It’s craft time ... but now for adults

One of those adults is Daisy Mijangos, a trained cake decorator who moved to Atlanta from New Jersey with her husband, graphic designer David Jimenez, in 2021. The co-founders of Pastry Plug, a faux food craft shop, the couple struggled to make friends in their new home.

They began offering workshops where they could teach others how to make fake food crafts, like jewelry boxes or heart-shaped mirrors that resemble ornately decorated cakes with fruit and frosting.

“That’s when we decided to make our own workshops for the community, to be able to make friends and meet people,” Mijangos said. “Through these workshops, we’ve built a community, one that we like to call the Pastry Plug Club.”

Mijangos likens the vibe of her workshops to the video game Animal Crossing, a low-stakes social simulation game. “Ultimately, I would say the workshops are cute, cozy and very pink,” Mijangos said.

No prior crafting experience is needed, and she relies on her experience as a cake decorator to teach her students how to make these fun yet practical look-alikes. Her next workshop if from 3-5 p.m. on June 29 at the Supermarket, an event venue in Poncey-Highland.

Credit: (Courtesy of Maelu)

Credit: (Courtesy of Maelu)

Atlanta has long been a bastion of crafts.

Studios and spaces dedicated to crafts such as pottery and glassblowing have been around for decades, not to mention the city’s strong art scene. But these craft clubs take crafting out of studios and into businesses around the city, from breweries to boutiques.

They also broaden the world of crafts.

For example, Scraplanta, a nonprofit art supply store, hosts craft workshops such as T-shirt quilting at CreateATL, a coworking space in Adair Park. At the Supermarket, Art Cafe invites crafters to book a table and order art supplies (like pastels and canvases) off a menu, along with snacks and nonalcoholic beverages.

For craft enthusiasts such as Jas Scarllo, a marketing director, these clubs serve as alternatives to traditional socializing venues, like bars.

“I’m not a big ‘go out to the club and party’ person, but I also like to connect with other people,” Scarllo said. “I feel like going to events where you can meet other people that might be kind of similar to you and connect with them and get to learn a new skill is just a really cool experience.”

Credit: Lindsay Arsula Photography

Credit: Lindsay Arsula Photography

Scarllo and her wife, Bren Scarllo, heard about Pastry Plug’s workshops when they met Mijangos at a Pride event. They signed up for one of Mijangos’ workshops at the Supermarket and enjoyed learning how to pipe fake frosting on jewelry boxes while also making friends.

“There were maybe 15 people, so it was also cool to see what other people were working on, and we actually wound up chatting with some of the other girls at our table.”

Credit: (Courtesy of Maelu)

Credit: (Courtesy of Maelu)

For Meghna Davé, opening a boutique meant creating a community hub.

She opened Maelu, a storefront for her clothing line, in Grant Park in September 2023 and offers a variety of craft workshops, including ceramic painting, watercolors and embroidery. Davé herself teaches a block printing class — a simplified technique of how her clothing is made in India — where students decorate tote bags with painted stamps.

“It’s not the same as what the master printers do, but it’s really fun,” Davé said. “I’ve realized that people don’t want a class that’s going to stress them out. You want to learn a new craft, but you also want to have fun while doing it.” The next block printing class is June 19, and attendees can bring their own snacks and drinks.

Some just want to practice their creative outlet in a third space. That’s how Lexi Bynum became the founder of the Atlanta Craft Club.

A user experience designer by day, Bynum enjoyed the monthly craft nights held at Elsewhere Brewing once a month. When it closed in October 2024, Bynum turned to the social media app Threads and posed a question: Would you guys be interested in a craft night in Atlanta?

About 60 people replied enthusiastically.

“I was like, ‘Oh,OK, so this is not something I can just throw at my house or just spring on a restaurant. I really need to put more planning behind it,’” Bynum recalled.

Credit: (Courtesy of Atlanta Craft Club)

Credit: (Courtesy of Atlanta Craft Club)

She hosted her first craft night at Wild Heaven West End brewery in November, and now there’s a monthly standing “BYO Craft” night (the next one is June 26), which is free to attend.

Bynum also hosts workshops dedicated to a preselected craft like junk journaling — “scrapbooking’s hipster sister” that uses trash from everyday life, she explained — at Citizen Market in Ponce City Market. The next one, trinket tins, is on Monday.

“I’ve heard so many people talk about the friendships that they make at the craft club and how much easier it is because they’re starting off knowing that these people have something in common with them,” Bynum said. “It just kind of breaks the barrier and makes it a little bit easier.”

Mijangos isn’t surprised that there’s been such a strong reception for crafting events.

“I feel like people are feeling a bit anxious and isolated and don’t really know what to do with their time, but they’re used to this kind of cycle of work and then social media,” she said. “I think people are more interested and looking for an actual experience where they can learn something and, most importantly, create something”

Where to Get Crafty