The Manchester school of costume

Two weeks of tailoring in the studio has got me thinking back to some of the incredible projects from last year’s course 👇

🤎 Brown jacket - made by Rosie Anderson
💛 Yellow suit - made by Isabelle Rose Langton-Davies
📸 Photography by Michael Mannion
💄 Makeup by Claudia Dale

Fab work!

Meet Jeni England 🪡

Savile Row trained tailor, educator, and one of our brilliant contributors to The Manchester School of Costume.

With over 15 years of experience, Jeni brings serious technical skill and a calm precision to the studio (even when the rest of us are buried under fabric). She’s the founder of Ctrl:Stitch, where she specialises in tailoring, alterations, and sewing and is currently developing her own ready-to-wear and made-to-measure collections.

A few fun facts about Jeni:
🐕 She’s got two dogs: Noodle (an ex-racing greyhound) and Frankie (a rescued lurcher with main-character energy).
🧘‍♀️ She’s also a yoga teacher and personal trainer.
🏔️ And after years in London, she’s now happily based in the Peak District.

We’re so lucky to have Jeni teaching traditional tailoring on our 12-week Costume Making Course: sharing her craftsmanship, calm expertise, and love of good stitching with our students.

Today we received the most gorgeous fabric donation from our friend Manuela and honestly, it’s like Christmas came early in the studio, especially because we recognise these from a live action story that took place in Agrabah 🧞‍♂️

Huge thank you to Manuela for thinking of us and supporting the next generation of makers here at The Manchester School of Costume. Every metre donated helps our students experiment, learn new techniques, and bring their creative ideas to life (and occasionally, cover the entire cutting table).

If you or your studio ever have leftover fabrics, trims or offcuts that deserve a second life, we’d love to give them a good home.

Drop us a message or email to arrange a donation. We promise they’ll be put to very good use 🧵