Our Archer Lane Allotment and Home Garden Society successfully bid for Jubilee Arts Funding and we got it! So I set up my machine to help young people have a go at making some bright and cheerful bunting using my scrap fabric. It was great fun. So many people are enjoying making things inspired by the GBSB - Great British Sewing Bee currently on the telly.
We raised over £650 from plant and cake sales - all the craft activities were free! Beeswax candles with a beekeeper, wooden bee and butterfly making, bug hotels, bunting, banner design as well as visits to allotments and great musical entertainment from the Grumpah Band. Lots of local people and children came!
A success on a very damp day. Some vital connections made with other food based projects across Sheffield. Grow a Row and Repurpose Surplace to supply local food banks.

A lovely sunny day to drive down to Derby to deliver the next batch of AliMac aprons to the Makers’ Hub in the Museum of Making in the World Heritage Derby Silk Mill. This museum has been shortlisted as Art Fund Museum of the Year. Why? Because it’s a hands on reimagining of what a museum can be. Focusing on the amazing skill and craft of this region it comes bang up to date with workshops, activities and interpretation for the future of making.   With residential crafts people, hand builders, entrepreneurial business space, events responsive to diverse culture and interests it delivers. Check it out. And spot the spot the aprons in the Makers’ Hub!

Exciting news! AliMac aprons have been selected to be stocked at the new PAZAAR and FRIENDS at 5 Bank Place Porthmadog. This is a wonderful place celebrating things handmade from local and UK makers. Nicola and Ben started online then took the plunge with this new and exciting venture. If you are heading over to North Wales this place is a must. You will get a great welcome and meet the makers who will be staffing the shop too. 

What a great weekend for the Sheffield Ceramics Festival in its new venue - Kelham Island Industrial Museum in the heart of our great city. It was a busy happy event as keen pottery enthsiasts came to support and buy from their favourite regional potters. And plenty of people went away with a super energy boosting AliMacdesigns apron in vibrant African and Dutch wax print. Happy Days!!

What an exciting day! Popping down to see the new  £17M re-imagined Museum of Making was a real treat. How can I begin to tell you what a FAB place this is?! They have rewritten the museum experience. All 30,000 exhibits are on display and its a hands on, have a go type place. The idea is that it will be a growing entity, responding to interest and the ever inventiveness of people making things! It puts Derby at the heart of the story as a cradle of industrial development, espionage and expansion. But it is so much more than a retrospective - it has 'state of art' exhibition space, entrepreneurial opportunities, visiting artisans, workshops, events and as such offers so much to all. So it was such a privilege to be accepted as one of the Makers in the Hub shop! AliMac aprons are stocked here for this season. What an honour and thrill. So, if you are looking for an absorbing and interesting day out, here's your answer. And the award winning  restaurant is tip-top too! 

The World Heritage Derby Museum Group are opening the Museum of Making! This is the reimagining of the Silk Mill, in the heart of Derby: the first factory in the world! ( Really? Yes!)
What will you find there?
Top exhibitions; a taxonomy of materials to explore; state of the art workshops for you to join; artists in residence; shared spaces for ideas and entrepreneurship; cafe, events space and..... drum roll, a Makers' Shop featuring 21 UK makers. I am honoured to have been selected!
Having had a (Covid Safe) tour when I delivered my aprons I can honestly say I was blown away by the space, imagination and excitement generated by this buiding. With its history preserved but revitalised and relevant for today and the future. You must check it out!     www.derbymuseums.org/museum-of-making
Book your FREE tickets now!

..It's fantastic that The Great Pottery Throwdown is back with us for 2021. What timely joy!
And what better time to cheer up your creative self and friends with an AliMacDesigns apron. Above are 3 split skirt pottery aprons for sitting at the wheel or moving freely around the studio. They are hot off the machine! New ones being loaded as they are made by me in my Sheffield studio. So get over to the Shop for a look at my Etsy site! 

AliMacDesigns artisan aprons have been selected for the gallery shop of the Museum of Making in Derby, UK to be relaunched after a £16M refit.
www.derbymuseums.org/locations/museum-of-making
This Museum of Making is part of the UNESCO Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site! www.derwentvalleymills.org/
So pencil in your diary for a Spring 2021 visit to such an exciting new museum celebrating everything great about making!! What an uplifting thought. And I'd better get selecting some unique fabrics for their gallery shop space - that will brighten and welcome one and all!

Wanting to start pottery classes? Are you buying a present for a potter? Look no further.
I am currently making split front aprons for wheel throwers, studio potters, hand builders or slip cast makers. These aprons are ideal for hand spinners, sculptors and not forgetting creative cooks too!

 Extra long and wide for great coverage. 45" (or 115 cm) long. Pocket for that phone, adjustable neck strap and long ties for front fastening if you require. Handmade in Yorkshire, by me!
 Etsy  www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AliMacDesignsUK
Washable on 30C, iron on medium. Perfect for class- roll up and take home!
Look and feel ENERGISED, vital and different: ready to create and make that splash! These fabrics are sourced from Holland or Tanzania and are Dutch or African wax print using a resist printing technique to get bold colour through the cloth. Vibrant, funky and FUN!!!!