ENVY Junior : Stitch & Style

Fashion does not start at a sewing machine. It starts with a pencil, a colour, and a question: what do I want to make? In this workshop, children begin exactly where every real designer begins — with a printed figure on paper, a palette of colours, and a table full of fabric swatches, tulle, and overlays to play with before a single stitch is sewn.

This is not a craft class. This is a design education — structured, sequential, and built around the way children actually learn best: by seeing, touching, deciding, and doing.

The Design Process, Start to Finish

Every 3hr session follows the full fashion design journey, broken into stages that build on each other:

Stage 1 — Design on Paper. Children receive an A4 printed lady figure and plan their outfit from the ground up — choosing colour schemes, selecting fabric swatches, layering tulle and overlay materials directly onto the paper figure to visualise the final look before anything is cut or sewn.

Stage 2 — Sewing Practice on Paper. Before touching a machine, children learn stitch control by practising straight and curved lines on paper — building muscle memory and confidence without the pressure of working on fabric.

Stage 3 — Practice on Fabric. Once ready, children move to fabric, applying the same stitch practice with the guidance of a facilitator — learning how fabric behaves differently from paper, and how to handle it with care.

Stage 4 — Cutting & Draping the Mannequin. Children cut their chosen fabrics and begin draping them on a mannequin, guided by their original paper design. This is where the 2D plan becomes a 3D reality.

Stage 5 — Final Sewing & Dressing. The finishing stage: children sew their pieces and dress the mannequin in their completed design — stepping back to see their original sketch brought fully to life.

In the final stage, children sew their draped and pinned pieces, joining seams, securing hems, and attaching lace and overlay details before dressing the mannequin in their completed garment.

This is the moment of full resolution: the sketch on paper, the practice stitches, the draped fabric, all brought together into a finished piece that the child designed from the very first colour choice.

Good news — almost everything is provided by Envy Her Singapore. All fabrics, lace, tulle, sewing materials, design sheets, and tools are included. Here is all your child needs to bring:

• Comfortable clothing — nothing too precious, as fabric and thread have a way of finding their way onto clothes
• Closed-toe shoes — required in the studio at all times for safety around pins and scissors
• A water bottle — sessions run up to 3 hours and we want everyone to stay hydrated
• A small snack — optional but welcome for longer sessions
• An open mind and a big imagination — the most important things on the list

Everything else — machines, mannequins, fabrics, lace, threads, scissors, pins, and design materials — is on us.