Fashion / sustainable fashion
Support slow fashion at new sustainable clothes workshops
From pattern cutting for beginners to recreating favourite fashion pieces, Nina Redman’s workshops help more people get involved in the ever-growing slow fashion movement.
Pattern maker, seamstress and tailor, Nina Redman has launched sustainable pattern cutting courses at Bristol Textiles Quarter and explains why she has brought her workshops to the city centre: “The courses will help people find new skills and support sustainable slow fashion, helping them to create a healthier relationship with their clothes and providing them with the skills to not only create clothing but also keep items lasting a lifetime.”
Nina’s workshops welcome all levels of pattern cutting, from beginners to advanced, with the option to have the lessons tailored to different levels of expertise. The only skill students need are using a domestic sewing machine.
is needed now More than ever
Nina Redman runs workshops at Bristol Textiles Quarter
Workshops include ‘re-create your own favourite garment’, which runs over one weekend, covering everything from pattern making to sewing and fitting toiles.
For those with little or no sewing experience, the ‘pattern cutting for beginners’ workshop is a more in-depth course, running for ten weeks. It offers a step by step guide, including using draft blocks to creating your own pattern designs, all while explaining how to minimise waste.
Both courses offer the beginnings of a new skill for life with an option to attend more workshops to improve on the skills learnt.
Nina’s workshops welcome all levels of pattern cutting from beginners to advanced designers who want to top up their skill set
As well as running pattern cutting workshops, Nina is a visiting lecturer in fashion at Stroud and South Gloucester College and a freelance pattern cutter for small fashion brands.
Coming from a family of historical clothing manufacturers and a career in high fashion, Nina certainly has the skills and background knowledge to share.
“I grew up in a very rural part of the Peak District in the north of England,” says Nina. “Redman Brothers was a family business based in Yorkshire that produced uniforms for the navy during the war, corduroy trousers throughout the 1900s and moleskin jackets in the 70s.”
Custom Leather backpacks created as a project for Nina’s brand Yak + Yeti
After following in her family’s footsteps, Nina graduated from the fashion and textiles course at the University of Brighton in 2014. She then worked with several high fashion brands, including Hussein Chalayan, Turkish and Alexander McQueen, before moving to Eastville Park in 2018 and setting up a studio with Bristol Textiles Quarter.
“I couldn’t wish for a more collaborative, supportive and talented collective of people from the fashion industry,” says Nina. “Bristol is a city with a very open mind.”
Launching this summer, the Nina Redman sustainable women’s trouser range features horn buttons ethically sourced from the Devon coast.
“Bristol’s fashion scene is extremely supportive of sustainability,” says Nina. “Small brands such as Ottowin shoes and OB Wear completely revolve around pushing the industry forward with environmental issues.”
With a line of sustainable women’s trousers and accessories launching at the end of summer, Nina Redman’s workshops are a chance to gain new skills and her new clothing line is an opportunity to wear her ethical garments as well.
For more details go to www.ninaredman.co.uk/workshops
Read our fashion editor Emma’s blog No Debutante
Read more: A sustainable alternative to fast fashion
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