Pad Your Tailor’s Dummy

Day – Saturday

Date -28th September 2024

Time – 10-6pm

Venue – St Michael’s Mount Community Centre St Michaels Road Hitchin Herts SG4

During this one day course you will transform your tailors dummy/mannequin into a unique body double. We will start by accurately recording your measurements, consider body proportions and decide where and how to add volume. We will then use various padding materials to build up layers. By the end of the day you will leave with a padded dress form which will become an indispensable fitting tool for future garments. We will also demonstrate how it can be covered using a calico block.

Jane Taylor – Bouvard lives and works in France and has had a varied career from finance to philosophy. Like many of us Jane learned to sew at her grandmother’s knee and first visited London’s  V & A costume court in the 1960s, announcing that she would like to be a costume curator! Her love affair with textiles and costume had begun…

She studied  history and applied linguistics in France before working in many countries as an investment banker. Her love for textiles never waned and in 2001 decided to re-train as a textile conservator. A fervent advocate of life-long learning she participated in one of the first certification programmes at the Royal School of Needlework, and qualified in both Haute Couture and Decorative Embroidery at Lesage and was tutored by Jan Beaney, Jean Littlejohn and Julia Caprera in textile art. Her work took her to The Musee des Tissues et des Arts Decoratifs in Lyons followed by 6 months in New Zealand at the Te Papa Museum. She then became lead textile conservator in Bristol for Bristol Museums and Art Gallery. Mounting historical garments for museum display was an integral part of her work, as was conservation of fragile textiles and costume accessories. Since 2021 she has been joyfully collaborating with Alice & Co patterns as a pattern cutter and has since launched The Makers Table to curate exceptional textile events and tours.

• How to accurately measure your body
• How to distribute accurate volumes on your mannequin
• How to position shoulder pads to create shape and volume
• How to cut and place the polyester wadding to build form
• How to sculpt the wadding using herringbone stitches with a curved needle
• Discuss options for covering your mannequin

• The course includes 
  • Hire of spacious hall (see Venue description for more information)
  • A full day of tuition with lead tutor plus assistant
  • Specialist haberdashery and materials including wadding, curved needles, mannequin modelling tape and shoulder pads
  • Bottomless hot drinks throughout the day plus morning biscuits and afternoon cake
  • Free love and warmth of your fellow sewing buddies!
  • Inclusion in a WhatsApp group for support the duration of the course and afterward should you need us.
  • Ongoing membership of our community group – The Social Society WhatsApp group

• A tailors dummy which is slightly smaller than you but not a childs size
• You will need a full dressmaking tool kit
• A spare pair of sharp scissors to cut the wadding
• Black, white, and beige polyester sew all thread
• Close fitting clothing for measuring purposes.
• Your own packed lunch
• Mug for hot drinks

• You will receive a confirmation email upon booking please ensure you have given us your telephone number. You will be added to a course WhatsApp group 1 month before the start of the course so you can gather your supplies.
• Our classes are non-refundable so please make sure you’ve checked your diary carefully before booking
• This workshop is aimed at students who have some experience making garments and measuring.
• Please note you will be working in pairs to take accurate body measurements of each other. In order to do this you will need to wearing  close fitting garments throughout the day. However, a loose fitting dress or tunic can be worn over the top in between fittings.
• Please read our FAQs and T’s & C’s before booking.
• Should you need to contact us before your course please email [email protected]
• If you would like accomodation recommendations please contact us at the email address above. If you are coming by train we can organise a lift from the train station.

The course will be held at

St Michael’s Road Community Centre Hitchin SG4 0QA

The venue has a large spacious well managed space close to Hitchin train station. It has lots of free parking and excellent toilet and kitchen facilities.