This month, as part of our 25th anniversary festivities, we’re celebrating the creative spirit in all its aspects and are hosting a series of talks and workshops on the meaning of creativity and how to best get involved in the creative arts. With this mood of inspiration in mind, we’ve put together this guide to help people get creative.
FASHION
Compiled by COURTNEY EVANS
ALL SEWN UP WORKSHOPS
Various dates depending on course
Dunvant, Swansea
All Sewn Up has been spreading the joy of sewing and creating products throughout south Wales since setting up its workshops in 2010. The workshops are available for beginners and individuals who want to improve their skills in sewing and use a wide range of different fabrics to create both fashionable and desirable products. With many workshops to choose from for beginners and experts, All Sewn Up offers a range of services for everyone. It also offers a variety of different fabrics to purchase in different styles and patterns for those interested in creating their own designs.
Admission: prices vary per course
Info: 07867 915993 / www.allsewnupwales.co.uk
CARDIFF FASHION WEEK 2017
Various locations, Cardiff
Sat 28 Oct-Wed 4 Nov
This is a week-long celebration of fashion, design and style, promoting Cardiff as an epicentre of fashion for a range of people and featuring products which have been sold across Wales. CFW promotes and celebrates fashion created by designers, students, retail outlets, and hair and beauty artists. As well as a fashion showcase, there will also be a number of events taking place across the city, including charity fundraising activities and style workshops.
Admission: £10/£15 VIP
Info: www.visitcfw.co.uk
LEE MILL FABRICS
Oxford Street, Swansea
This fabric store has traded for 40 years for a range of individuals including dressmakers, professionals, hobbyists and students, providing quality fabrics at very low prices. It has over 10,000 fabrics to choose from in a variety of patterns, including McCall’s patterns, cottons and polyester. They are also able to post examples of fabric for free if you’re unsure of what you’re looking for.
Info: 01792 468504 / www.leemillfabrics.co.uk
CARDIFF VINTAGE KILO SALE
Portland House, Bute Street, Cardiff
Sun 7 May
Five tonnes of retro-style clothing is coming to Cardiff, to be sold at a mere £15 per kilo. From vintage t-shirts to denim jackets, jumpers, shorts, skirts and accessories from the 1970s onwards, this and other Kilo Sales provide a range of different materials, patterns and accessories to create many designs. As such, they’re perfect events for fashion designers to gather material from.
Admission: £3 11am entry/£1.50 12pm entry
Info: www.judysvintagefair.co.uk/events/cardiff-vintage-kilo-sale-4
LOVE YOUR CLOTHES – BEGINNERS MACHINE SEWING
Sat 13, 20 + 27 May
Sew Lovely, Glebe Street, Penarth
This workshop offers beginners and rusty returners an opportunity to learn how to sew and to create products from a range of fabrics. Being one of the most popular classes with Love Your Clothes, it will teach you how to sew independently and with confidence. The workshop covers a range of techniques including how to thread-up, making seams, adding a zip and making buttonholes to help you create products in the future.
Admission: £85 per person which includes all materials
Info: loveyourclothes.org.uk/events/beginners-machine-sewing-0
BUTTERFLY FABRICS
City Road, Cardiff
Butterfly Fabrics offers an extensive and exclusive range of patchwork and quilting, bridal, evening and fancy dress fabrics. The fabric store stocks thousands of different fabrics for fashion designers to choose one. It is one of the largest independent fabric stores in Wales, and it has sourced its fabrics from around the world.