Days 2 and 3 (Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September)
There will be seven workshops, each taking place over two days, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September. Workshop participants should attend both days. Participants will take part in one workshop and should state their first, second and third choices on the registration form. We will do our best to place you in your first choice but this may not be possible for everyone if some workshops are oversubscribed.
Information about what participants should bring with them, e.g. sewing kit, will be sent closer to the symposium dates.
Workshop sessions with a tutor will take place from 9.00am to 5.30pm, and participants will be be able to experiment with materials.
Click on a workshop name below to read more about it.
Corsetry
Workshop tutor: Kunza
Kunza is a corset designer and maker who is based in London and specialises in modern and historical corsetry. Her work has been showcased in the Victoria & Albert Museum and in period dramas such as Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, Emma, Pride and Prejudice and The Duchess, amongst many others.
This corset workshop will give an introduction to the history, design and making of historical corsets for stage, TV and film. Examples of corsets from different times in history (including some antique corsetry and boning such as whale bones, metal and plastic) will be on display to explore together in the classroom. How corsetry/stays created the desired silhouettes in fashion history and costume will be looked at.
The focus this year will be on Victorian/Edwardian corsets. Each participant will have the choice to sew a classic Victorian or Edwardian corset style for film or stage. A pattern will be provided that can be slightly adjusted, with help from the tutor. Participants will then cut the fabrics and start sewing the corsets, using the sewing machines provided. They will learn:
– what fabrics work best
– what stitching to use
– what corset boning to choose
– how to insert/attach the corset boning
– how to secure the boning and finish the corset
– how to insert eyelets
– the best way to lace a corset. If time allows participants will be encouraged to decorate their corsets with laces, ribbons and embellishment techniques such as corset flossing.
When registering, participants will be asked which corset style they would like to make, Victorian or Edwardian, and their size/measurements.
Costume Making for Stop Motion Amimation
Workhop tutor: Mo Clouting
Mo Clouting is a miniature costume maker. After completing a degree in Costume and Performance Design in Bournemouth she went on to study Model Making for Animation at the National Film and Television School. She has worked in the props department at Warner Brothers Studios and as a puppet maker for Brave Biscuit Studios in the South West. Her knowledge of fabric and love for all things miniature has lead her to her current position creating miniature costumes for stop motion puppet makers Mackinnon and Saunders.
Participants will learn miniature costume making techniques as everything is scaled down to produce some tiny garments fit for a stop motion animation puppet. During this two-day workshop you will be provided with a simple pattern and all materials for you to work with while learning a variety of techniques used within the animation costume making industry to make a miniature garment finished to a professional standard. You will have the opportunity to alter and embellish the pattern using embroidery, stencils and paints, alongside miniature buttons, zips and trims to make each of your tiny creations truly unique.
Dyeing and Enhancement
Workshop tutor: Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny is a prop costume maker, textile artist, leather worker and milliner for theatre, TV and film. He also teaches leathercraft, works as a visiting lecturer for costume at UAL Wimbledon and Nottingham Trent University and is an award-winning costume designer for theatre (Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Costume 2020).
He has worked as HoD in costume breakdown departments on films and TV shows such as The Northman, Game of Thrones Season 1,2 and 6, The Frankenstein Chronicles season 1, Halo-Nightfall, and Your Highness. Other credits include How to Train Your Dragon (live action), Dungeons and Dragons, Krypton S2, His Dark Materials, Outlander S4, The Golden Compass, City of Ember, The Wolfman, Your Highness, Pirates of the Carribbean 2, King Arthur and Ella Enchanted. He has created work for many UK-based theatres including ENO, NI Opera, ROH Covent Garden, National Theatre London, Sadlers Wells and the Lyceum Theatre London to name a few. Other theatre credits include shows at the Abbey Dublin; Lyric Belfast; Opera du Montpellier; Opera NI and Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Lisbon.
The two-day workshop will see students make a pair of leather vambraces (a piece of armour for the arm, especially the forearm) using vegetable tanned leather, exploring surface decoration, dyeing and finishing on leather.
Participants will also look at general costume breakdown including dry brushing, material abrasion/softening, air brushing, fabric manipulation and on set breakdown techniques.
Embroidery Embellishment
Workshop tutor: Michele Carragher
Michele Carragher is a London based author and mixed media artist who utilises the hand embroidered medium in her work. After attending the London College of Fashion where she studied fashion design, Michele worked in textile conservation, which has proven invaluable to her embroidery work on costumes for film and TV. She has worked in costume for over 25 years, initially as a general costume assistant until she drifted towards the embroidery and embellishment of costumes. Her first role as principal costume embroiderer was on the HBO/C4 miniseries Elizabeth I starring Dame Helen Mirren.
Michele has created hand embroidery, embellishment or textile art for various productions such as Assassin’s Creed, Peaky Blinders, The Crown (season 1), The Secret Garden (film 2020), Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings – The Rings of Power S2. Alongside her film work, in 2021 Michele published her first book entitled Trace, showcasing her artwork celebrating the embroidered medium.
For this year’s workshop, the focus will be on the diversity of techniques that you may be asked to undertake by different costume designers on a film/TV production for specific characters:
taking a look at three different types of embellishment, sharing insights into the research, design development, how to source the right materials to suit the character, the best approach to execute the embroidery and its application to the costume.
One embroidery will be a more highly textured fantasy piece and for this you will work on moss-like textures similar to those created for The Children of the Forest characters who were introduced to the narrative on Game of Thrones in season 4 (Michele Carragher).
The second embroidery will be something more decorative and jewelled for a character of higher status, something that would be fit for a queen, using more interesting materials such as beetle wing sequins or mother of pearl veneer and seeing how to creatively integrate these into an embroidered trim, such as those for Queen Alicent on House of the Dragon season 2 (Caroline McCall).
Lastly something for a character of lower status incorporating an element of fantasy, utilising darned mending to create subtle patterned textures similar to those on the jackets worn by the character Dickon for the 2020 film adaptation of The Secret Garden (Michele Clapton). It was imagined that the jacket for this character was handed down to him by his father and had been darned and mended many times over. The darned patching takes the form of birds, with starlings swooping around the shoulders of the jacket, a robin on the breast pocket and a kingfisher taking flight on the back. The first version of this jacket introduced on the screen within the narrative was simply in the brown tones of the fabric, the second version had colour shaded into the design, representing the children’s growing friendship echoed within the secret garden itself as it bursts into life.
Handmade Gloves
Workshop tutor: Riina Õun
Riina Õun is a multi-disciplinary designer and a materials researcher for her brand Riina O. Established in 2013, the company initially focused on crafting luxurious leather gloves. In recent years the material research and development has emerged alongside, concentrating on traceless biodegradable materials within regenerative design. Driven by the mission to carry on the traditional skill of hand-making leather gloves, whilst combining it with modern technological advantages, Riina O is part of the ethical fashion movement. Alongside seasonal collections of exquisite couture gloves, Riina O offers a bespoke service, catering to the unique needs of clients in film, editorial and commercial industries. www.riinao.com. Riina Õun was a finalist for the Heritage Craft England Maker of the Year award 2024.
In Riina’s workshop, participants will be invited to immerse themselves in the craft of glove-making, learning invaluable skills such as precise cutting and intricate hand-sewing techniques.
Men's Period Tailoring
Workshop tutor: Gillian Carew
Having moved to London in 1997, Gillian secured a position in the Men’s Tailoring department as an apprentice at Angel’s Costumiers. Progressing to head tailor and on to head cutter, she gained an enormous amount of invaluable experience working on a wide variety of costumes for film, TV and theatre. In 2010, she moved to Dublin and set up as a freelance cutter and tailor, continuing her work in the costume industry in Ireland. Alongside this she holds a half-time costume technical lecturer post at the Institute of Art Design and Technology.
Waistcoats are the smallest of menswear pieces and yet often make the biggest impact. In men’s tailoring we often start learning our craft with the construction of waistcoats since they involve many of the essential tailoring components, such as canvasing and pockets. In this workshop participants will be supplied with a waistcoat pattern, a selection of samples at different process stages and comprehensive instruction to guide them through the intricacies of waistcoat construction. We will discuss various styles, the development of the garment, how utterly fabulous they are, and why we should get everyone wearing waistcoats.
Millinery
Workshop tutor: Sean Barrett
Sean trained in theatre design at Wimbledon School of Art and after graduating pursued a career in millinery, working on many film, television and theatre productions. Film highlights have included Elizaneth and Elizabeth the Golden Age, Shakespeare in Love, Interview with a Vampire, Alice, Through the Looking Glass, Cheri, Anna Karenina and the upcoming Barbie the Movie and Nosferatu. Television work includes The Crown, Downton Abbey, Gentleman Jack and the upcoming Disney series The Adventures of Renegade Nell. Theatre work includes Wicked, My Fair Lady, Chitty Bang Bang, Follies and Moulin Rouge.
In Sean’s workshop participants will be making a mid nineteenth century mourning bonnet using a variety of materials, covering techniques like blocking, wiring and adapting a pattern. Basic materials and ribbons will be provided but if anyone wants to bring along any trimming that they would particularly like to use please feel free to do so. Although everyone will be making the same style of hat there will be plenty of scope for personal expression.
