1st intakeNext
Starts 5 November 2026
Saturdays · Morning 9am–12pm or afternoon 1pm–4pm
First class 7 Nov, last class 13 Mar
Choose SaturdaysThursdays · Evenings only, 5pm–8pm
First class 5 Nov, last class 11 Mar
Choose ThursdaysBertrams, Johannesburg
Learn to make your own clothes
A hands-on fashion and sewing course for complete beginners. Fourteen classes, from your first stitch on an industrial machine to pricing and selling what you make.
- 14
- classes
- 3
- intakes a year
- 13+
- minimum age
What you'll learn
From first stitch
to first sale
One combined course for men's and women's wear. No experience needed: machines, class books and stationery are included.
-
Industrial machines
Learn on industrial sewing machines from your very first class. No machine of your own needed.
-
Pattern making
Draft your own bodice, skirt, sleeve and pants blocks, and keep them.
-
Cut and sew
Make a top, a formal shirt, a skirt, a dress and pants, start to finish.
-
Fit and alter
Fit every garment and learn symmetric alterations as you go.
-
Finishing
Zips, facings, bias binding, collars, cuffs, buttons and buttonholes.
-
The business of fashion
Cost and price a garment, write a tech spec and sell online.
Your teachers
Taught by hand,
one stage at a time
Every garment in the course follows the same four steps, and your teacher is with you through each of them.
Learn the theory
Each stage opens with how the garment works: blocks, size charts and silhouettes.
Draft the pattern
You draft and trace your own pattern for the garment, with your teacher beside you.
Cut and sew
You cut your fabric and sew the garment to completion on an industrial machine.
Fit and alter
You fit what you made and learn the alterations that make it sit right.
- 3
- hours in every class
- 14
- classes, one a week
- 5
- garments made, start to finish
Founder & teacher
Lethabo Mahamba
A South African creative director and fashion entrepreneur, raised in a family of makers: a knitwear designer mother and a dressmaker grandfather. His approach is rooted in craftsmanship, identity and creative independence.
- Founder of
- Mosara eStudio
- Layback Atelier
- Experience
- Over a decade in fashion design, garment manufacturing and visual storytelling
Fashion designer & educator
Malungelo Myeza
A South African fashion designer and educator whose practice combines fashion, culture and creative research. His teaching focuses on practical skills, creative confidence and independent thinking in emerging designers.
- Qualifications
- National Diploma in Fashion Production
- Postgraduate Certificate in Education, University of Johannesburg
- Founder of
- The House of Myeza
- Experience
- Fashion design, garment construction, technical product development and creative arts education
Designer & author
Prudence Madisha
Trained in fashion design, with further study in business, project management and legal studies. Prudence founded a sewing academy and a pattern manufacturing business, and wrote and illustrated a beginner’s book on pattern making and sewing.
- Qualifications
- Degree in fashion design, Design Academy of Fashion
- Certificates in business management, project management and legal studies, Varsity College
- Founder of
- @nubbase_sewingacademy
- @patterns_manufacturing
- Recognition
- SAFW finalist, Scouting Women’s Wear Challenge 2017
- Raw Silk top 3 runner-up, 2016
- Author-illustrator
- Beginner’s Pattern Making & Sewing Book
Fashion designer
Jones Maphakela
A passionate and patient designer who runs his own clothing brand, specialising in commercial women’s wear and occasional menswear.
- Qualification
- Fashion design diploma, Central Johannesburg College
- Own brand
- #JonnoDesigns
Next intake
Pick your day
Classes run once a week, on Saturday mornings, Saturday afternoons or Thursday evenings.
Ready to start?
Register online in a few minutes, or WhatsApp us and we'll help you choose a class.