Two-Day Workshop: Embellished Shift Dress with Cat Nash

Dates: 18 & 19 April
Time: 10am – 4pm each day
Location: Eau Brink Studio, West Norfolk
Cost: £120 for the full weekend

This two-day workshop offers a thoughtful balance of making, wearing, and personal expression, using reclaimed materials alongside new cloth to create a garment that feels both wearable and meaningful.

Day One — Making

The first day focuses on constructing a simple, well-cut shift dress using a sewing machine. Working at a calm, supportive pace, you’ll concentrate on fit, proportion, and confident garment construction. The pattern is intentionally uncomplicated, allowing you to focus on transferable skills, good finishing, and creating a timeless base garment that feels comfortable and versatile.

Cat will guide you through:

• Cutting and constructing a shift dress

• Understanding fit, seams, and finishing

• Building confidence using a sewing machine

• Creating a wearable garment ready for further development

Day Two — Adorning

Day two slows the pace and shifts the focus to surface and detail. With the dress complete, you’ll begin to enhance it using a range of hand and machine-based textile techniques. This is where individuality comes to the fore — adding subtle stitch, texture, or quiet embellishment that reflects your own style rather than following a fixed design.

The emphasis is on restraint and sensitivity to cloth: learning how decoration can enhance a garment without overwhelming it, and understanding when to add detail — and when to leave space.

You’ll explore:

• Thoughtful surface embellishment techniques

• Developing understated, personal design choices

• One-to-one guidance as your ideas evolve

Who it’s for

This workshop is ideal for those with basic sewing machine experience who want to move into garment making that feels personal, considered, and sustainable. It’s particularly suited to anyone interested in slow fashion, reclaimed textiles, and clothing with meaning.

By the end of the weekend, you’ll leave with a completed shift dress, practical skills you can reuse, and a deeper understanding of how making and adornment can work together to create truly individual clothing.

Designed to be accessible and unrushed, this workshop is ideal for confident beginners while still offering plenty of scope for more experienced makers.

You’ll leave with a finished dress that you can wear with pride—simple in form, quietly expressive in detail—and the confidence to continue developing your own embellished garments at home.

A calm, immersive two days of learning, making, and creative exploration.

You will need to bring your own fabrics to use or purchase  fabrics from Eau Brink Shop and repurposed fabrics from Cat,