Appointment of facilitators and regular workshops
After the completion of the training course with the London College of Fashion and the visits to museums and the British Library, the group developed sufficient knowledge and motivation to start the process of choosing the garment to recreate. They could choose one that they have seen at the museums or one from a painting or from their own independent research into dresses located at any other heritage institutions. Stepney Community Trust hired two experts on historical fashion recreation, Alice Gordon and Lewis Westing, to support the participants to deliver the project. They helped the group to go through a process of understanding what it involves in garment creation, choosing the dresses to recreate and deciding on new creations. They supported the group collectively and individually to determine how much material they needed, to sketch patterns of designs to be woven and embroidered. This process took several months and each participant produced a specification for their design, materials, woven design and embroidery requirements.