February 4th, 2012

February 12th, Sunday, 11:30am-2:30pm
LEVEL: BEGINNER

Learn the most common embroidery stitches and practice your new skills with the Sublime Stitching pattern of your choice! We will cover teh basic embroidery tools, how to read stitch diagrams, follow patterns and learn the basic stitches such as; straight, stem, backstitch, running stitch, satin stitch and chain stitch.

One session class, materials included.
$35 non-member, 10%-15% discount for members

Give us a call to signup 310.392.0139 or purchase on our Webstore

February 4th, 2012

February 11th, Saturday, 2-4pm
LEVEL: BEGINNER

Kiddies love Valentine’s day because of the candy and also for all the little cards their friends give them. Bring your children along to make special cards for the special people in thier lives alongside Samantha Squalls, who has an indie-card making business of her own! Making your own Valentine Cards is fun – and a homemade Valentine Card is bound to be appreciated even more than a shop-bought one, even if they are as quick and easy for the kids to make as some of our own!

Two session class, materials included.

$35 per parent/child pair, 10%-15% discount for members

Give us a call to signup 310.392.0139 or purchase on our Webstore

February 4th, 2012

February 11th, Saturday, 11am-1pm
LEVEL: BEGINNER

Nothing says I love you more than “you need to take a bath…with the soap I just made you!” Learn how to create soap from scratch using oil and lye and pretty stuff like lavender and oatmeal. You go home with over 2 lbs of soap, ready to use the next morning. This date night class is 2 for the price of 1 so bring along the guest of your choice!

One session class, materials included.
$70 per pair, 10%-15% discount for members

Give us a call to signup 310.392.0139 or purchase on our Webstore

February 4th, 2012

February 7th, Tuesday, 11am-1pm
LEVEL: AGES 4- 7

Bring your kid and make some dough. Using a simple and very satisfying recipe, you and your little one will cook up your own batch of play dough, color it and make it smell pretty, then trade with your neighbor so you all go home with a sampling of what you can do! You’ll never buy play dough again.

One session class, materials included.
$35 per parent/child pair, 10%-15% discount for members

Give us a call to signup 310.392.0139

February 4th, 2012

February 5th: Intro to Knitting, Sunday 4-6pm
LEVEL: BEGINNER

Learn to knit! Join special guest teacher Cheryl Cambras as she covers the basics of knitting: casting on, the knit stitch, and casting off. Make a set of coasters or a small sachet pillow, plus leave with the confidence and skills to start and complete knitted projects on your own.

One session class, materials included.
$45 non-member, 10%-15% dicount for members

February 2nd, 2012

This Tuesday, we headed out to Anaheim to check out The Craft and Hobby Association trade
show. Since The U.C.C offers classes and retail products in a variety of craft mediums – we
got quite a workout walking up and down the aisles that represent over 100 different
categories of crafting!

One of our first stops was Vickie Howell’s eye-catching booth, that included this yarn
bombed tree (above) which we stopped at for our first photo opportunity. We are happy to
be bringing her Sheep(ish) line of yarn by Caron in the coming weeks!

   

In the middle of our exploration, I stopped someone dead in their tracks to ask, “Where did you get that Mod Podge t-shirt??” The woman cheerfully replied that not only did she work at the Mod Podge booth, but she also had a couple of t-shirts left to give away. We followed her to this tower of our favorite sticky solution and reveled in their kitschy, vintage inspired displays.

A trip to C.H.A is as much about exploring crafts you’ve overlooked in the past as it is about finding the latest and greatest new products. One traditional craft we can’t get enough of is Crochet Granny Squares. When we saw these granny square outfits at the Bernat booth, we couldn’t help but think of Cheryl Cambras, our beloved crochet instructor. So beloved in fact, that we did a little photoshopping magic as a token of our affection. Megan (with beret on right) is excited to take the class in March so that she has the skills to make a granny square jumpsuit!

January 27th, 2012

Corina Haywood is a professional hat-maker or milliner, specializing in the art of “hand sculpting” and “free-form blocking”

We sit together in her small workshop; a bright, studio lined with ironing boards, boxes of thread and buttons, assorted raw materials, a handful of antique head forms, and a large table covered in at least two dozen handmade hats in various stages of completion.

Based in Los Angeles, CA, Corina has a quiet elegance about her. She’s dressed in black jeans, a gray cotton tee a red coral necklace with matching red lips, and one of her olive-colored sisal fedoras framing her dark hair. I ask her about her first experiences with design and where her influence comes from.

“It’s a synthesis of two worlds really. I grew up in the foothills of Pasadena, so it was a lot of the natural elements like the landscape lines of the mountains, the native plants and trees along with a lot of strong architectural influence.” She begins, “Growing up, my father painted houses, beautiful, well-designed houses like those of Richard Neutra. He painted them by hand and took his craft very seriously. I learned a lot about discipline from him, and definitely gained an appreciation for good design.”

While in college, Corina studied History and Creative Writing, she had always had a flair for the creative, and after graduating, she moved to New York to look for work and figure out what she really wanted to do for a living.

“I kept a lot of odd jobs in those days; coffee shops, artist assistants, secretary work… I did it all.” She continues, “But it was when one of my jobs sent me to Italy and France for a trade show that I really got excited. I think traveling really does something to jolt your aesthetic and perception of things. I was only in Italy and France for a handful of days, but when I came back home, I enrolled in classes at FIT“

When I ask if she has always followed fashion, she laughs, “Not at all- and I often think that that helped me take so many chances in those early days. With no real background in fashion, I didn’t know what you were not supposed to do. My teachers and classmates would always comment on how ground-breaking my work was, but I looked at my pieces as solutions to various issues or problems. I just made hats that people could functionally use and would love to wear.”

Once the art of hat-making clicked for Corina, the chips began to fall into place. Friends lined up parties for her to show off her designs and she began building a client base that still keeps her in commissions to this day. Dying her materials by hand, sewing without the aid of even a sewing machine, Corina worked tirelessly to continue her passion, while also learning about what it took to become a small business.

“I moved back in with my very supportive mother at one point. I worked in her backyard bungalow at all hours of the day and night. I really watched my expenses by buying second-hand hat blocks, and taking the time to get know my material vendors. I was getting so many orders at one point that I really needed to focus on building the foundation of my business, and not worry about the marketing part of it.”

Since her college days, Corina has studied hats from all over the world and keeps a closer eye on fashion trends, including the fascinators featured in the Royal wedding of 2011. She also has an unwavering love for vintage hats, and offered up this helpful tip to repair slightly wrinkled or misshapen headwater.

“To repair an old hat that is creased or out of shape, you can wet your hair and simply wear the hat to soften the material, and help mold it to it’s original shape. Also you can use a travel iron to steam out the brim against your ironing board.”

In addition to commissions, Corina sells her hats on consignment to several shops in Los Angeles including Church Boutique. Her hats have appeared in Lucky Magazine, Lemonade, LA Weekly, WWD (a prestigious industry publication) and she was also named one of four “Fresh Faces in Fashion” for accessory design by GenArts. She’s taught at Cal State LA, the Machine Project, Hands on Third, and currently teaches classes and private lessons at The Urban Craft Center.

To schedule a private lesson with Corina, call the Urban Craft Center at 310.392.0139.

OR, sign up for the class, Intro to Millinery: Straw Hats. At the Urban Craft Center on March 11th and 18th (12-2:30pm on day one and 12-3:30pm on day two)
$85 materials included for this two-part class!
In this class you will make your own, one-of-a-kind hat using natural woven straw material and an assortment of trims.

Enroll HERE, or by calling the U.C.C

For more information about Corina, visit her website corinahaywood.com, or find her on facebook.