Members of the Fashion-Enter Ltd (FEL) team have supported the Arsenal Foundation on a community-led initiative to engage young people in sewing and upcycling. The ‘Time to Explore’ project in partnership with professional footballer Lotte Wubben-Moy, aims to provide opportunities for young people to explore areas of arts, sports and the environment.
Over 2-days, 30th January & 6th February, FEL tutors Ana and Elisa, worked with a cohort of Year 9 individuals teaching sewing and upcycling techniques, emphasising the environmental importance of reusing existing clothes and fabrics.
In the first session the group learnt basic hand stitching techniques, trying out different stitches such as running stitch, backstitch, and whip stitch. This was followed by a demonstration of upcycling techniques including: hemming, adding gathers, adding trims and adding buttons. Participants then got to practice on provided fabric samples.
For the second session the group brought in their old t-shirts and got creative. First sketching / planning their idea and then, with advice from the tutors, implementing their vision on to their t-shirts. The session wrapped up with a show and tell of the upcycled t-shirts along with encouragement and advice on keeping textiles out of landfill and upcycling as much as possible.