Experience the creative pulse of the city's textile community. On Saturday, April 26, 2025, San Diego College of Continuing Education will host its annual BIG MAKE capstone, a series of hands-on workshops and lectures, to welcome the public to experience its award-winning free Clothing and Textiles (CLTX) program. The BIG MAKE is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at West City Campus (3249 Fordham St., 92110) and is free and open to the public for ages 16+.

This year’s theme is ‘Threads of Change: Stitching Stories of Justice, Textiles, and Sustainability—Walking Gently, Making Boldly’. Attendees will enjoy free clothing and textile workshops, where they can create sustainable products, and hear from thriving designers and professionals from the industry. The college’s first BIG MAKE Marketplace will feature student and alumni businesses that were first envisioned while studying clothing and textiles.

2025 BIG MAKE SCHEDULE:

SAT. 26 APRIL 2025

10:00 AM

SESSION 1 BOOTHS/WORKSHOPS OPEN

• (Workshop) Threads of Renewal: Textile Embellishment Center. WCC 209
• (Workshop) Silent Verses: Blackout Poetry Studio. WCC 212
• FTL Discoveries: Explore Fiber Tech Innovations WCC 212 FTL
• The BIG MAKE Marketplace: Student Edition
• Threads of Change: Sustainability Showcase
• Up-close In the Industrial Sewing & Manufacturing Lab WCC211

KEYNOTE SESSION - WCC 124

11:30 AM

• Nicole Slater: Strategic Marketing For Creative People
• CA Bill SB-707: Responsible Textile Recovery Act
• Sharon Yu Berry:Sustainable and Regenerative Design
• Liberty Worth, The 2025 CLTX BIG MAKE Visiting Textile Artist Keynote

1:00 PM

SESSION 2 BOOTHS/WORKSHOPS OPEN

• (Workshop) Threads of Renewal: Textile Embellishment Center. WCC 209
• (Workshop) Silent Verses: Blackout Poetry Studio. WCC 212
• FTL Discoveries: Explore Fiber Tech Innovations WCC 212 FTL
• The BIG MAKE Marketplace: Student Edition
• Threads of Change: Sustainability Showcase
• Up-close In the Industrial Sewing & Manufacturing Lab WCC211

The College of Continuing Education is focused on creating solutions for fast fashion and environmental destruction through the use of sustainable and eco-friendly industry practices.  Year-around aspiring technicians and entrepreneurs can choose from eight tuition-free career training certificates; Advanced Sewn Product Construction, Essential Digital Tools for Manufacturing, Industrial Sewing and Manufacturing, Pattern Fitting Technician, Patternmaking for Product Development, Product and Textile Surface Treatments: Embroidery, Product and Textile Surface Treatments: Digital Printing, and Sewn Product Construction Essentials.

Students take classes inside the college’s new fiber technology lab, which houses machines to print, cure, and cut synthetic and natural fabrics, permitting entrepreneurial students to produce goods without wasting product. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the lab during the April 26th BIG MAKE event.
While CLTX classes begin again in the fall, summer enrollment for other high demand career training programs opens May 12. To learn more about SDCCE’s free classes please visit, SDCCE.EDU.