Sew-cial at The Bowes
Unleash your creativity in our Vivienne Westwood–inspired sewing workshops. Each of the six sessions stands alone with a complete project, while together they form a creative journey exploring style, technique, and self-expression of stitches, samples and wearable art.
£55 per session.
Recommended for adults, spaces must be booked in advance. No additional equipment necessary. All levels of experience welcome.
Workshop 2: Rebel Heritage: Appliqué & Embellishment Inspired by The Orb Era (1986–1988), 10 May
A creative textiles session inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s Orb period (1986–1988), exploring identity through appliqué, embellishment, and free-motion embroidery. Participants reinterpret classic British motifs—tartan, tweed, the Orb logo—into bold, subversive fabric art pieces celebrating individuality and the playful clash between heritage and rebellion.
Workshop 3: The Mutineer Wrap: Draping Rebellion, 14 June
Inspired by McClaren’s Pirates (1981), this session explores freedom and improvisation through draping. Participants will sculpt a wrap blouse from a single fabric rectangle, experimenting with ties, gathers, and asymmetry. The process celebrates deconstruction, romantic rebellion, and the tactile spontaneity that defined the punk-pirate aesthetic of early 1980s fashion.
Workshop 4: Storm-Stitched: The Eccentric Garden Bag, 12 July
Inspired by Kronthaler’s Storm in a Teacup (1996/97), this workshop celebrates clashing tartans, bias cuts, and the beauty of fabric backs. Participants explore creative sewing techniques — combining machine stitching with expressive hand finishes — to craft a distinctive bag reflecting the playful unpredictability of an English garden party and Fables de la Fontaine.
Workshop 5: Rebel Reconstructed: Denim Punkature Workshop, 9 August
Inspired by Malcolm McLaren’s Punkature (1983), participants will transform recycled denim into either a rebellious wrap skirt or patchwork vest. In this hands-on session, they’ll explore sustainable design through deconstruction, raw-edge finishing, visible stitching, patchwork layering, and creative fastening — celebrating imperfection, individuality, and punk’s DIY couture spirit.
Workshop 6: The Corseted T-Shirt – Deconstructed Street Corsetry, 6 September
Inspired by Vivienne Westwood’s Pirate collection, this design transforms an oversized T-shirt into a rebellious corseted form. Combining drape and structure, it uses panel insertion, lacing, and raw-edge finishing. Techniques include eyelet setting, topstitching, asymmetric neckline shaping, and soft boning construction, merging historical corsetry with modern deconstructed streetwear aesthetics.
FROM THE BOWES MUSEUM SHOP
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