Toronto Loves The Make Den!

Fierce Bambi's baby, The Make Den, was just voted as one of the top DIY spots on BlogTo! The Make Den is in a beautiful new retail level space in Bloordale, and offers sewing lessons from begginer classes to leather crafting. Knowing how to sew is a great way to express your individuality, save money by fixing and tailoring your own garments, and mostly it is incredibly fulfiling. Making things with your hands just feels good. Speaking of feeling good, The Make Den is not just a building with classes, it's a community of creative, vibrant Toronto individuals. If you live in Toronto, and want to learn how to create or tailor your own wardrobe, then The Make Den is a must!

(Check out those seafoam walls in the photo... when you see that colour, it's a sure sign a Deadly Nightshade is afoot!)

Blog TO - The Make Den is nominated for Best DIY Workspace in Toronto!

It's nice to get noticed!   Laura Adams from Blog TO wrote a great article about us recently and I'm happy to report that I don't sound like a complete tool in it.

Even more recently, Blog TO nominated us for "Best DIY workspace in Toronto", which we are SO honoured to even be mentioned on!!  You can vote here until Saturday.   Go vote because obviously we're buying everyone beer if we win!!

Some of the interview is below, along with a few photos.

The Make Den Sewing Studio recently relocated from within 69 Vintage Collective to a new location at 1244 Bloor Street West, providing a bright and crafty addition to Bloordale's streetscape. With its robin's egg blue walls and ruffled party dress in the window, I couldn't resist popping in one dark winter evening to learn more about what this sewing and design school has to offer.

Founded in 2010, The Make Den offers sewing and design classes, workshops, and camps for all levels: from absolute beginners (like yours truly), to intermediate students looking to sharpen their skills, to aspiring designers applying to competitive fashion programs at institutions like Ryerson University, Parsons in New York City, and Central Saint Martins in London.  The Make Den's owner, Irene Stickney, has a passion for teaching students of all levels that is infectious and heartfelt. For those pursuing sewing as a hobby--about 75% of her students--The Make Den provides an outlet to explore their creative side, which is often not fulfilled in their day jobs. Irene loves helping these students create new things, have fun, and acquire a life-long skill.

For the 25% of her students pursuing a career in fashion design, Irene aims to offer top-notch instruction on technical skills and a supportive community. "Toronto has amazing designers and they need more resources. I want to be able to support designers. I want to be able to say I've made a difference for designers." The Make Den provides these students with classes, camps, studio space, endless encouragement, and even photo shoots (by Irene) to build their portfolio. Talking about her advanced students and their creations, Irene beams with pride. "Don't forget me when you're famous!" she jokes with them...

1920'S FGFS LADIES!

...more or less. Apparently Toronto has been home to amazing cycling ladies since the 1920's. Check out more vintage cycling photos in our hometown (and the real beginnings of the Naked Bike Ride) courtesy of blogTO. There are some serious gems.

THE GENTEEL COVERS DNS!

Yesterday, The Genteel posted a great article about what we're about and what we've been up to lately! It's a great blog in general with an international array of contributers, and myriad of interesting finds. It was nice to see our Style Spins hashed out a little more than usual, as we're already excitedly brainstorming for another season of sunshine and sneak peaks once winter is out of the way.

Coincidentally, we recently unearthed some awesome gems on BlogTO's facebook, of a Style Spin last August. I forgot how awesome (and comfortable) those neon onsies were... and how glorious summertime is!

(photos by Natta Summerky)