For journalists

Press & media enquiries

Everything here can be quoted or reproduced without checking with us first, unless a line says otherwise. Contact details, boilerplate, facts, story angles and images are all below. If the rest of the site says something different, this page is the one to trust.

Media contact

Who to ask

Caz Adams

Founder and principal teacher

hello@usefulbox.com.au

Replies within 1–2 business days

Level 1, 39–43 Shepherd Street
Marrickville NSW 2204

Interviews can be done at the studio or remotely. Photography and filming during a class need notice, and the students have to agree first. They came to learn, not to be filmed.

Boilerplate

Standing description

Usefulbox is a sewing school and studio in Marrickville, Sydney, founded in 2015 by Caz Adams. It runs about 50 different classes, covering complete beginners through to advanced garment construction, quilting, embroidery and after-school classes for kids. Groups are small, machines are provided, and twelve teachers work across four studio rooms.

51 words. Please run it as written rather than rewriting it for each story. We would rather it read the same everywhere.

Fast facts

The details

Founded: 2015
Founder: Caz Adams, owner and principal teacher
Location: Level 1, 39–43 Shepherd Street, Marrickville NSW 2204, Australia
Two flights of stairs and no lift. Nearest station is Marrickville, and there is street parking nearby.
Teachers: 12, including 3 visiting specialists
Class types: 50 currently running
Subjects: Beginner through advanced garment sewing · Quilting · Embroidery · Overlocker · Kids and teens (8+) · Social sewing · Craft · Private lessons · Room hire
Class size: Capped between 3 and 14 depending on the class. Most run at 5 or 6. A class needs 3 or 4 people enrolled to go ahead
Studio rooms: Main Studio (8) · Green Room (6) · Yellow Room (4) · Full Studio (14 when combined)
Machines: Brother A80 and Bernina 335 provided in class. Students do not need to own a machine
Price range: $35 for a social sewing session to $720 for a full-term course
Also offers: Downloadable PDF sewing patterns (free and paid), gift vouchers valid three years, and group bookings for birthdays and team events
Google rating: 4.9 stars

Story angles

Three stories here

You do not need to own anything to start

Most crafts ask you to buy in before you find out whether you like them. Sewing has usually asked for a machine, a kit list and a fabric budget before the first lesson.

Usefulbox provides the machines. Beginners turn up with nothing, use a Brother A80 or a Bernina 335 in class, and leave having finished something. Plenty of students go on to buy their own machine, but they buy it knowing what they want from it. Caz Adams will talk through what actually stops people starting, and what it takes to remove it.

Ten years on, a craft school that keeps growing

Usefulbox opened in Marrickville in 2015 and now runs about 50 different classes with twelve teachers across four studio rooms, covering complete beginners through to advanced garment construction, quilting, embroidery, and after-school classes for kids.

Demand is strong enough that classes fill and run small on purpose, some capped at three students. It is a working example of a hands-on, in-person craft business doing well, and Caz is happy to talk about how it got there and what she would tell someone starting one.

Sydney Frocktails, reignited and run since 2016

Sydney Frocktails is the annual ticketed party for people who sew, where the dress code is that you made what you are wearing. Caz Adams and Usefulbox brought it back to life, and have run it every year since 2016.

It is the social side of a craft that gets pictured as solitary, and the school runs the same way: social sewing sessions where people bring whatever they are working on, and a studio built around a shared table rather than rows of desks.

Images

What you can publish

Cleared for editorial use

These are our own photographs. Any outlet may use them in editorial coverage of the school without asking us first. Credit them to Usefulbox. If you need a different shot, a portrait of Caz, or a bigger file, email us and we will send one.

Logo, for light backgroundsTransparent PNG. Use as supplied, and please do not recolour or stretch it5001 × 1376 px · 123 KB · credit Usefulbox

Logo, for dark backgroundsTransparent PNG. Use as supplied, and please do not recolour or stretch it5001 × 1376 px · 132 KB · credit Usefulbox

StudioInside the Marrickville studio1920 × 1130 px · 113 KB · credit Usefulbox

FabricsStudio fabric shelves1920 × 1280 px · 260 KB · credit Usefulbox

PatternsPattern drafting1920 × 1280 px · 213 KB · credit Usefulbox

Not ours to clear

Photographs of students, the garments they have made, and our teachers’ own portraits and work belong to them, not to us. We cannot give you permission on their behalf. Tell us what you are after and we will ask them for you.

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