A blog by Sascha Marr, aged 14

My hobby is making shoes. I've always liked designing things. I remember drawing clothes and shoes when I was eight, and I made my first skirt aged nine. At eleven, I started making shoes, and I now spend my free time doing that.

I became interested in making shoes when my cousin told me about an online shoe-making course that he was doing. I immediately wanted to do one too. Mum booked（为……预约） me on a four-day course at the I Can Make Shoes school in London to see if I liked it, and then I did a ten-day course there in the summer holidays.

I loved the courses. On the longer one, I made four pairs of shoes! I couldn't believe it. The teachers were excellent. That's what was best about the classes. They made us work really hard but they wanted all their students to have fun, too.

I've made about 15 pairs of shoes now. At the moment I'm making a pair of training shoes using an old pair of jeans, but I've used all kinds of different things before, from old leather （皮革）handbags to old cotton dresses!

Making shoes has changed my plans for the future. I know now that I want to be a designer, but not a shoe designer. I've decided I'll do home design. I've designed lots of shoes and also some clothes, so I'd like to try something new.