Two-Day Workshop: Embellished Shift Dress with Cat Nash

This two-day workshop offers a thoughtful balance of making, wearing, and personal expression. Using reclaimed materials with new to create a truly unique piece for your wardrobe.

Over the first day, you’ll construct a simple, well-cut shift dress using a sewing machine. The focus is on fit, proportion, and confident garment construction, working at a calm pace with clear guidance throughout. The pattern is deliberately uncomplicated, allowing you to concentrate on learning transferable skills and achieving a wearable piece that feels comfortable and timeless.

Day two moves into a slower, more reflective rhythm. With the dress made, you’ll begin to adorn and enhance it using hand and machine-based textile techniques. This is where individuality comes to the fore—adding subtle stitched details, surface texture, or quiet embellishment that reflects your own style rather than following a prescribed design.

The emphasis is on restraint and sensitivity to cloth: letting the fabric lead, choosing where (and where not) to add detail, and understanding how decoration can enhance rather than overwhelm a garment.

What to expect

Day One – Making

• Cutting and constructing a simple shift dress

• Guidance on fit, seams, and finishing

• Building confidence using a sewing machine

• Creating a wearable, versatile base garment

Day Two – Adorning

• Exploring surface embellishment techniques

• Adding stitch, texture, or detail thoughtfully

• Developing a personal, understated design

• One-to-one support as your ideas evolve

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

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,