Makeshop™

A creative space to play with ideas, explore materials, and tinker with tools.

Children's Museum of Pittsburgh

Giving back

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Here at MAKESHOP, we know it’s the season to give back to our community. If you are a regular reader of our blog,  then you know that we have a floor loom, a machine that weaves fabric. Last year, a lovely couple donated their loom to MAKESHOP. We dusted it off, and with some light care, have been able to…

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Monster Pet Workshop

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Shortly before Halloween, Amy and I ran a “Monster Pet” workshop. We had two hours and the entire workshop to help visitors through the process of brainstorming, designing, planning, and construction using both hand and machine sewing techniques. We began by brainstorming what makes a monster a monster. What kind of words would you use to describe your monster? Where does your monster…

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Weaving Experiments Ahead

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Weaving is a repetitive process, and we do a lot of it, but we love it and want to keep it fresh and interesting. So every time we start a new project, we start a new experiment! Sometimes it’s special colors, an unusual pattern, or turning it into something exciting.    Our two most recent experiments are two of my all-time favorites….

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Making a very big costume…

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I’m not an expert at anything, but I am really good at asking questions. I wanted to make a JEDI KNIGHT robe for Halloween.  Problem: I have never sewn anything this big or complex before.  Thankfully, I was able to ask Rebecca, a fellow Teaching Artist, and Lea, one of our interns, for help.  They showed me the importance of sketching…

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Picture Frames

I have noticed over the past year that MAKESHOP has become such a great resource for home school families. Every visitor can benefit from something in the Museum, but MAKESHOP allows for an extremely hands on experience. A couple of days ago a group of sisters ranging from age eight to twenty spent a couple of stupendous hours in MAKESHOP….

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