This summer I'm opening the doors of my studio for a series of small, hands-on bag-making workshops at Leyton Green Studios.

Whether you're completely new to sewing or looking to build confidence with your machine, these workshops are designed to help you create something beautiful, practical, and entirely your own.

Over four Saturday sessions we'll explore different bag styles and sewing techniques, from a simple tote bag to more advanced lined and structured designs. Each workshop is limited to a small number of participants to ensure everyone receives individual support.

Workshop Schedule

👜 Tote Bag
20 June 2026

👜 Lined Tote Bag
4 July 2026

👜 Origami Bag
18 July 2026

👜 Drawstring Bag
1 August 2026

All workshops take place from 10:00am to 12:00pm at Leyton Green Studios, East London.

You can find full details and book your place through Eventbrite:

Book here:
The Oakum on Eventbrite

You can also find booking links through my instagram profile (Linktree).

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Why It Took Me So Long to Launch These Workshops

For someone who spends a lot of time encouraging others to try new things, I've been surprisingly good at procrastinating.

The bag-making workshops have existed in my head for months. The projects are ready. The venue is ready. The materials are ready. The website pages are ready. Even the Eventbrite listings are ready.

And yet, I kept finding reasons not to press "publish".

Part of it is practical. Running workshops means planning, preparing, buying materials, carrying sewing machines around, tidying up afterwards, and hoping that enough people book to make the whole thing sustainable.

But if I'm honest, that wasn't the real reason.

The real reason was fear.

Fear that nobody would be interested.

Fear that I would spend days preparing everything only to find myself sitting alone in a studio with a pile of beautiful fabrics and a slightly wounded ego.

Fear that people would look at the workshops and think, "I could probably learn that on YouTube."

As independent makers, artists and small business owners, we don't talk enough about this particular flavour of fear. We often speak about creativity, confidence and taking risks, but less about the quiet doubts that sit in the background while we're uploading a product, announcing an event, or sharing a new idea with the world.

The strange thing is that I know better.

I've spent years teaching people sewing, crochet, textile techniques and creative skills. I know that what people come for is rarely just the object they're making.

They're looking for permission to try.

They're looking for company.

They're looking for a few hours where nobody expects anything from them except curiosity.

They're looking for the satisfaction of turning a flat piece of fabric into something useful with their own hands.

The bag is almost incidental.

Almost.

Because bags are wonderful.

They travel with us. They carry our daily clutter, our shopping, our books, our projects, our snacks, and occasionally our entire lives. They're practical objects, but they're also deeply personal ones.

Making your own bag changes the way you look at things. Suddenly you notice seams, handles, pockets, construction details. You start seeing the decisions hidden inside everyday objects.

And, perhaps most importantly, you begin to realise that making things isn't magic.

It's simply a collection of small steps.

So I've finally stopped procrastinating.

This summer, while my teaching commitments are a little lighter, I'll be running this small series of workshops and seeing where it leads.

Maybe five people will come.

Maybe they'll sell out.

Maybe somewhere in between.

Either way, I've decided that uncertainty is not a good enough reason to keep ideas hidden in a drawer.

Sometimes the bravest thing a maker can do is simply put the work out there and see what happens.

We'll find out together.

Luisa

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