7 Courses

heather's sewing and mending and crafting

lark & bower

Have you always wanted to learn how to weave?  Sarah Ward, Founder of Lark & Bower offers a variety of online weaving workshops including 'off-loom weaving', rock weaving, paper weaving and also darning and visible mending. 'Off-Loom' weaving is essentially weaving without a loom, around found objects like wood, tiles or rocks, using needle and thread.  It's brilliant for first time weavers, as it helps us to understand the basics of woven structure, without the added complexity of the loom. These workshops are suitable for all ages and all levels, from total beginner, to seasoned weavers - so if you're thinking of taking up weaving, or just looking for a new direction to take your craft, these workshops are a great place to start! The main focus of the workshop is the simple twill, and from there, we'll try a dogtooth, and even a check! We'll play with colour, texture and pattern and discover the magic of weaving. It's simpler than it looks! As an environmental activist, the main focus of Sarah's work is to share knowledge through craft. She uses her woven work to advocate weaving as an art form, encouraging the learning and passing on of skills in traditional crafts, keeping the ancient craft alive but also raising awareness about waste and the impact of fast fashion on our planet. 

isifiso

isifiso was born from a deep-seated love for the art of crafting and a commitment to sustainability. It is our belief that every stitch has a story to tell and every creation has the potential to make a positive impact.  Immerse yourself in a world of creativity and community at our workshops. Beyond the techniques of sewing and upcycling, our workshops are vibrant spaces where passion meets skill. Whether you're a novice or an experienced crafter, our expert instructors guide you through an immersive experience, fostering a sense of camaraderie and joy.

restoration london

Our focus is on reusing, recycling and upcycling existing garments. We hold workshops around London, encouraging participants to mend their favourite items of clothing instead of disposing them into landfill. Our workshops aim to introduce ways of mending clothing through various textile methods in order to fix, deconstruct or customise to revive much loved pieces. We aim to inspire people to learn new, invaluable skills and reconnect with textile techniques, encouraging creativity and mindfulness when it comes to your wardrobe. All of our workshops are available for special events and large group bookings - visit our PRIVATE EVENTS section to request a private booking. All of our workshops come with free tea, coffee and cake (including vegan options!) Here at RESTORATION LONDON we encourage mending your clothing and therefore offer a 10% discount to those bringing in their own item of clothing to either fix or use as fabric during the workshop.

london bike studio

The London Bike Studio took shape in founder Diego Padilla’s Hackney garage. More than expert repairs, his family and friends had a need for mechanical guidance, to help them understand how to truly maintain and care for their bicycles. Diego started small, mending neighbours bikes and holding maintenance classes around his cycling advocacy work with the council and mechanics teaching position with City & Guilds. Now the studio is open full time, holds regular cycle events and operates a pop-up workshop at Stroud Green Farmers Market.

tlz movement clothes

Nadia Piechestein is a London based sustainable Fashion Designer reimagining traditional mending to create contemporary fine fashion that challenges longevity and creativity. Her brand, TLZmovement, was one of the first ethical brands in Argentina, were she is from. Her sustainable approach combines textiles, slow fashion techniques and even a zero stock and waste production. The last collection brings together the most exquisite embroidery combined with natural fibers weaving in collaboration with local makers next to the studio in Isle of Dogs. You can bring them a garment and they will rework it with any of the techniques they use. If you want to learn how to do it they also give workshops where you can weave a piece and then sew it in the garment. Isn’t it fantastic?! You can participate every year during London Craft Week, Festivals or in their amazing studio space in Craft Central.

slow stitch club

Hi, I'm Skye. I’m based in Frome, Somerset and am the face behind slow stitch club. After studying fashion design at university, I graduated with a very different view of the industry, and wanted to push against it. From that point on I continued to learn and educate myself; about the vast quantities of clothing that is sent to landfill, the devastating environmental impacts of textiles production as well as the horrifying truths about garment workers and their lack of rights. The importance of caring for and extending the lives of the clothes that already exist in the world became hugely important to me, and I set out to help teach others about learning to fix their clothing through the practice of visible mending.

the edinburgh sewcial club

The Edinburgh Sewcial Club opened its doors in 2014 teaching dressmaking, sewing and other textiles crafts to people of all ages, levels of ability and experience in evening and weekend classes. Due to the success of the business in January 2017 The Edinburgh Sewcial Club expanded into a new larger studio to accommodate more students after all its not just about learning new skills its also about meeting other creative folks and being ‘sewcial’! However class sizes still remain no more than 6 people for dressmaking and Introduction to sewing, allowing each person ample 1 to 1 tutor time. The Edinburgh Sewcial club is open to everyone and has been teaching dressmaking to people as young as 9 and beginners at 7 years old! Everything is taught at a gentle pace so that you can learn at your own level. As well as dressmaking and sewing there are also a number of other textile crafts taught, beading, embroidery, up cycling & mending even fleece mermaid tail blankets! Its a fun and friendly environment! Please take a look at the gallery section to see a wide variety of clothes and soft furnishings which have been made during the classes and a lot of the beginners had never sewn before!

salt textiles

SALT Textiles is a meditation on a craft, founded by artist and self-taught dyer Jordan Maxwell. SALT pairs a reverence for nature with an evolving absorption of traditional crafts and esoteric practices. SALT explores our relationship to the everyday through natural materials and slow processes. Jordan considers not only the material aspect of textiles work but the subtle states conjured through intentional creative practice; working with the elements and matriarchal cycles. Jordan favours organic materials, forgotten methods and plant dyes when creating pieces for SALT. Though she works primarily within the medium of textiles, SALT also explores the devotional arts of meditation, tea ceremony and the Wise Woman Tradition. In addition to artwork and collections of functional objects, her craft is shared through natural dye workshops, mending circles and online programmes.

thread republic

Thread Republic is an affiliate of Mend Assembly (Totnes, Devon) along with Stitch Department (Ryde, Isle of Wight). Each group takes a local approach, working in our communities to offer alternatives to clothing consumption, use and disposal. Our shared knowledge will enable us to collaborate, explore and implement solutions to address issues of textile waste, lack of basic sewing and mending skills and clothing over-consumption. We are collaborative project bringing together creative practitioners, designer-makers, consultants and workshop leaders with a shared aim to provide goods and services which offer an alternative to the traditional linear lifecycle of our clothing and textiles. We believe in circular solutions. By celebrating the art of making, repair and repurposing we can ensure pieces stay in our lives for longer to be cherished and used frequently. Thread Republic is combining our joint expertise to build a community of like-minded makers, upcyclers, artists, crafters, alteration experts, menders and teachers who want to create and innovate together.