CATCH UP with KETCHUP I Sustainable Fashion Workshops

Join us for a series of fashion-focused workshops by Ketchup Clothes that will develop your skills in recycling unwanted textiles and clothes into beautiful gifts for yourself and others. All sessions will have an informal flow to them where participants will be encouraged to share ideas as well as learning techniques and experimenting with the materials at hand. Learn about the fashion industry, how you can disrupt it while developing your unique style. You will develop your confidence, learn basic techniques and unleash your individual style! These sessions are perfect for anyone wanting to improve their sewing skills, explore their personal style and design techniques and learn more about the impact of the fashion industry on our planet. 

You can sign up for the full 7 week course or select individual workshops you would like to attend. The full course costs £40 and each individual workshop costs £6 per session and take place Wednesday evenings 6.30-8.30pm at Left Bank. 

2^nd Nov Fashion from Found Fabrics

Explore issues of waste in the fashion industry and find out what you can do as a consumer/maker to mitigate the disastrous environmental impacts it is having. Bring something from your own wardrobe that could do with a revamp or an ongoing project that you haven’t quite finished yet, Let's bring the passion back into fashion!

9^th Nov Easy Going Sewing

Get to grips with machines and learn methods for sewing and attaching different materials in this hand-on session. Aimed at all skill levels you will find what techniques and equipment works for you and put this towards design ideas for a personal project.

16^th Nov Who Am I? Developing a Design Identity

Continuing with experimentation into a variety of techniques, this session will explore how we can communicate our identity through the media we have at hand. Has there always been something you would like to say, how would you represent yourself in colour, how can we communicate this through our designs and craftiness?

23^rd Nov Share the Love

Making Sustainable Gifts. Drawing from techniques learnt and examples on show, attention will be turned to the spreading of love and embodying this into a gift, for not only yourself or loved one but also planet Earth . We want to make something that is going to stand the test of time so thinking hats on for how it can be truly sustainable.

30^th Nov Knit a T shirt

Informal skills session that will look at how you can cut up and knit an old t shirt into a variety of products. Help will also be on hand for personal projects and general assistance with sewing and upcycling too.

7^th Dec Tis The Season

Explore applique, beading, embroidery and general embellishment techniques as we reimagine the ultimate in Christmas Jumpers. Bring on the bling and sparkle as we cosy in for the season.

14^th Dec It’s a Wrap

Are there more sustainable ways of wrapping and labelling our gifts and what may they be? This session will look at simple block printing and stencilling as ways of embellishing paper and textiles to give that personalised touch. Make boxes to store goodies, tags to label and decorations to dangle all made from rubbish.

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Your Tutor is Dr Karen Dennis, owner of Ketchup Clothes, designer and maker of unique recycled clothing. Karen Dennis AKA Kazza Ketchup has been pioneering the way forward with upcycled clothes since the early 90’s and is known for her quirky yet functional clothing made solely from found and discarded materials. Ketchup was born in Leeds 6 and grew out of the waste left in the wake of the transient student population. With roots in the charity sector, her second-hand garments are cleverly reimagined and manufactured to a high level of finish.

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