Creative Canopy

Creative Canopy gives kids encouragement that they need while also giving them space to be who they are. My daughters love it and I feel so happy and comfortable bringing them.

Love this venue for my art class — friendly, clean and attracts amazing drawing/​painting teacher and fosters a wonderful community of artists. Taking drawing lessons with Marvin Werlin and he’s a fantastic teacher — if you want to learn how to draw the owner of Creative Canopy provides a superb instructor!!!

This place is soooo great! We found out about it because they offer after school classes to kids from George Peabody Elementaty (My Children’s school) and heard rave reviews. They do not dissappoint. We had my daughter’s 8^th birthday party there a few weeks ago and it was incredible. Elia is very patient and kind and made the party great. Each Child practiced measuring, cutting, hand sewing (basting) and machine sewing making a super cute tote bag from start to finish. All the kids and the moms had a great time. Elia even helped my youngest (almost 5 yrs) sew on the machine so she made a tote bag of her own.
The space is wonderful (warm and inviting), surprisingly large with two large rooms, a kitchen and a cute backyard and Elia was great with us bringing in any food we wanted. It was also very reasonably priced especially because I was willing to shop for my own fabrics and trims, but she can also do that if you like.
Overall this was a great, memorable party with very little hassle.
I will be signing up my children for classes there in the near future and maybe even for myself! She also had drop in hours if you want to check it out and she does much more than sewing.

It all started with a red canvas bag. I love this bag: the shoulder straps have just the right length; the dimensions of the bag itself are perfect; and the best things about this bag is the pouch on the side that zips up and which fits my wallet/​passport perfectly when manoeuvring through the airport. I also have a red pair of trousers, yet unfortunately the two reds are clashing and I simply can’t wear the trousers and the canvas bag at the same time. #Fashion fault-​pas! Facing such a dilemma, I’ve been on the lookout for a similar bag with a more neutral color.
Then I had the idea that I could have my bag custom-made…which would be brillant, but now I was facing an equation with two unknowns: the first unknown — let’s call it «x» — was the fabric and the second unknown — «y» — represented the tailor. I chose to solve this equation for x first: on a Saturday afternoon I went to a fabric store on Clement Street called Satin Moon. There, while browsing through the amazing selection of fabrics — I got to chat with the owner about my project and she told me about Elia from Creative Canopy… supposedly a place where you can learn how to sew!
I got very excited about the prospect of making my own bag and so I went over to Creative Canopy right away. When I got there, I told Elia about my quest and she right away started planning. As I had the red canvas bag with me, she looked at it, took some measurements and together we then drew a plan onto a piece of muslin to find out how much fabric I would need. All the while, I was happily chatting away with Elia and another person in the shop. It was all so casual and friendly… I really loved it.
Speaking of Elia: she is a great person! — Born and raised in the Richmond, she’s a true San Franciscan. After a degree in Industrial Arts, she worked on various projects until she decided to open this community center. Yes, this is not only a place for one-​to-​one tutoring like I am looking for. She also organises classes for children; especially birthday parties. But, the space is also used for other activities, such as dance classes, pottery, yoga and even events.
But now back to my bag: yesterday was my first real session with Elia. When I arrived at the shop, she was just cleaning up after entertaining a group of kids all day. I personally would’ve been exhausted, but she was happy and cheerful and we got started right away. Earlier, I had bought a really nice fabric from Satin Moon and so we laid that out flat on the table and started chalking out the dimensions of the bag. Next, it was time to get introduced to the sewing machine. I have to say I was a bit afraid of it, but Elia was very patient and explained everything to me… and soon I was test-​sewing away! I love it… I feel like I’m living Project Runway!
At the end of the first session we finished already the straps, as well as other pieces that will eventually get attached to the bag. Elia also already taught me how to sew a lapped zipper into a left-​over fabric… as it was nice piece of fabric, we managed to turn it into a handy little purse, which from now on will now hold all my phone and laptop cables.
As you can hopefully read «in» my review, I am very excited about Creative Canopy and about the possibility of sewing my own bag. I think Elia is doing a wonderful job and I cannot recommend her highly enough! — I’m already thinking of my next project…