The Sewing Room

The Sewing Room is delivering workshops at Sydney Design 2010. The design festival runs for 16 days from Saturday 31 July to Sunday 15 August. The program is produced by the Powerhouse Museum in partnership with more than 50 cultural institutions, organisations and individuals across Sydney. The program looks amazing with more than 70 events.

The ‘tell us a story’ theme will reveal the many captivating stories behind design ideas, objects and processes. It will invite participants to create meaningful conversations with others around design, and enable people to connect with design on a more personal level.

The Powerhouse is holding a major exhibition called ‘Creating the look’ this exhibition draws on the highly successful partnership between photographer Bruno Benini and stylist Hazel Benini from 1950 to 2000. And explores the creative processes involved in styling, crafting and designing powerful eye-catching fashion photographs.

Don’t forget to drop into the designer markets. Young Blood: designers market showcases emerging Australian designers and designboom mart features the young, avant-garde of international design. Visitors can meet and buy direct from designers at both evening (Friday only) and daytime markets from 13-15 August.

The youngest of designers will take part in a Kids Design Weekend from 31 July-1 August. Weekend highlights include the first paper plane academy; a pop-up book workshop; a children’s storytelling museum tour; paper doll fashion design in Frock stars: inside Australian Fashion Week; and a fashion photography collage workshop linked to Creating the look: Benini and fashion photography.

The Sewing Room will be delivery “ The Felt my Tote workshop’  How to refashion a woolen knit jumper from an op-shop into a fabulous tote bag on 11am – 3pm, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 August (two-day workshop) at the Powerhouse Museum.

From Vinnies to designer chic! Bring along an old woollen jumper – from an op shop or from home – and re-fashion it into a gorgeous tote bag. Using the ancient process of felting, the old jumper will be deconstructed and reborn as a brand new accessory. Let your imagination run wild as you cut, fold, sew and appliqué your tote bag, stamping it with your own personality. All you need to bring is an old woollen knit jumper or woollen garment; all other sewing equipment and materials will be supplied.

The following workshops will be in the bright and busy The Sewing Room .

Whether a beginner or an expert, these sewing workshops will inspire you to push the boundaries of your creativity. Expand your existing techniques or try something completely new at these fun and educational events. With beading, embroidery, pleating, t-shirts, fashion design and illustration on offer, there’s plenty of choice. Nimble fingers and an open mind can lead to all kinds of beautiful outcomes.

Tambour Beading:
Saturday 14 August, 10am-4pm
$200

Fashion Design & Colour Theory:
Sunday 1 August, 11am-4pm & Friday 13 August, 10am-2.30pm
$100

Fashion Illustration:
Saturday 31 July, 10am-4pm
$125

Introductory Embroidery Stitches & Beading Techniques:
Saturday 7 August, 10am-4pm & Wednesday 4 August, 10am-4pm
$125

Pleating In Fashion:
Wednesday 4 August, 10am-3pm & Sunday 8 August, 11am-4pm
$125

Chic T-Shirt Manipulations:
Friday 6 August, 11am-4pm & Sunday 14 August, 11am-4pm
$ 150

To book, please call Penelope Leonard on 93600585 or email bookings@thesewingroom.com.au

Thank you to everyone who registered their interest for an evening with Bronwyn Darlington. The response was incredible, it was exciting to see that so many people are passionate about sustainable fashion. I can forsee that this will be one of many forums to be held at The Sewing Room.

Bronwyn provides advice to textile and clothing or other companies on creating ethical and sustainable clothing lines including supply chain design and advice and certifications such as Fair Trade, Carbon Neutral, Carbon offset, Organic Ethical Clothing Australia (formerly ‘No Sweatshop’) and Australian Made.
Bronwyn Darlington, (B.A., M.A) has worked extensively in fashion manufacturing. This has been in both internal and consulting capacities with sustainability as a core focus. Her presentation at this forum will be a consideration of how we can apply social, environmental and cultural benefits to the fashion and textile industry. In addition to setting up Darlington Consulting, she was founder of Rise Up Productions and until recently served as a member of the Australian Government’s Textile Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Industry Innovation Council.
This evening would be of interest to Designers, Manufacturers and anyone interested in the ethical manufacturing of clothing.
The schedule
Best to arrive between 5.30 and 6.15pm with Bronwyns talks to begin at 6.30pm and to conclude at 8pm to allow for the opportunity to participate in general discussion. The Forum fee is $45 per person.

Wednesday 26th May 10am to 11.30am

May is Morning Tea time. So tea up your friends and workmates to come down to the Sewing Room @ The Fashion & Textile Gallery on Wednesday 26th May to help tip the balance in the fight against cancer. It will be just like one of our fabulous classes with all the fun, laughter and you know how much I love a good story. So come along, have a chat and bring your lastest creative project for show and tell. You’ll be making a difference, because every cup counts.

No need to book just pop in, see you then.

The Fashion and Textile Gallery has on displayed the ArtyBra collection from the 23rd April – 10th May. More then a hundred gorgeous, colourful, wonderful, fantastic works of ArtyBra have been created to raise money for Blue Mountains Cancer Help.

Come in and have a look at the truely amazing handy work that has gone on.
Fifteen of bras are on “silent” auctioned at the gallery.
On Saturday 29th May the bras will be auctioned at a Cocktail party at The Carrington from 5.30-7pm. Tickets $25.00 from hotel reception, bookings essential.

May GreenUps is being held at The Fashion & Textile Gallery. GreenUps is for people with an interest , passion or concern for the environment and sustainability. No matter what your profession. GreenUps is about creating connections across a range of different sectors. Whether you work in business, science, education, design, the media, the arts, the law, government, NGO’s, IT, you name it. We’d like to hear over a beer what you’re doing. Or what you think should be happening in Sydney or in your area of work when it comes to sustainability. update! This time round we’re drinking and thinking about what you’re wearing – with a clothing exchange and some excellent speakers on sustainable clothing and fashion.
The speakers at this Tuesday’s event are:

- Kirsten Fredericks and Suzi Edmonds from The Clothing Exchange
- Paula Rogers from the Fair Trading Co.
- Samorn Sanixay from Eastern Weft Weaving Collective
- Bronwyn Darlington from Minimal Footprint
- Penelope Leonard from The Sewing Room
With only 5 minutes each the speeches are short and snappy.
The schedule

Best to arrive between 5.30 and 6.15pm. Check in 4 items of quality clothes. You’ll receive a button for each item which will be your currency to swap for a quality garment from another GreenUpper.
Whilst our friends from The Clothing Exchange are doing the sorting, have a drink in the forecourt or sneak up and have a look at the Fashion Gallery on Level 7.
Talks are at 6.30pm. The Clothing Exchange then starts at 7pm on Level 1 in ‘The Sewing Room’.
The entry fee

It’s $10 per person.
The fee gives you the opportunity to participate in the exchange, plus a beer or wine on entry, as well as finger food through the night.
About the Clothing Exchange
What is it?
A wardrobe update that won’t burn a hole in your pockets! Bring along your quality (not grotty) oldies for someone else’s newies. T-shirts, jackets, jeans, skirts, shoes … bring ‘em along.
Not only will you breathe life into your wardrobe, you’ll be doing your little bit for the Earth by not sending your old threads to landfill.
How does it work?

Drop off your clothes and receive a button – this is your currency in the land of The Exchange.
The Exchange team then check out the clothes. (Poor quality isn’t accepted, so you’re better off relegating unwearable items to a Vinnies run or the rags basket.) Go get yourself a drink while the clothes are being sorted.
Then … you enter the Exchange abyss; with racks full of wonderful vintage gems, perfect pair of jeans, dresses, t-shirts and more. Sift through, pick the ones you like and ‘purchase’ them for a button and a smile – bargain!
Why it’s good

Australians spend billions of dollars on clothes each year. Is a lot of it wasted? Ah, yep, could be. The Clothing Exchange is a form of environmental activism that’s lively, fun and gets people going through the simple act of sharing.