Open Studio: Bring Your Project, Build Your Skills

Sometimes the best way to learn is simply to start making.

Open Studio at The Pattern Making Class is dedicated studio time for you to work on your own sewing or pattern making project, with the added benefit of having an experienced teacher nearby to guide you when you need it.

Rather than following a set class project, you bring something you’re already working on, or something you’ve been wanting to tackle, and spend a half or full day making progress in our North Melbourne studio.

What can I work on?

Open Studio is designed to accommodate a wide range of sewing and pattern making projects.

You might bring a garment you’ve started sewing but have reached a tricky construction step. Perhaps you have a commercial pattern you’d like to adjust for a better fit, or a pattern block you’ve created in one of our classes that you’re ready to turn into your own design.

You could also use the time to practise pattern making techniques, refine a toile, work through fitting adjustments, develop a pattern, or finally return to that project that has been sitting unfinished at home.

The project is yours. The difference is that you don’t have to work through every challenge alone.

What should I bring?

Bring your project and the materials you need to work on it. Depending on what you’re making, this might include your fabric, pattern, toile, pattern blocks, trims, thread and any notes or reference images you’ve been working from.

If you’re sewing, bring the components of your garment and anything specific to its construction. If you’re pattern making, bring your existing patterns, blocks, measurements, toiles or design ideas so you can continue developing them in the studio.

Most importantly, bring your questions. You don’t need to arrive with everything perfectly figured out. That’s part of what Open Studio is for.

Learn by working on something real

There’s a big difference between understanding a technique in theory and knowing how to apply it to your own work.

Working on a practical project helps you develop problem-solving skills and understand why particular sewing or pattern making techniques are used. Instead of practising something in isolation, you can see how it affects the fit, construction or design of an actual garment.

And when you reach the inevitable moment of wondering, “Why isn’t this working?”, you have a skilled teacher there to help you work through it.

That guidance might mean checking the fit of a toile, helping you understand a construction method, troubleshooting a sewing problem, discussing how to alter a pattern or simply helping you decide what your next step should be.

You still do the making. We’re there to help you understand the process.

A little structure, plenty of independence

Open Studio is particularly useful if you’ve already completed one of our classes and want to keep building your skills independently, without jumping straight into another structured course.

Choose a half-day or full-day session, bring the project that’s currently taking over your sewing table, and spend some focused time working on it with access to the studio, experienced guidance and other people who love making clothes.

Because sometimes all you need to get a project moving again is a little time, space and the right person to ask.