Sewing: Making a Pattern from Your Favorite Clothing Item
Adult Workshop | Registration opens Tuesday, October 20, 2026 8:00 AM EDT
Have a favorite piece of clothing you wish you could make again? In this hands-on 3-session class, learn how to turn an existing garment into a reusable sewing pattern. Students will examine a favorite clothing item to identify its shapes, seams, and construction, then learn techniques for tracing and creating pattern pieces. Through demonstrations and guided practice, participants will build a pattern based on their chosen garment while gaining a better understanding of garment construction, fit, and patternmaking.
What You Will Learn:
- How to analyze a garment and identify its individual pattern pieces
- Techniques for tracing and creating a pattern from an existing garment
- How to account for seam allowances, hems, and other construction details
- Basic patternmaking techniques for recreating a favorite garment
- How to use your finished pattern as a starting point for making a new garment
- Need updated supply list.
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Martina Taylor
Martina Taylor is a textile artist and educator from Boston, now living in Philadelphia. She creates art quilts that explore connections between urban landscapes, place, and memory by combining screen print and image transfer processes with surface design techniques. Martina holds a BA in Studio Art from Oberlin College.
Prior to moving to Philly in 2024, Martina co-founded Arom Gallery, a pop-up art gallery with a three month residency in Budapest, Hungary. In Fall 2025, she completed a residency in the Apprentice Training Program at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, where she designed and produced two sets of large scale repeat pattern screen printed yardage. Martina teaches fiber arts classes at Fleisher and Philly Art Center.
www.martinataylor.com