The Winter Atelier (Day Camp)

1. Step Inside a Festive Designer’s Atelier

Students begin their journey by exploring the visual world of winter and Christmas fashion — from sparkling decorations and gift wrapping to snowflakes, festive celebrations, winter landscapes, and seasonal style trends.

They will create their own Christmas-inspired moodboards using colour, texture, pattern, and imagery. This introduces students to a key stage of the professional design process: researching inspiration, identifying a theme, and developing a clear creative direction before beginning a fashion piece.

Through this process, students begin to shape their own festive design story.

2. Develop Fashion Illustration and Visual Storytelling Skills

Students will transform their ideas into Christmas-inspired outfit sketches through guided fashion illustration activities.

They will explore:

• fashion figure drawing basics
• outfit sketching
• colour theory
• texture and pattern expression
• festive styling details
• visual storytelling

Using seasonal palettes such as deep red, emerald green, winter white, silver, gold, and icy blue, students will learn how to communicate design ideas clearly and creatively on paper.

This helps them understand that fashion design is not only about making garments — it is also about expressing mood, identity, concept, and story through visual design.

3. Explore Fabrics, Draping and Festive Form

Students will work hands-on with fabrics, ribbons, trims, sparkly accents, winter textures, and Christmas-inspired embellishments.

Using tabletop mannequins, they will learn introductory draping techniques and experiment with shape, volume, proportion, fabric placement, and movement. They will discover how materials behave, how different textures change the feeling of a design, and how designers use fabric to create form.

Students will then develop a mini festive dress or outfit on a mannequin, incorporating design details such as bows, snowflake accents, metallic trims, glittering finishes, and seasonal embellishments.

4. Bring Designs to Life Through Sewing and Construction

Students will learn how fashion ideas move from sketch to finished piece through safe, age-appropriate sewing and construction activities.

They will be introduced to essential making skills, including:

• basic hand-sewing techniques
• pinning and cutting
• fabric handling
• simple stitching practice
• garment construction basics
• safe use of sewing tools and equipment

Students will also receive demonstrations on sewing machine parts, threading, safety procedures, and basic stitching. Any sewing machine use will take place only under direct adult supervision, ensuring a safe and supportive learning environment.

Through this practical process, students gain a deeper understanding of how 2D concepts become 3D fashion creations.

5. Curate Final Styling Details with Festive Flair

On the final day, students complete their festive fashion pieces by adding finishing touches and styling details.

They will explore how accessories, trims, embellishments, and colour accents can strengthen a design concept. Using ribbons, bows, sparkly accents, snowflake details, metallic touches, and Christmas-inspired decorations, students will refine their final pieces with intention and creativity.

This stage teaches students that finishing details are not just decoration — they are part of the design language and help communicate the mood, story, and identity of the final look.

6. Present at the Winter Atelier Showcase

The camp concludes with an in-class Winter Atelier Showcase, where students present their completed designs and creative process.

Students will prepare simple presentation boards showing their journey from initial inspiration and moodboard to sketches, material exploration, construction, and final styling. They will practise explaining their ideas, reflecting on their design decisions, and celebrating their achievements.

This final showcase helps students build confidence, communication skills, and pride in their creative work — all in a festive, supportive, and stylish studio atmosphere.