A4338 - Emerging Personal and Professional Practice: creative fashion skills

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Start Date: 01/10/2026      End Date: 03/12/2026        Start Time: 18:00      End Time: 21:00        Hours per Week: 3.00      No of Weeks: 9
Fees:      £216.00 (tuition)     £379.00 (overseas)     £90.00 (concessionary)
Tutor: Eileen Wedderburn        No of Places: 8
Shadwell Centre

Course Overview

Course Overview
This extended course supports you in developing your personal and professional approach to fashion and garment making. Over three terms, (enrolling each term) you will design and produce a piece from a small capsule collection, building towards an end of course display.
You will explore fashion trends and use them as a starting point to research, plan, and develop your own collection. Working with more complex fabrics, you will create and adapt patterns both on the stand and through flat pattern cutting, refining your ideas through testing and development.
The course introduces more advanced construction and finishing techniques, including basic tailoring methods, padding, and hand sewing for a professional standard of finish. You will strengthen your independence by selecting techniques and approaches that best support your designs.
Alongside making, you will begin to understand key aspects of professional practice, including costing, presentation, and ways to promote your work.
The course can be repeated to further develop your collection, expand your technical skills, and build confidence working with new garments, fabrics, and processes as you progress towards a more professional level.

What will you learn and be able to do?

What will you learn and be able to do?
* Develop and articulate a clear creative concept for a cohesive capsule collection.
* Create and adapt garment patterns using flat pattern cutting and basic draping techniques.
* Construct garments to an improved technical standard using complex fabrics and advanced construction methods.
* Apply professional finishing, quality control, and costing considerations to garments.
* Present and promote sewn work effectively, demonstrating an understanding of display and self‑promotion.
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Entry requirements

Entry requirements
You should have good sewing and garment construction knowledge and skills and a keen interest in Fashion and an intent to progress your skills over time to achive professional standards.
Prosp User 8

Equipment required

Equipment required
Please bring with you a basic sewing kit: scissors, pins, tape measure, hand sewing needles, quick-unpick and tailors' chalk or fabric marking pens, and a note-book and pen/pencil for the first session. You will also need the fabric, pattern and matching sewing thread for your project which will be discussed with the tutor.
You will be advised of any other equipment required in the first session.
Prosp User 9

How will you know you are making progress?

How will you know you are making progress?
You will have an ‘Individual Learning Plan’ where the course learning outcomes are shown and where you can set individual learning goals and monitor your own progress against these.

You will need to evaluate your own progress and manage your time.

Your tutor will give ongoing feedback and will keep you informed of your progress.
Prosp User 12
At the beginning of the course an initial assessment takes place to identify your level of experience knowledge or current skills.

The tutor will carry out informal assessments to check your understanding, there is no exam.

You will complete a self-assessment at the beginning and end of the course.

Your tutor will let you know how you are getting on throughout the course to you will help you work to your full potential.

At the end of the course you will receive written feedback.
Prosp User 11

Progress opportunities - your next steps

Progress opportunities - your next steps
The course can be repeated to further develop your collection, expand your technical skills, and build confidence working with new garments, fabrics, and processes as you progress towards a more professional level. Please see our website for further courses and speak with your tutor about your progression. Your tutor will support you in researching these and other courses outside of Idea Store Learning.
Prosp User 10

Other info

Other info
We have high expectations regarding attendance and punctuality. We expect 100% attendance for all scheduled sessions and that you do so punctually and are ready to start learning at the start of the class.
We acknowledge the rare occasions when that will not be possible, please inform us before the class by emailing ideastoreadmin@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
Prosp User 13

Extra Support

Extra Support
If you have declared a learning difficulty, disability or support need whilst enrolling and you require support/assistance in class or to complete your course, please discuss your needs with your tutor at the first lesson.

If you intend to take an examination and feel you have an additional learning need or special requirements, you must declare them to your tutor within the first 2 weeks of your course.

If you are studying in an online group, then you can arrange a one-to-one online discussion with your tutor, after the session, or by email.

Where we aim to make reasonable adjustments to support our learners, please note we are unable to provide any type of in class or in person support if your course takes place online.
Prosp User 14