Calling all makers!

Love sustainable fashion, live in Leeds and want to help others learn to sew? We are looking for people to help us make short sewing tutorials for things that beginners may need to know.

This is open to anyone in the Leeds area, whether you are relatively new to sewing, do sewing in your spare time or are an expert. All are welcome!

As part of the #LeedsFashionFutures project, we are looking to gather a range of short video tutorials (less than 5 minutes) to empower people to learn sewing skills and carry out repairs on their clothing. Here are some of our example ideas for a 'how to' video, but feel free to get creative!

• Sew on a button

• Mend a hole in a jumper

• Take up or re-hem garments

• Sew on a patch

• Visible and invisible mending

• Create a buttonhole by hand

If this sounds like you, please get in touch. See below for tips on making and sending in the videos.

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Tips for making and sending in videos

Location

Find a space that is clear of clutter and where there’s nothing in shot that you don’t want people to see.

Camera position

Work out where the camera is going to be to film. If you don’t have a clamp for it can you balance it or prop it up on something or get someone with a steady hand to hold it for you? Videos work best in landscape format.

Lighting

Try to light the area you want to capture as well as possible. It helps to have multiple light sources from different angles to avoid hard shadows.

Content

Plan what you are going to show and what you want to say about it.

• Keep it short (less than 5 minutes)

• Aim it at beginners

• Make sure you explain what you are doing and why

• Tell us why it is useful in helping to prevent waste

Rehearsal

Do a rehearsal to make sure you know what you want to say and do and that you can cover what you need to in the time.

Equipment

Make sure you have all the things you will need (e.g. fabric, thread, scissors etc.) to hand before you start.

Action!

Time to film! It might need a couple of takes to get your video the way you want but don’t let that put you off.

Edit (optional)

If you are able or know how there are plenty of apps that enable you to edit your clip e.g. iMovie, KineMaster, Filmora, and even add captions.

Consent

By sending in your video you are consenting to it being uploaded and made publicly available by Zero Waste Leeds. We will choose the best of the videos we receive and reserve the right to make minor edits to video and text if needed.

Send it in

Send your video to info@zerowasteleeds.org.uk, telling us:

• Your name,

• Where you are in Leeds

• How long the activity in the video took you (e.g. if your video is edited or speeded up, how long would it take someone to do what is shown in real time?)

• Something about why you made the video (maybe who taught you the skill, when and how you’ve used it or why you think it’s a useful skill to have and to share).

WeTransfer is a good platform to send the video over on if the file size is too large for email.