Open Sewing - Block-1

6 Week Course // Wednesdays, 12pm - 3pm // Cost: £290

January 28th - March 4th 2026

Level: Beginners and beyond // Instructor: Cassandra Belanger Founder of The Stitchery, Co-Founder of Zero Waste Design Collective and Founding Member of Sustainable Fashion Scotland

Join us for a six week block of open sewing sessions, supported by Stitchery founder Cassandra Belanger. Returning students and seasoned sewers are welcome on this sociable supported stitching session where you can work on your self-directed projects.

Open Sewing blocks offer the same expert guidance as our taught classes, but with no programmed course structure, giving you the freedom to work on your own projects at your own pace. In past terms students have made meaningful patchwork quilts, explored sustainability in sewing, and stitched garments in all shapes and sizes from dungarees to ball gowns!

Your instructor will be on hand to talk about customising and personalising your projects, helping you flex your creativity and develop your sewing skills. With sustainability in mind, Cassandra is always happy to walk you through a variety of alterations techniques to clothing and patterns. You can practice adjusting the clothes in your existing wardrobe for a perfect fit, or hacking your vintage and charity shop finds to suit your figure.

Your instructor will be there to assist with taking body measurements, adjusting the flat pattern to fit your specific body shape, seams and seam finishes, sleeves, darts, pockets, pleats and gathers, or whatever other issues you might encounter.

These intermediate level open sewing sessions are for ‘beyond beginners’ and improvers, which means it’s suitable for returning students, or anyone with previous experience of basic sewing and garment making.

And don't worry if you might miss one or two classes: we've plenty of opportunities to catch up through our additional sewing sessions or private tuition.

• Creating new textiles from second-hand textiles
• Garment deconstruction
• Upcycling methods and embellishments
• Strategies for resizing a garment
• Planning your project
• Repairing zippers
• Fitting tips

Course cost excludes:

• We have a sewing machine available for each student; although you can bring your own if you like.
• Cost of patterns
• Cost of fabric and haberdashery

Course cost includes:

• 6 x 3-hour lessons
• Use of sewing machine each

To book your place on this course, you will pay a non-refundable Booking Deposit of £50 through this Eventbrite page. This Booking Deposit goes towards course fees however, the remaining balance is due no later than two weeks PRIOR to course start. Once you’ve booked a place on the course, you will receive the details to bank transfer the final amount. We do it this way to avoid additional external fees. Please familiarise yourself with our Terms & Conditions before making your booking.

You can pay by PayPal or any major debit/credit card. NOTE: You do not need a PayPal account to make a booking. Simply click on the link which says "pay with a debit or credit card". It looks like this. Please note that deposits are non-refundable.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Non-Refundable Deposit

All of our courses and workshops require a deposit to book your place. Please note that the Booking Deposit is completely non-refundable.

Cancellation & Course Fees Refund

Because of the popularity of our courses and the limited number of spaces available, we've now introduced a Cancellation & Refund Policy. If you cancel your booking 14 or more full days before the start date of your course or workshop, you will be refunded the balance of your fees. This is equivalent to your full course fees minus your non-refundable deposit.

If you decide to cancel your place once the course has started, a refund is not guaranteed. In this situation we shall review the circumstances of the cancellation before deciding on appropriate solution.

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