At The Make Shop and Studio in Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District, you don't have to be a professional to make your own luxury items.
In sewing classes, beginners learn everything from threading their machines to creating a finished product during a single, two-hour class.
"If you have an idea, you put the power back in your hands," student Vanessa Neil said. "If you want to get excited and create a whole line, you can."
The Make Shop and Studio opened in 2005. Owner Julie McCullough Kim said business is picking up as people cut back in other areas and focus on their homes.
"They're not going on vacation, so I think now they're focusing on maybe sprucing up their home and making their own pillows, blankets, curtains, things like that," Kim said.
The shop also offers screen printing and hand-embroidery class; pretty much any craft you want to learn, it will teach you.
"They think it's really cool to get something I've made, and it sometimes prompts them to want to make the same kind of thing themselves," student Ange Fitzgerald said.
The store also features a showroom of items, clothes, accessories and home furnishings all made by local designers, many of whom were once Make students.
Classes at Make start at about $50. The fee includes all the materials needed to make a finished product that you get to keep.
