Textiles & Fashion: Advanced Sustainable Sewing - Visible Mending

Come and join a new course aimed at the more advanced machine sewn bag maker. Previous experience of the sewing machine is necessary, but we will refresh on tips and practise existing sewing machine skills. You will have the choice of a range of bag patterns that will focus on specific bag making skills and/or create your own patterns from the skills you will learn. This course will also delve into advanced techniques such as installing zippers and creating adjustable straps, enhancing the functionality and style of your handmade bags. We will make 2-3 bags throughout the course with sustainability in mind. Skills covered and improved on will include: seams and hems, buttonholes, inserting zips, sewing and reinforcing corners, sewing curves and darts. Specific bag skills will cover inserting a range of black closures, bag handles, different ways to create shape and create bag bases.  We will discuss how designers can consider sustainability and look at where resources can be bought sustainably and ethically. Through class discussions and through an image board on Canvas we can share inspiration and ideas and come up with designing and making our own bag shapes to a specific creative brief. We will meet online weekly for 11 weeks and the tutor will demonstrate each step of the bags, these will be recorded for you to refer to between the sessions. There will also be handouts to use and plenty of inspiration through class discussions and links to websites and Pinterest.