Fashion: Create a new look by altering your cast-offs

Perhaps this is why I find myself cooing over an old Quality Street tin at the studios of Che Camille – arguably the coolest independent designer shop in Glasgow.

Today, I'm one of the visitors taking part in a customising workshop under the tutelage of their in-house seamstress, Jan Hutcheson. And, amongst the contents of this makeshift button box, I already have my eye on some of her fabric-covered buttons in baby-pink, lilac and mint green, which look like sweeties and, it turns out, have sentimental value to Hutcheson.

"These were part of my mum and nan's collection," she says. "But I'm never sad to see them being put to use."

I guddle around for five of these fastenings, feeling a little guilty nevertheless. My plan is to set them aside, in case I need them as part of this session, which is aimed at the cash-strapped fashion-conscious who aren't quite confident enough to buy a pattern and start whizzing things up on a sewing machine. There's also the undeniable pleasure of learning a new skill at the start of 2010.

"Just like making a fancy dinner from scratch, it's very satisfying to be able to do it yourself," says Camille Lorigo, the owner of Che Camille and the brains behind this series of dressmaking workshops, which also cover pattern-cutting and machine sewing.

The first step in customising items is to stop imagining that we can't improve on something that's off-the-peg. Milla Jovovich added a panel of lace fabric to a black Armani dress at a recent red-carpet event, only to be dubbed "best dressed". She is, of course, a fashion designer as well as an actress (as half of style duo, Jovovich-Hawk), but she didn't do anything to this frock that we couldn't do ourselves – with a little ingenuity, a needle and a length of thread.

"Although the tradition of making your own wedding gown may have fallen by the wayside, there is still an interest in making sure that some dressmaking skills don't die out or become carefully guarded secrets," says Lorigo. "It's in the interest of certain manufacturers to make basic garment skills seem like the work of wizards, but knowledge is power and customising and sewing is something anyone can learn. Fashion designers have been put on a pedestal and customers have been pushed to purchase more and more. This is all starting to shift as the economy forces us to be more conservative."

In fact, some designers may be quivering in their shearling boots, while green organisations like Traid (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development), who aim to divert used clothing from landfill, will be jumping for joy. They're not the only ones, as according to Tracy Burgess, sewing machine demonstrator in the haberdashery department of John Lewis in Edinburgh, sales have been up for the last couple of years – especially among teens and twentysomethings.

"It's a chance for them to use their imaginations and make their clothes unique for from as little as a couple of pounds," she says.

But not all "ribbon and trim" outlets seem to be blossoming in the credit crunch. Last year, VV Rouleaux, the upmarket haberdashers with a branch on Glasgow's Ingram Street, closed its doors permanently.

It appears that the public are up for transforming their wardrobes, but not if they have to buy pricey velvet ribbon. Instead, we want fashion makeovers on the cheap, which is why Hutcheson suggests that we "look for trimmings on eBay, at Remnant Kings or in your local charity shops". Or, in fact, take a gander in your granny's button box.

In order to inspire us, Hutcheson wheels out a rail of once dowdy clothes that she's made beautiful. Each item was once owned by one of Che Camille's designers, Anna Dunlop, who slips into the first garment – a brown, long-sleeved jumper dress that was too short, but has been given extra length thanks to a panel of purple cotton material that's been added to the middle section.

It looks chic, and Hutcheson points out that the T-shirt fabric that has been used to lengthen this piece is easy to use, as it doesn't fray at the edges once it has been trimmed. To go with this dress, it's suggested that we could cut the feet off a pair of old opaque tights to make leggings.

Other revelations from the Che Camille team include how to turn a shrunken sweater into a cardigan, instructions on using buttons and strips of fabric to streamline an item of clothing and how to make an oversized T-shirt look more feminine by adding ribbon and ruching at the shoulders.

There's also a reinvigorated 1950s dress on the rail.

"It looked like a big cake before we fixed it," says Dunlop. "So, we just ripped off the sleeves and collars and added binding to them."

"When she says 'ripped off', she means unpicked carefully," corrects Hutcheson.

The thought of chopping anything at all off a vintage piece seems a bit wrong to me, like sawing the legs off a Chesterfield. However, I convince myself that a dress that's never going to be worn again is virtually redundant (yes, even if it is a Biba number).

At this point, we're all feeling pretty inspired and devil-may-care with the sewing shears, and I'm ready to get started on my creation.

Because I went a bit mad for the smock trend a few seasons ago and, hence, have a wardrobe stuffed full of pieces in the Whatever Happened to Baby Jane style, I need to update one such item – a black, empire line dress. To pull this piece in at the waist, Hutcheson suggests that I cinch it with a thick piece of stretchy elastic in lilac (which used to be a pair of toddlers' reins) and stitch this in place. Although this takes ages and makes me go slightly cross-eyed, the finished shape definitely looks more modern.

All that's left is to add my haberdashery finds, so I attach the sweetie-coloured buttons that I'd collected earlier to the collar of my frock. The result is no haute-couture gown, but I have made myself a quirky dress that looks vaguely like one that I'd coveted in Jaeger a few months back, and I feel almost brave enough to have a shot on a sewing machine (maybe next time).

"Most of our customers have wardrobes that contain special investment pieces, as well as 'happy cheapies' that may be fashionable one season and tired the next," says Lorigo. "To bring the latter items up to date, all it takes are some basic skills and the confidence to play around."

Dressmaking Workshop: The Luxury of Labour, at Che Camille, Floor 6, Argyll Arcade, 34 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, tel: 0141-221 9620. Sundays, 2-5pm, 28 February to 28 March, 110 for series of five, see www.checamille.com for more information

This article first appeared in The Scotsman, 16 January, 2010