact, we'd never have dreamed about the books either really - it's all exceeded our wildest expectations!

What are your most popular workshops? And what is your best seller in the Emporium ?
The sewing workshops always sell well, and upholstery has always been popular too. I suppose it feels like a really meaty skill where you can have fun revamping furniture. In the shop, we always try and stock a beautiful range of fabrics so they're probably our best seller. And our book sells really well too!

You have just moved premises, what motivated the move?
We hadn't anticipated having 2 premises at the start, but opened the shop just a year after we opened the workshop. It used a lot of energy and resources (financial and human) running the 2 separate premises. And we just felt that it would be beneficial in so many ways to house everything under one roof. It's not been an easy road though - the amount of space we needed in a central location was a big ask! We'd been looking for over a year. It's been incredibly stressful, but our team of staff have been wonderful. 

What is your favourite space in your new building? 
Ridiculously, I love the stock room! We've never had a proper stock room before! But in terms of the space it has to be our largest workshop room. It's so large, it gives us the opportunity to host all sorts of events that we could never have dreamed of before. Things like our weekly yoga classes that we run for all our staff members too - it's truly multi-purpose!

Any new furniture favourites you have picked up for the new space?
We salvage and get donated all sorts of things, and a couple of items are favourites in the new place. Firstly, a very old display model singer sewing machine donated by our surveyor's wife. It belonged to her grandma called Maud, who was a demonstrator for Singer. It's beautiful, so has pride of place in our shop. And we've called it Maud too! Then a shop in Bath was refurbishing the other week and were throwing out their old drawers. They're beautiful - perfect for us! They are glass-fronted like old apothecary drawers. We display all our pretty buttons and ribbons in them!

Did you enjoy writing the book? How did you find the publishing process? 
I love writing the book! It's like the ultimate school project - a dream come true! Some people come in knowing about the book, others find out about it when they're here. The publishing process was great for me - I have an agent who kept on my back telling me what I needed to do and why by. She was wonderful. 

What advice would you give to someone starting their own workshop space now?
Don't underestimate the amount of work involved! You need to REALLY want to do this!
Have a clear vision of where you're going: Plan things, write them down. I modify our business plan frequently to suit our business, but it's always good to have a document that I can refer to whenever I'm having a wobble!

Some very sound advice there from Kate.  We really enjoyed our visit, all the staff we met were so very friendly and we got to meet Rufus the dog, how gorgeous is he?!  I think that having a pet around always makes a space really homely.

Have you been?  Do you have a space like this near you?  We always love finding new workshop spaces and so do let us know in the comments.

H & Sammy

Make it: Dairy Free Cookies

It's just about typical for me that I have developed a Dairy intolerance, to be fair, it has been around for a while, but I actually just went and got myself tested and found out what it was all about.  So, I have been trying some good old recipes using dairy free spread to see whether I can still eat the things I already love!

I thought I would have a go at Chocolate and Oat cookies as you can have 50% and above dark chocolate if you are going dairy free and just replace the butter with dairy free spread.

They tasted pretty damn good too, the only difference I could tell is that they spread a little more in the oven.

You will need: 113g dairy free spread ( I use Vitalite or Pure Soya), 110g brown sugar, 100g caster sugar, 128g plain flour, 106g oats, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 100g dark chocolate (50% and above) and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

This recipe is relatively easy, put all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix well, then add a desert spoon sized dollop onto baking sheets and put in the oven at 180 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

That is literally all you need to do.  This recipe makes about 15 cookies, I doubled up my batch to make loads for a friends birthday and they seemed to go down very well.  I don't think they even knew!

What's your favourite recipe, whether dairy free or not, let me know in the comments below.  If you do have any great recipes for dairy free though, I would love to hear about them as I am trying to find more all the time.

It does make me very hungry doing these posts, but as they are so quick I could probably just make up a a batch after work, right? 

H

Our 500th Post & OMG! We are in Mollie Makes!

We are a little over-excited today as it is not only our 500th post here on Live it. Love it. Make it, but it is also the day after one of our longest standing blog goals has been ticked off our list. We have a four page feature in Mollie Makes magazine!!  Our Fabric Envelope Bunting tutorial 'Bunting with a Twist' is on page 45-47.  If you get a chance to take a look we are sure you will love it, there is also a little interview about us on page 48 too!

H and I first got a glimpse of Mollie Makes before it had even been published at the Stitch and Craft show at Olympia back in 2011.  Future Publishing were showing off mock ups of their brand new magazine at one of the stands, we both fell in love with the styling and design of what is now the Queen of the crafty news-stand.

Since that first issue it has been a big goal of ours to appear on the pages of Mollie and in the month that our blog turns 3, we have been featured in our favourite magazine, we are over the moon! We don't want to spoil the surprise so these are only little teaser photos, to see the full feature pick up your copy in all good newsagents now.  Even better, follow the link in our side bar and subscribe for monthly Mollie Makes fun.

Thank you to the lovely team at Mollie Makes for making our dreams come true.

H and Sammy xxx

Make it: Pompom's 3 Ways

It is celebration central round here this month, one reason is our blogs 3rd Birthday! (check out tomorrows bonus post to find out what else we are celebrating). We are thinking ahead and trying to decide how to celebrate... probably a little party! My favourite thing about a party (after cake of course) are decorations. We thought we would show you how to DIY some of our fave party decorations, Pom poms! We have an epic three different options to show you today using paper, wool and net.

Paper Pom poms

Paper pompoms are just everywhere these days, I have been making them for a long time, you probably saw them here when we did decorations for my friend Kelly's Barbie party a couple of years ago. You can buy them in lots of places now but they are super easy to make, then you can have any colour you like.

To make these small ones you will need: Two sheets of tissue paper, some wire, Scissors and thread.

Cut each of your tissue paper sheets into four strips, so you will have eight strips all together and pile them up on top of each-other. Start to make small folds back and forth until you reach the end. It should look like a fan. Find the centre point and cut two small slits in either side of your fan being careful not to cut all the way through.

Take your wire and wrap it around the centre of your fan shape, making sure the wire sits in the cuts you have made. Twist it around to make a loop, which you can hang it by later. Next is the fun part, start to separate the layers out one by one. Work you way around until you get to four layers down, then flip it over and peel away from the other side until you reach the centre, you may need to fluff it a little to even it out once you are done. Then attach your string to the loop you made and hang it up somewhere to look pretty.

Wool Pompoms

There is a long story behind my love of the Clover Pompom maker, it is a serious game changer if you like making wool pompoms, it means you can make a garland at lightning speed. If you are off to The Handmade Fair in September you might want to get involved in #worldpomination A record attempt to make the world longest PomPom garland! Head over to the site to find out more.

For style number two, wool pompoms you will need: Clover Pompom maker (or go old-school and use cardboard) Wool and Scissors.

Open out one side of your pompom maker and start wrapping your yarn around the double arm until it is full. Don't be tempted to over-full the tool, it works better if you just fill it to the edges. Then wrap the other side to match. Cut yourself a length of yarn to wrap around the centre, then start to snip the wrapped yarn in the groove of the tool.

Wrap the length of yarn around the centre and tie it firmly into a knot around the pompom. You can then remove the tool and you have a perfect pompom. To make it into a garland just use the yarn and tie it to a long length of wool to create a garland. 

Net Pompoms

The third and my personal favourite type of pompom are nylon netting pompoms. They are made in a similar way to paper pompoms but you can be a little more haphazard, oh and they are waterproof so you can hang them outside!

You will need: 75cm x 140cm of dress net, Scissors and wire.

Cut yourself a length of wire and eight strips of netting and layer all of them up. Start to scrunch the layers up in the centre, like we did for the tissue ones, but you don't have to be too neat about it. Grab a hold of it nice and tight in the centre and wrap your wire around the middle.

Once you have secured the netting, make a loop so you can hang up your pompom later. Then, as with the tissue paper style, pull the layers apart until your pompom is full and fluffed. Attach a length of string to the loop you made and hang it up wherever you need a pop of colour. 

 There you have it, three different but equally fun pompom techniques for you to try this weekend.

What are you celebrating at the moment? big or small, let us know in the comments below. There is no occasion too small for a pompom party! Right?! Don't forget to pop back for an extra special post tomorrow and don't forget to make a few extra wool pompoms to be a part of #worldpomination !

Sammy xxx

We would love to see if you have a go at this. Like with all our DIY's if you do, take a picture and share it with us on Twitter or instagram with the hashtag #livelovemake

Move Over Macaroons

Cup Cakes, Macaroons and Cake Pops are so 2013. There are some new kids on the block, Sweet treats to tempt your taste-buds in to submission. Having taste tested all of them we can confirm all these lovelies are here to stay.

These yummy mouth sized morsels of sugary joy are as much as a delight for the eye as for your taste buds. The Meringue Girls have made these fluffy lovelies cool again, no longer are they just for crushing into an Eton mess, no these beauties are delish all by themselves, using all natural flavours. We are putting their Hackney bakery on our 'To Visit' list for the very near future.

I am sure by now you have seen that you can have your Instagram photos printed onto almost anything these days right? From magnets to phone cases you would think it had all been done, nope!  Boomf will print your photos onto yummy marshmallows! That's right ladies and gents, Instagram marshmallows! 

We have raved about the lovely Biscuiteers  here on a few occasions before, but we couldn't not include them this time as iced biscuits are taking over themed party's faster than you can say Jolly Ginger. We know for sure that David Beckham is one of the long line of celebs to have been spotted frequenting the Portabello store and icing cafe.

What sweet treats are you loving right now? Do you still love a macaroon? Are you more of a tea loaf kind of gal or lad? let us know your faves in the comments below.

Sammy and H

Make it: Festival Flower Crown with Country Baskets

One of the great things about being bloggers is being able to try out lots of ideas and being able to show you guys how to make them too, the especially fun part.