About this Event
A 4-week creative workshop with Jules McKeown The Pattern Social
No experience needed – just curiosity, a sketchbook, and a willingness to explore.
At the heart of textile design lies drawing – not just as a technical skill, but as a personal, expressive language. This welcoming four-week course invites you to explore a wide range of drawing and mark-making techniques in a relaxed and supportive environment. Whether you’re someone who loves to work in detail or prefers a bold, gestural approach, this course will encourage you to embrace your own unique style and develop it into creative ideas for textiles and surface pattern design.
You’ll be introduced to different ways of seeing, thinking, and drawing, with playful and accessible exercises that help loosen you up and unlock new ideas. Each session builds your confidence and expands your creative toolkit – from expressive drawing to pattern design – while showing how even simple sketches can evolve into imaginative design solutions.
Jules is a freelance print designer and Senior Lecturer in Textile Design with a passion for drawing and creative exploration. With years of experience in both industry and education, she believes strongly in the value of intuitive, hand-drawn processes as a foundation for design. Her workshops are known for being encouraging, open, and full of energy – with a focus on experimentation, play, and embracing happy accidents.
What We’ll Explore Each Week
Week 1 – Getting Started with Mark-Making
In our first session, we’ll dive straight into expressive mark-making. You’ll experiment with a variety of tools and materials to explore the different qualities of lines, marks, and textures. This session is all about shaking off any pressure to "draw perfectly" and reconnecting with the joy of simply making marks on paper.
We’ll also begin exploring how language and drawing can interact, using action words as prompts to generate bold, intuitive visual responses. By the end of the session, you’ll have created a series of energetic black-and-white studies and started to develop your own personal visual vocabulary.
Week 2 – Observational Drawing & Negative Space
This week we’ll slow things down and focus on how to really see. Using plants, leaves and flowers as our subject matter, we’ll explore a range of observational drawing techniques including continuous line, timed drawings, and negative space drawing.
These exercises are designed to improve your ability to look closely, to understand form and proportion, and to draw more confidently and accurately. We’ll also look at how negative space – the area around and between objects – can help you see shapes in a completely different way, encouraging you to draw what’s really there, rather than what you think you see.
Week 3 – Expressive Drawing & Developing a Motif
In this session, we’ll move from observation into personal expression. Taking inspiration from the organic, whimsical work of designer Josef Frank, we’ll explore how to create motifs and decorative elements that reflect your own creative voice.
You’ll be encouraged to work more freely and intuitively, using larger sheets of paper and a mix of materials – pens, paint, collage – to develop rich, layered compositions. This is a chance to play with scale, rhythm, and repetition, and to see how your drawings can begin to evolve into textile ideas.
Week 4 – Introduction to Pattern Design
Our final week brings everything together as we explore how to turn your drawings and motifs into repeat patterns. You’ll learn the basics of full drop repeat layout – a simple but powerful method for creating seamless designs.
We’ll look at how patterns occur in nature, architecture, and everyday life, and explore how your own sketches can be used to build beautiful, flowing compositions. You’ll leave the session with your first repeat pattern – a creative translation of your hand-drawn work into a design idea ready for textiles, print, or digital development.
Who is this course for?
This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in drawing, textiles, or surface design. It’s ideal for:
- Beginners who want to build confidence with drawing
- Artists or designers looking to reconnect with hand-drawn processes
- Teachers wanting to refresh their creative practice
- Textile enthusiasts curious about turning their drawings into patterns
What you'll take away:
By the end of the four weeks, you’ll have a sketchbook full of drawing experiments, a collection of your own marks and motifs, and the foundation of a repeat pattern design. Most importantly, you’ll leave with a renewed sense of creative confidence – and a set of practical, playful techniques you can continue to develop in your own time.
Artist bio:
Jules is a passionate freelance print designer and Senior Lecturer in Textile Design at Leeds Arts University. With a lively, hands-on teaching style, she brings a wealth of experience in both practical and digital techniques, equipping students and workshop participants alike with the tools they need to thrive creatively and professionally.
In 2015, she founded The Pattern Social, a collaborative design platform that connects designers and educators to explore, promote, and celebrate contemporary pattern design. Jules believes deeply in the power of creative play and is always encouraging those she works with—whether in the classroom or at a workshop—to push their boundaries, take risks, and embrace their own unique design voice.
She has worked with an exciting mix of clients across fashion, interiors, stationery, greetings, and publishing, and has exhibited her work internationally at events like Surtex in New York under The Pattern Social name.
Jules’ design process is playful and experimental, often beginning with bold, hand-crafted elements—like collage, mark making, and sketchbook explorations—that evolve into polished digital designs using tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Procreate. As a workshop attendee, you’ll get a glimpse into this process, discover new ways to make patterns, and gain the confidence to develop your own vibrant, personal style.
Whether you're a designer looking for fresh inspiration or simply someone curious about the world of pattern, Jules brings enthusiasm, expertise, and a supportive energy to help you explore, make, and most importantly—play.
www.thepatternsocial.com Instagram - @thepatternsocial
When attending a workshop you can receive 10% off within the Gallery Shop on the day of your session.
About the venue
Sunny Bank Mills is an inspirational cultural destination in the heart of the local community of Farsley, Leeds. Founded in 1829, these glorious Mills are being regenerated by the sixth generation of the family owners, creating a wonderful blend of work, leisure and culture.
Course terms and booking conditions
Workshop and course bookings can be cancelled and refunded up until 7 days before the scheduled start date. As materials and equipment are ordered in advance, we regret that refunds cannot be offered less than 7 days before the workshop date. Please note that Eventbrite’s booking fee is non-refundable.
If we need to cancel the course for any reason your ticket will be fully refunded.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Sunny Bank Mills Farsley, 83-85 Town Street, Leeds, United Kingdom
GBP 140.00
