Heritage Crafts and the Costume Society are delighted to announce the three successful training bursary receipients awarded as part of their new partnership.
Many people are dissuaded from training in the hand skills of fashion textiles because of the cost, and therefore the make-up of the sector is not truly representative of the UK as a whole. This bursary has been set up to help cover or subsidise the training of someone who would otherwise be prevented from pursuing this career path as a result of the cost.
- Mia Brennan – from Kent has attended a number of short millinery courses over the years and gained valuable hands-on experience working freelance one day per week with Vivienne Lake. Her bursary will allow her to attend the BTEC Higher National Certificate in Millinery at Morley College on a part-time basis while continuing her career and earning enough to raise her young daughter.
- Katie Sawyer – from Cheshire is a disabled freelance historic textile craftsperson who began learning heritage crafts with nalbinding and stinging nettle textiles,
before expanding her skills to a wide variety of textile techniques including historical costume, embroidery, needle felting, spinning, knitting and mending. Her bursary will cover one-to-one training with historical textile expert Sally Pointer, as well as various courses at the Manchester School of Costume. Her long-term goal is to become a historical textile leader of the North West, teaching others historic textile skills through workshops and demonstrations.
- Maya Howes – from Staffordshire has been creating and selling her work since she was 16, and taking commissions since she was 18. She currently has a small business making historical clothing for re-enactors and theatre, as well as doing local alteration work. Her bursary will allow her to attend the Corsetry Retreat in Lincolnshire to learn 18th century stay making, as well to gain additional one-to-one tuition. Her plan is to focus her business on historical corsetry and stay making, creating comfortable historically accurate garments for museums, re-enactors, and theatre, as well as helping other Autistic and neurodivergent makers into the industry.
The Costume Society is a UK membership organisation formed in 1964 to promote the study and preservation of historic and contemporary dress. As well as training bursaries, its partnership with Heritage Crafts includes a brand-new Fashion Textile Maker of the Year Award launching this summer and an Endangered Fashion Textiles Skills Symposium to take place at the end of the year.
The bursaries funded by the Costume Society and are three of over thirty to be awarded by Heritage Crafts this year. The next round of applications opens on 29 April 2024.
