Sewn up in North Bay: garment designer teaching students around the globe.

AuthorKelly, Lindsay
PositionNEWS

Couture garment-making workshops with Kathryn Brenne are in such demand that registration for an upcoming session filled up a mere hour and 25 minutes after Brenne sent out an email to eagerly awaiting students.

Cohosted with Brenne's friend, British couturier Ion Moore--who has designed and made clothing for Queen Elizabeth--the workshops tutor students in the detailed, precision-like skills and techniques in creating hand-sewn, tailor-made garments.

In the days of mass production, where most shoppers pull their clothing off a rack, Brenne is heartened to see the art of garment-making endure.

"We're pleased, especially, when there are some young people in the class, because it means that way of sewing isn't going to die," Brenne said.

"It's an old, old way of sewing, and it's going to be passed on to the next generation."

Brenne's love for sewing was sparked while growing up in southern Ontario, and she knew from a young age she wanted a career as a garment designer.

She worked in Toronto for three years after graduating from the fashion design program at Ryerson University, and then moved to North Bay after getting married. She's now a mother of four.

Years of teaching and writing for leading sewing magazines like Threads, Vogue Patterns, Sew News and Butterick had allowed Brenne to build a reputation as a knowledgeable, skilled instructor, and in 2000, she opened the Academy of Fine Sewing and Design out of an addition built onto her home.

With room for just six students, the two-level studio has state-of-the-art equipment, lighting, and supplies--all fully designed and laid out by Brenne over a two-year period.

"If you want to do really good work, it helps if you have really good equipment and supplies," Brenne said. "Everything is here for the student to be successful."

In addition to the couture garment-making workshops, she offers open workshops three times a year, working with her students to make a garment from a pattern of their choosing.

At first, Brenne attracted mosdy local enthusiasts, but today her students come from across Canada, the U.S. and as far as Mozambique to learn the techniques for which Brenne is known.

Students can also sign up for annual trips to European fashion capitals like London, Paris and Barcelona, which are focused on all things sewing, fashion and culture.

Over the last year, Brenne reached a new, exciting point in her career when she began designing garment and accessory patterns for Vogue Patterns...

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