Fashion and Textiles students brought creativity to life at Sketch and Stitch, a hands-on community event exploring sustainable design.
What is聽Sketch and Stitch?
Sketch and Stitch聽is a hands-on, drop-in community event held at 聽(BBG), where students from our聽Fashion and Textile courses聽led creative workshops celebrating sustainability, nature, and craft.
The event formed part of the wider聽Fashion in Nature: Aesthetics and Activism聽exhibition, a bold showcase of first-year Fashion Design students鈥� work, exploring themes of聽climate change, colonisation, and聽textile waste. The exhibition runs throughout the summer and features garments made using zero-waste techniques, upcycled materials, and natural inspiration taken directly from the Botanical Gardens.
What happened at the event?
Visitors to the Botanical Gardens were invited to get creative at a series of themed activity stations led by our Fashion聽students under a large stretch tent. Each station offered something different, from聽weaving and fashion illustration, to聽mark-making,聽sashiko stitching, and聽natural dyeing聽in the Growth Garden.
The event was completely free and open to the public, with聽all ages encouraged to take part. The focus was on creativity, collaboration, and community, with many of the activities designed to create art聽that will become part of the Gardens鈥� decor.
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Students shared their skills and passions with local schools, families, and members of the public, offering a unique opportunity to聽the public to discover聽BCU鈥檚 Fashion and Textile courses in a light-hearted, fun and informal setting.
How did it go?
BBG Chief Executive Sara Blair-Manning praised the flourishing partnership with BCU, she added:
鈥淭his is the third consecutive year BBG has partnered with colleagues and students from the BCU Fashion module to support investigations into how nature and plants can offer viable alternatives to current approaches in the fashion industry.
鈥淲e love working with the University and seeing how the students鈥� work can change the dialogue and connections between fashion and plants.鈥�
Visitors praised the interactive and welcoming nature of the event, with many staying for hours to try their hand at techniques they鈥檇 never experienced before.
Khadija Shehu Aliyu, one of the students exhibiting in the gallery space, said:
"The Botanical Gardens inspired so much of my design process, so having my work shown there feels really personal. It makes me proud to share something that reflects both creativity and sustainability in a place that celebrates beauty."
Final reflections
Overall, Sketch and Stitch brought students, visitors, and nature together in a shared celebration of creativity and sustainable design. It was a hands-on reminder of how fashion can inspire, connect, and make a difference beyond the classroom.