A guide to textile courses available in the UK

Article Added: 29/10/2008

As textile arts grow in popularity across the UK, there are increasing numbers of courses available for enthusiasts to choose from, including embroidery, tapestry and other forms of stitching, fashion, quilting, knitting, garment making and tailoring, through to mixed media textile art.

For example, the Alison Victoria School of Sewing (www.schoolofsewing.co.uk), which is the largest independent sewing school in the UK attracting students from all over the country, Europe and further afield, offers City & Guilds qualifications in fashion, lingerie, tailoring and corsetry. The Bramble Patch (www.thebramblepatch.co.uk) offers many courses on quilting, ranging from the basics of machine quilting through to ‘Vistas of Japan’ – a course on how to create oriental pictures, such as Mount Fuji, in stained glass patchwork.

To explore a more high tech route, Sewfine Sewing Machines (www.sewfine.co.uk) has a digitising and computerised embroidery club, where members organise informal meetings to discuss and share ideas, hints and tips about digitising and computerised embroidery. 

There are many in ways in which to study textiles, ranging from distance learning, through to one-day courses or evening classes, making it possible to pick the course best suited to individual life styles. For example, Opus School of Textile Arts (www.opus-online.co.uk), based in the UK, offers either college-based or modular distance learning programmes that start at any time and allow students to learn from their own home. Its courses cover stitched and embroidered textiles and cater for students of all levels.

There are also a number of individuals who offer tutoring. For example, Wendy Dolan (www.wendydolan.co.uk) is a textile artist who offers a range of courses, lectures and workshops specialising in freehand machine embroidery and related creative stitching techniques. Her one-day workshops are on offer throughout the South East, plus residential courses are at West Dean College (see below). As a freelance tutor and lecturer, she travels nationwide, visiting groups and guilds, to offer courses such as ‘Machine Embroidered Book Covers' and 'Machine Embroidered Bowls’.

At the other end of the scale, it is possible to combine learning with a holiday. The Cheltenham Lawn and Pittville Gallery (www.cheltenhamlawn.co.uk) provides guest accommodation and textile art courses in a listed Regency hotel in the centre of Cheltenham Spa. Courses include hand painted silk bags and textured surfaces for stitch and paint.

Funding for these courses can, sometimes, be an issue and fees can vary considerably depending upon the type of course. West Dean College (www.westdean.org.uk) offers a number of courses on tapestry and textile art. It recognises that some students are unable to fund themselves and has explored the various ways in which funding may be secured, including external bursaries and scholarships from charitable organisations, the competition for which is nationwide. A number of named bursaries solely for West Dean students are available from supportive trusts and benefactors. Finally, students can apply for Career Development Loans.

Further education colleges also offer a cheaper option to learn about textiles. Worcester College of Technology (www.wortech.ac.uk) runs a practical eight-week course for those who have little, or basic, experience in sewing and textiles and would like to develop their skills in “an imaginative, contemporary way”. Courses cost just £89 although students need to bring their own sewing machine and provide their own materials and sewing equipment. A discount is available for learners in receipt of a means-tested benefit. Another example is the Adult College of Barking and Dagenham (www.adult-college.bardaglea.org.uk), which offers a variety of textile courses from 10 weeks to 30 weeks.