Calling all fashionistas and fashion enthusiasts! Have you ever wanted to learn real world fashion skills from a full-time designer? Well, now is your chance. Jamie Lau, of Jamie Lau Designs, will be here on August 29th to show you the basics for beginning a successful move into the world of fashion. She will cover starter fashion drawing techniques, creating mood boards for color selection, and will help with fabric awareness. Students will have access to croquis (fashion figure templates), colored pencils, and markers for sketching. In addition, you will also create inspirational mood boards using magazine tears, fabric swatches, and collage.

 

Because space is limited, we encourage you to sign-up right away! See our events page for information on reserving your spot.

Britex is thrilled to announce that SeamstressErin will be joining us on July 25th to teach her Sewing 101 class. Erin has a adorable take on comfy, classic looks and we cannot wait to have her here in the store. She will be explaining and showing us an arsenal of sewing techniques that are easy to understand and complete, but will help elevate any garment from good to great. Learn the where, why, and how for techniques like understitching, underlining, pattern matching, and much more. This is an excellent workshop for beginning sewists just learning techniques or intermediate sewists who want to brush up and learn new applications for what they already know. Grab your ticket now, and we will see you on July 25th!

 

Warp x Weft is back! Britex is so excited to have Geana of GDS Cloth Goods join us for her popular Textile 101 class. Brush up on your fabric knowledge with an in depth conversation from fiber to textile, analysis of construction, and a range of samples and swatches to get you going. We hope that you can join us on June 27th! Make sure to sign up now because spots go quick. See you then!

 

One of our lovely guest bloggers, Jamie Lau of Jamie Lau Designs, is traveling from the East Coast next month and will be hosting a workshop while she is here. We are so excited to have her in the store, and we hope that you will join us for her demo. Jamie will be here on May 21st to show us how to draft our own collars, including Peter Pan and Mandarin collars, and also how to alter pre-exisiting pattern pieces. Make sure you sign-up soon to reserve your spot!

Several times a month, Britex invites our customers to come into the store and participate in classes or demos. This month, we have two very exciting new learning experiences!     On Saturday April 18th, we welcome the amazing Lisa of Zelma Rose and her class "Intro to Needlework". Lisa is a multi-talented artist whose focus on needlework and hand stitching has sent her accessories business into stardom with such features as Martha Stewart to ModCloth. We cannot wait to  have her join us and to learn her techniques, favorite stitches, and more! Make sure to sign up now over on our event page. Space is limited and you want to get in on the goody bag that awaits.

Our first block printing workshop of the year was, as suspected, a complete blast. Our teacher, Danielle Broder of The Recoverie, knows her craft. But, even better than that, she loves sharing her craft with others so that everyone can experience the satisfaction of creating their own surface designs.

Kika Knaup led an awesome workshop last week that left several---locals and non-locals---wishing they could have joined us. We decided to pull out our camera and document the process so that anyone could give this easy project a try. Please keep in mind that this tutorial does not teach the basics of knitting---though we have linked to some helpful videos. This tutorial will show you just how simple it is to knit almost anything using fabric strips! Let's get started... Materials: 1/2 to 1 yard of two different fabrics - soft knits recommended scissors or rotary cutter knitting needles size 35 or 50

It's not too late to register for the Knit a Loop Scarf Using Fabric workshop on Saturday, November 1---yes, that is the day after Halloween. Local Designer, Kika Knaup, will walk us through the steps of making this simple art scarf.

  We just couldn't help it. A photo shoot was surely bound to happen since we just haven't been able to keep our hands off the samples Natalie made for the Mask-Making workshop this Saturday. Natalie is the manager and buyer for the Notions Department, and is also an avid seamstress, specializing in hand-crafted reproductions of historical costumes and accessories ranging from the Renaissance to the Roaring ‘20s. For several years we've all had the pleasure of seeing her amazing costumes---often winning the annual Costume Contest---but learning from her is a rare opportunity. Follow her sewing adventures on her blog Frolicking Frocks, and of course, join us on 10/25!

Every week, we watch with bated breath...will Britex Sales Associate, Emily Payne make it through this exciting episode of Project Runway...? Yes she did! Our Emily Payne continues to delight audiences with her lovely style, quick wit, and amazing designs. It's on again this Thursday at 9pm on Lifetime. Last week, she created a lovely child's ensemble using a Missoni knit much like the one we have online here.

Don't miss the chance to meet Emily in person at the Patricia Field Meet + Greet at Britex on October 3rd at 11 AM. As well, don't miss seeing Emily's creations live at the Benicia Fashion Runway October 3-5.