Summer fashion courses in London

We’re getting ready for the start of our Summer of Sewing at Fashion Antidote!

With the launch of some exciting new courses and the return of faithful favourites, we've got a packed schedule of summer schools coming up the excite our sewing minded students.

Throughout July and August we have week-long intensive courses, and shorter daytime courses in cutting and construction, all of which are booking up already! Here’s a run down of what happening and when:

Summer School 1 Week Intensives

Garment construction Stage1 – join us for a week of sewing and making, in this beginner crash course in gaining excerpt professional skills in sewing and garment construction. Starting with the basics and getting straight on with making clothes, this course is great for the absolute beginner and those with existing skills also.

£525 – 25 hours

July 21^st – 25^th

August 4^th – 8th

Garment construction Stage2 – The second stage of Garment Construction week intensive courses, ideal for intermediate sew-ers. In this week you will learn to make a classic shirt and a pair of trousers.

£425 – 20 hours

August 11^th – 14th

Pattern Cutting stage1 and 2 – The ultimate 1 week beginners Pattern Cutting course, perfect for all those wishing to get an excellent understanding of the method of pattern cutting, and really get to grip with the skill – no previous experience necessary. This week covers the skirt, dress and bodice block, collars and sleeves and drafting a pattern.

£525 – 25 hours

July 28^th – 1^st August

August 18^th – 22^nd

Pattern Cutting Stage3 and 4 – The second stage of our Pattern Cutting week intensive course. Join us for this week if you’d like to learn how to draft a pattern for a classic shirt and a pair of trousers to a professional, industry standard.

£424 – 20 hours

August 25^th – 28^th

3 day Intensive home dressmakingcourse – We’ve put together 5 of our most popular home dressmaking courses to deliver a intensive course packed with skills for making garments. In 3 days cover all the skills from our Learn to Sew, Fabric Knowledge, Body Measurements, How to Choose a Pattern and How to make a Skirt courses, and leave with all the skills and knowledge to jump right into making garments.

£240 – 15 hours

August 11^th – 13^th

Teens courses! - We’ve developed 3 days of courses in fashion skills especially for teens over the summer. Covering Fashion Drawing and Illustration, Fashion Design and Learn to sew and make a tote bag, these courses are intended to give students a real taste of the fashion industry, to inform their career choices and develop their creative strengths. The courses and fun and informative, and set in the exciting area of Brick Lane, full of vintage shops, markets and boutiques.

£52 each day – 4 hours a day

Tuesday 5th August

Wednesday 6th August

Thursday  7th August

September programme – and then it’s back to our next term of weekly courses in Garment Construction and Pattern cutting! Stages 1 through 5 cover making and cutting for a whole range of garments suitable for both men’s and womenswear, a skirt, dress, shirt, trousers and lined jacket. These courses run as Evenings, Weekends and Daytimes and are bookable in short weekly stages.

We're hiring! - Sewing tutor needed

We're looking for a new Sewing tutor - could it be you?

Vacancy for Sewing Tutor

We are looking for a part time Sewing and Garment Construction tutor, to teach our Learn To Sew classes, and some short Garment Construction courses, among others. See our Website for more details.

This would involve working on a flexible basis to our timetable, including some evenings, weekends and week blocks. Our classes are small and never more than 9 students, but a strong, confident personality is vital, and ideally the applicant will have some teaching experience, though this is not essential.

The applicant MUST have at least 4 years’ experience working in the fashion industry as a MAKER – whether that is as a seamstress, independent designer, costumier etc, sewing should be second nature to you, and you should be able to tackle a wide variety of garments. You should have a good knowledge of industrial manufacturing methods as well as home dressmaking technique.

There is the potential to teach more classes, depending on the applicants skill set. There is also potential for developing your own courses, again depending on your skill set and your experience with these areas.

Duties and Responsibilities

·         Teaching sewing and garment construction classes on a part time basis.

·         Representing the studio through professional and thoughtful execution of classes.

·         Take part in the preparation of facilities and resources before your course, to ensure that they are supplied and maintained in safe and effective working order.

·         Assist with the preparation of materials, equipment and consumables for students on your course.

·         Assisting with promotion of courses you are involved in, through your personal network and beyond, including social media and online methods.

Qualification/Knowledge and Experience

·         Minimum 4 years experience in working in a similar role

·         Teaching experience is preferable but not essential

·         Relevant experience/qualifications. Please specify

·         Experience of working as a member of a team, providing support, assistance and cover where needed.

·         To be highly organised and able to prioritise

·         Fluent spoken & written English

·         Excellent verbal and written communication skills

·         Ability to apply knowledge and experience and sharing information

·         Excellent attention to detail

How to Apply

Please, send your CV and covering letter where you explain what you bring to the role and how you meet the criteria of the job. - email Susan at info@fashionantidote.com

Fashion courses for Teenagers over Easter

Fashion courses for Teenagers over Easter

Last years teen courses

This Easter join us for our Fashion Courses for teens!

these courses are ideal for girls and boys between 12 - 16, and iclude fashion Illustration, fashion Design, Sewing Skills and Making a Tote bag! 

Teens are welcome to join us for all three days, or just one or two. We're based in the bright and vibrant area of Brick Lane, East London, ideal for some sight seeing after the class, with Spitalfields market and the famous Brick Lane vintage stores so nearby.

This course will be available to book via our website, and  if you would like to register your interest for specific dates now please email info@fashionantidote.com 

Please feel free to get in touch if you need any further information!

Last years teen courses

Last years teen courses

Fashion Drawing and Illustration

Would you like to learn how to make fashion drawings and create a professional looking illustration of your own fashion designs? Learn how to draw fashion figures, faces, clothing and textiles to fashion industry standards. In this class you will learn how use a variety of different media to draw the fashion figure and develop a set of figure poses. It will teach you how to draw the body, hands, feet and the face in proportion. You’ll learn sketching, design drawing, and how to produce a creative fashion Illustration for a design of your own

10.30 am to 2 30pm        3.5  hours includes  a 20 min breakTuesday 15^th AprilPrice £52           includes materials

 Fashion Design
Are you interested in fashion and now want to try creating your own designs?
This course will give you a taste of the Fashion Design Process. The course will cover sources of inspiration, trend and fabric research. You will create a trend board plastered with images to inspire. Through sketching and drawing you’ll learn how develop your fashion design ideas and create a range of fashion outfits. You will then draw out the range as a line up and make a presentation board of your designs with colour and fabric suggestions.
10.30 am to 2 30pm        3.5 hours  includes  a 20 min  breakWednesay 16^th AprilPrice £52           includes materials

 
Learn to Sew and Make a Tote Bag
Whether you’re an absolute beginner or already have some sewing experience, you will gain lots of great sewing skills in this workshop. We start with winding the bobbin and threading the machine, you’ll then produce samples of stitches, make an open seam and a closed seam, learn how to finish raw edges and sew a corner and make a buttonhole.  You will then construct a tote bag that you can decorate with a selection of trims.10.30 am to 2 30pm        3.5  hours includes  a 20 min  breakThursday 17^th AprilPrice £52           includes materials

Class Pictures - Inside our classes

   

East London Vintage Tour – Make a Vintage Skirt

Being based in Brick Lane means that we're lucky enough to be surrounded by an eclectic mix of boutiques, bars, restaurants, amazing Indian food and of course, lots of far too tempting vintage stores...

To make the most of this, we're adapting our Make a skirt course to include a trip down Brick Lane to see some of the best vintage stores, get inspired and maybe buy some vintage fabric, and then we'll head back to our studio to make your own retro inspired pencil skirt. Shopping and sewing - not a bad way to spend the day in London!

Itinerary
We will start the day with a get together in the studio to give you the low down of what’s in store for the day. We will then set out for our tour of Brick Lane where you can experience the sights and sounds of one of London’s hippest streets.

We will visit the many retro stores and places of interest including Rokit, This Shop Rocks, London’s first vintage department store Blitz and “The Shop” where there will be a chance to purchase vintage fabrics. Back in the studio you will cut out and make a simple pencil skirt in either you purchased fabric or a fabric of your choice.

You must be able to sew and have made at least one garment before to join the course.

By 4pm you will then be ready to head home with a newly made skirt and vintage finds or maybe head off to one of the many bars or restaurants in the area.

Dates and times:
Thursday 15th November
Saturday 24th November
Saturday 8th December
Thursday 20th January
Saturday 30th January

10am to 4pm 6 hours including lunch break
Price £100

Minimum numbers of participants for each date are 5 and maximum are 10. Please call 02073753235 to book this exclusive course!

OPPORTUNITIES: Getting started with an online presence

In an age over-saturated by media and the immediacy of the internet, not having an online presence is a fatal mistake for a freelancer or business start-up.

An online portfolio or show-case of your work is an essential, and surprisingly easy, tool for any freelancer to utilise. Treat them as a flexible, interactive and easy to find business cards, and add info about you and your business, images and social media to connect and inform your visitors.

Photographers or fashion illustrators –upload your finest images and share them with potential collaborators and employers with an easy to follow link.

Freelance designers, garment makers and fashion labels – create a shop on many of the online boutiques – asos marketplace or etsy are great for start-ups – and even get an integrated shop and sell your designs online. We suggest secure payment such as Paypal to reassure your customers.

Stylists and art directors – websites of your images of your work are great for you too of course, but a blog or tumblr showing your personal likes, interests, connections and thoughts is a great way to display your style. Promote yourself, get followers and get your name recognised.

 

Carbonmade.com

Carbonmade is a free portfolio site, great for illustrators, artists and designers, that is really user friendly and easy to use. The free version is limited to a certain number of pictures, but its great for starting out. Check it out here: http://carbonmade.com/

Etsy

Etsy is the handmade marketplace. Their innovative personal online boutique style actually allows you to communicate with your customer and sell your wares. Click here for a blog post about good selling practice within Etsy for tips on making a higher profit on your sales. 

We will soon be including hand-outs about creating an online portfolio as a part of our Design courses, Skills Training Programme and of course Business courses.

Loving East London

This shop front illustration has recently popped up right around the corner from us - we saw the process of the painting going up last week and the finished product is so striking. Never a dull minute in our creative corner of London.

We like to make the most of being based in such a creatively rich area, by integrating tours and trips around the local markets, studios, shops boutiques and exhibitions in with our regular short courses.

We call these our Fashion Days Out, and they are exactly that, a chance to get out about in London visiting the most amazing and inspiring fashion destinations. Based on either Vintage fashion or InsideLondon fashion and culture, our Fashion Days Out make the most of our wonderful city and combine lectures, talks and sewing skills with guided tours and visits (and a fair bit of shopping)

Have a peek at the site for more about these fabulous weekends and for details on how to book.

Special event coming up?

We can also tailor days or weekends to you – if you’d like to organise a Fashion Day Out with a group for a special event, birthday, anniversary, celebration or part of a holiday – we can tailor a package to your interests and find a date to suit you. We just need confirmation of a group size of at least 8. Call for more details on 02073753235 or email info@fashonantidote.com

Great new shape - Make a Pencil Skirt

The pencil skirt is in this season  - classy and feminine, all very 40's - and we've worked in a special pencil skirt class to our garment construction courses to keep your sewing projects bang on trend. 

Our make a pencil skirt class will show you how to use a commercial pattern, lay, mark and pin pattern to fabric and cut out. You will sew seams and darts insert a lapped zip, attach a waistband, make and attach a lining, hem and press and finish your skirt ready to wear. This workshop is a good follow on from our learn to sew courses and enables you to put your newly learnt skills into practice. Learn some life long skills and leave with a beautiful pencil skirt.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A JOB IN FASHION?

Whether you are a graduate with a fashion related degree, already working in the industry but not sure what to next or want a change of career and considering fashion - this course will give a real insight into the business and show you what you need to make your next move. Whether you are looking for your first or next job we will set you on the right path and help you get into the fashion industry.

How to Get A Job In Fashion

The course runs over 3 Monday evenings in 2 hour sessions, includes a C.V and portfolio review, and costs £85.

After 25 successful years in the fashion industry our tutors will give you commercial information vital to any career, to help you stand out against the competition and increase your chances of successfully finding employment, as well as supplying you with key contacts to help you on your way.

Contact info@fashionantidote.com, or call 02073753235 today to secure your place.

Fresh New Courses

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN A NEW SKILL?

We've got lots of new dates and courses up on the website, everything from sewing skills to business classes. 

 

We've got new Garment Construction dates; pop into our studio to learn to make a skirt, dress or shirt from a commercial pattern. We've also made a new Bring your own project class; come and use our studio and top facilities, including cutting tables, machines, over lockers and mannequins and get some experienced help with a tricky project.

There are lots more, check out the website for a full listing, and we're also on HotCourses.

All the skills you'd ever need for professional fashion... Fashion Antidote Summer School

 

Places are filling up fast for our Summer School - a condensed program of professional fashion skills, spread over 7 weeks spent in our studio just off Brick Lane. 

 Go the whole hog and spend the whole 7 weeks with us, gaining priceless knowledge and skills in all areas of fashion design and garment construction, or pick and choose what area suits your needs, with packages spanning Pattern Cutting, Garment Construction, Fashion Design, Fashion Drawing and Fashion Business.

See the website for more details.

Fashion Skills Training Programme

We're now in full swing with our new fashion skills training programme here at Fashion Antidote.

We’re really excited about this new edition to our courses; a comprehensive full programme of skills for the fashion industry, covering garment construction, pattern cutting, drawing and design and marketing aspects. Students on this course will learn all the skills they need to design, cut and make a commercially viable collection and to analyse their place within the market. This is the first time we have run such a full comprehensive course, and our current students are flying through, finishing next week

Want to become a fashion expert?

The course will be expanding in September, but we are currently running the course as both a full programme covering all aspects of design for industry, and as individual sections, for those who want high quality tuition of industry level skills on a specific aspect.
By doing so, students can either gain a broad but detailed understanding of the fashion design industry as a whole on the full programme, or gain expertise in a specific skill through the smaller sections.
The sections are: Pattern Cutting, Garment Construction, and Design for a Fashion Collections, check out the website for more details. 

Looking for something less extensive? 
Simply want to learn to sew? Have a peek at our popular Learn To Sew classes. Running throughout the week including evenings and weekends they are flexible, affordable and fun.

Fashion Antidote Summer School

For more information contact 0207 375 3235

Make the most of the sunny weather

Its another beautiful day on Brick Lane, why not get ready for summer with our Make a Dress workshop?

Spend the day in our Brick Lane Studio, learning all the skills you need to create a simple dress, and leave with your finished garment. Perfect for those just looking to gain a few more sewing skills, if you're interested in creating simple dresses, or even as a stepping stone if you're looking to embark on a career in fashion.

All equipment and patterns are provided, as well as expert one to one tuition, just bring your own fabric. For more info see here. We look forward to seeing you!

The new programme gets under way

This sunny weekend saw the long awaited start of our new programme, with the first of the Garment Construction tuition.

We’re really excited about this new edition to our courses; a comprehensive full programme of skills for the fashion industry, covering garment construction, pattern cutting, drawing and design and marketing aspects. Students on this course will learn all the skills they need to design, cut and make a commercially viable collection and to analyse their place within the market. This is the first time we have run such a full comprehensive course, and the first weekend saw a great turn out of eager students getting their teeth into some essential sewing skills.

Want to become a fashion expert?

The course will be expanding in September, but we are currently running the course as both a full programme covering all aspects of design for industry, and as individual sections, for those who want high quality tuition of industry level skills on a specific aspect.

 By doing so, students can either gain a broad but detailed understanding of the fashion design industry as a whole on the full programme, or gain expertise in a specific skill through the smaller sections.

 The sections are: Pattern Cutting, Garment Construction, and Design for a Fashion Collections, check out the website for more details.

A few places still remain on the individual segments, for more information please contact us on 0207 375 3235, or email to info@fashionantidote.com.

 

Do you dream of being a designer?

The Fashion Design - Design a Fashion Collection for a Target Customer segment will be running from Friday, June 3 to Friday, July 29. Focussing on the design process and analysing target customers and the commercial market, this block of classes will provide all the skills and knowledge a student needs to design a viable collection. 

Taught by a team of experienced industry practitioners and tutors, the course covers a whole range of necessary skills and knowledge over 36 hours, perfect for to learn all the ins and outs of the fashion design world. Learn to create moodboards, analyse trends, and identify your target market; draw on inspirations and research to create a unique collection, and study the branding, costing and pricing and the technical drawings to realise it.

 For a full break down of the extensive skills covered in the course, see the website here.

Looking for something less extensive? Simply want to learn to sew? Have a peek at our popular Learn To Sew classes.

Fashion Antidote at the Papered Parlour event at the V&A

Samples from our Garment Construction workshops

Last Thursday saw The V&A Museum of Childhood team up with The Papered Parlour to hold "Ethical Fashion in the Age of Austerity" event.  A mini festival of fair trade celebrating slow fashion.

There was a selection of London's finest crafty types, with workshops, talks and live performances throughout the night.  Fashion Antidote had a stall and work shop there, to make a skirt from mens shirts. It was a great success, and those who took part were really pleased with the outcome. Including Kirby Stebbing, who then blogged about her experience. It was a heart warming story for us back in the office Monday morning, more about her to come.

From our 'make a pair of knickers' workshop

The workshop in full swing 

Other stalls included Tatty Devine, Shoreditch Sisters, and many others while there was live music performances and talks happening including paper dress exhibits. The one I did happen to catch was Katie Antoniou who showed off some vintage styling.

Paper dresses

The event was part of Time Outs first Thursday's with an expected crowd of 400, 900 turned up, so it was a great success.