Degree and A-level students work together to help make a global fashion contribution

Artistic students at Coleg Sir Gâr have been working together for an international cause to help the charity campaign, Dress a Girl Around the World.

The A-level textiles group at the college’s Llanelli campus have been travelling to Carmarthen to take part in workshops with fashion and textiles degree students and staff at the college’s Carmarthen School of Art at Job’s Well campus.

Carmarthen School of Art discovered the charity Dress a Girl Around the World and they wanted to get involved so they arranged workshops with A-level textiles students and constructed garments which were then sent to women in Uganda and Ukraine.

The Dress a Girl Around the World campaign is part of Hope 4 Women International, created for charitable and educational purposes to empower women in Uganda and other countries who are suffering from poverty and disease. 

Angharad Griffiths, programme director for Carmarthenshire School of Art’s BA honours fashion design degree said: “This presented a fantastic opportunity for our students to get involved, collaborate with our A-level students, and for them to gain valuable experience of working in our fashion department.

“After reaching out to the organisation to express our interest in participating, we explored the dress patterns available on their website and with the support of Laura, our fashion technician, we printed the patterns and adapted one for use in our workshop.

“As a fashion department, we recognise the industry’s environmental and social challenges and partnering with this organisation has been a meaningful way to contribute positively and make an impactful difference through fashion.”

A-level textiles student Sioned Davies, who took part in the workshop says that it has also helped her in her aspirations to study fashion design at university. 

Sioned Davies said: “The Dress a Girl Around the World workshop has taught me many things in the time I have attended.

“It has taught me the foundations of fashion design, such as working with different machines, creating patterns and how to sew together a dress. 

“As someone who aspires to pursue fashion design in university, this workshop has helped me to understand the basics of what I would be doing in this course, it has also helped me to develop necessary skills for the course such as using an overlocking machine and stringing elastics into a garment. 

“Overall, working with the Dress a Girl Around the World charity and the fashion design department at Carmarthenshire School of Art has been an inspiration and a pleasure to work with and if I ever got the opportunity to work with them all again, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

Angharad Griffiths, programme director for Carmarthenshire School of Art’s BA honours fashion design degree added: “The charity’s founder was thrilled with the dresses and asked us to make more - this time using thicker fabrics for girls in need in Ukraine and the textiles A-level students helped us construct these dresses.

“I’d like to say a huge thank you to Lee Mills Fabrics in Swansea for their generous fabric donation. The dresses will soon be on their way to Ukraine. A massive thank you to everyone who contributed to this meaningful project.”