Design (and Make!) your own Wardrobe
If you have always wanted to make the clothes YOU envision in your head, here is your chance!
Not scheduled right now. Last taught 2026.
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The workshop
If you have always wanted to make the clothes YOU envision in your head, here is your chance! Using the techniques from her book, Design-It-Yourself Clothes, Cal will teach you how to draft your own basic patterns for a shift dress, lounge pant and a button-down shirt/jacket, based on the measurements of your unique body. Then you will learn how to take those patterns and stylize them into endless variations. For each of the three styles, you will make a muslin, fit and correct your pattern, and finally sew one or more finished garment(s). Before you know it, you’ll have a whole new handmade wardrobe! Students must be at least competent beginner-level sewers, and comfortable using a sewing machine. Intermediate and advanced sewers are also welcome and can take on more challenging projects. No previous patternmaking experience is necessary.
Sanborn Mills Farm has 2 sewing machines to loan out on a first come first served basis. To reserve please email registrar@sanbornmills.org
Skills and techniques
- Draft your own sewing patterns using your unique body measurements
- Make a muslin to fit and adjust your patterns
- Sew a finished garment for each of 3 styles
- Hack your basic patterns to become infinite additional styles and variations
Before you come
Details for students
Where
One of the farm's studios, confirmed at check-in. See the campus
Staying on the farm
Housing, meals, the daily schedule, and places to stay nearby are on Prepare for your workshop.
Your instructor
Cal Patch
Cal Patch (she/her) has been making, designing and teaching all things textile-related since 1991. She sews, crochets, embroiders, spins, prints, knits, dyes, and more, and loves to combine and layer techniques when possible, hence the original name of her label hodge podge. She designed clothing in NYC for Urban Outfitters, Free People, Gap, and Old Navy before developing her own line of one-off pieces. After owning a boutique for four years, which showcased her own and other local indie designers' work, she opened one of the nation's first craft schools in 2002. She has contributed to books and magazines such as Stitch N' Bitch: The Happy Hooker, Mend It Better, Applique Your Way, Made by Hand, Crochet Today and Sew Stylish. In 2009 Cal relocated to upstate New York where she is becoming a crafty farmer and growing her handmade wardrobe. She offers classes in pattern drafting, garment sewing, crochet and other fiber arts in the Hudson Valley, and travels to teach at retreats and events like A Gathering of Stitches, Snowfarm and Harrisville Designs, and now offers online workshops via Creativebug. Her first book, Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified, was published by Potter Craft.
Questions about this workshop, housing, or meals? Email registrar@sanbornmills.org or call (603) 435-7314. Please read the workshop policies before you register.