Sewing Business Blog » sewing classes

National Distance Learning Week

Sarah J. Doyle — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:53:22 +0000

Did you know that November 9-13 is National Distance Learning Week? Distance learning is just what it sounds like — instead of driving downtown to the local college to take a class or two, you take classes online from various colleges or websites that offer classes you might be interested in.

The benefit of taking online classes is that you can learn your subject at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home. If you work days, you can spend part of your evenings working on your classes; if you work nights you can spend part of your daytime hours working on the online class.

If you are wanting to get a bachelor’s or master’s degree you would obviously check the colleges that offer online classes to see what would appeal to you.

If you’re wanting to sharpen your sewing, crafting or quilting skills or learn a new skill like pattern making, you could run on over to PatternsThatFitYou.com and check out the wide variety of classes available there. BigBeautifulPeople.com also has a variety of classes and patterns for the plus sizes.

How many times have you registered for a class at your local fabric store or adult education classes and had them cancelled at the last minute because not enough people signed up to take the class. In addition, how many of those classes would you have liked to take but couldn’t because your work schedule didn’t allow you to sign up. Distance learning (online classes) are so convenient – no matter what your work schedule is, and no matter if you work better early in the morning or late in the evening, the online classes will work into YOUR schedule.

Give distance learning a try and see for yourself how easy it is to learn a new skill or sharpen the skills you already have. Once you try it, you’ll be hooked!

“Project Runway” Provides Excellent PR for Fashion & Sewing Industries

S. Denise Hoyle — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:10:49 +0000

Project Runway

After a long court battle between NBC Universal (the parent company of Bravo) and the Weinstein Co., which produces the “Project Runway” series, season six of the show finally aired on Lifetime on August 20th and it was the top-rated premiere in Lifetime’s history.

Ratings were also up an amazing 32% over season five’s numbers, when the show still aired on Bravo, plus fans of the show can now view current and previous episodes on MyLifetime.com. The show has never been streamed online before since Bravo didn’t have the rights to stream full episodes.

The popularity of the show has spawned an abundance of branded products like sewing machines, kits, and sketchbooks, and the effect of the show has been tremendous for local fabric retailers and sewing classes. The entire industry has benefited from the upsurge in the popularity of sewing and fashion design as a hobby.

Be sure to watch episode three tonight on Lifetime. You could even enter the Project Runway giveaway where one lucky winner will receive a new outfit and one winner will receive a $100 American Express gift card. Hurry, the contest ends September 6th!

Have You Considered Teaching Adults To Sew?

Sarah J. Doyle — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:50:00 +0000

We hear so much about teaching children how to sew; bringing back the sewing hobby by teaching the youngsters, but have you considered doing adult sewing classes?

Previous posts to this blog in the “Industry News” section tells about how the sewing hobby is becoming more popular during the recession, and how fabric stores and individuals are teaching sewing to students at a rate of $10 per hour — get 5-10 students in a class and you’d be making some super extra income.

Or how about the post about the predicted trends for 2009 include sewing businesses? There is a growing number of people who either want to learn how to sew, or those who already are in a sewing / alteration business that are seeing great increases in their businesses.

On our end we can also tell that there is a growing number of people who are wanting to sew by the marked increase in the requests for our Learn How To Sew and Basic Clothing Construction books.

If you have room in your garage to set up several used sewing machines (you can get them at flea markets or yard sales), you could easily start a small sewing class. You could divide up your time and have one or two separate adult classes on week days (or evenings) and perhaps a teenagers class on Saturday. There are all kinds of options for this type of class. Think about it and see if you could arrange to teach a few of those adults / teenagers that are desperately looking for someone to help them learn to sew.

Sewing Hobby Becoming More Popular During Recession

S. Denise Hoyle — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Many sewing and craft stores are reporting a surge in the number of students looking to take up sewing as a new hobby. The economy has been the most reported influence on choosing sewing as a hobby and classes are filling up with people interested in learning to repair their old clothes, or wanting to save money by making their own clothes.

Laura Jordan, the owner of Laura’s Sewing & Vacuum in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida says that she has had to lease a larger space to accommodate the influx of sewing students. She says business is doing very well with students paying $10 an hour for classes on learning to sew. She teaches up to 50 students at least twice as month and says that students are taking more and more classes and they’re buying more machines.

Clay Williams, a manager at Hancock Fabrics, says that his store has seen double digit increases “in the 30 percent realm” in fabric sales.

Williams also reports a spike in sales of upholstery fabrics, as more people are making their own home decor items like cushions and drapes, as well as re-upholstering aging furniture pieces to give them new life.

Take advantage of this current trend by providing classes to your customers or offer your services as an instructor to your local community center or other local organizations such as the YMCA.

Save Money – Utilize Free Online Classes

Sarah J. Doyle — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:31:00 +0000

It is possible to SAVE hundreds of dollars each year by utilizing free online classes in order to learn and educate yourself in a variety of ways.

As an example, how many times do you take your machine(s) to the repair shop? I know in the past when I was in such a hurry and things went wrong with my machine, the repairman would point out something minor that was the problem. Usually the problem was something I SHOULD have been able to take care of myself! To get you started in the right direction, check out a previous post on this blog explaining how to check for tension problems on your sewing machine. Once you get into the habit of doing your own tension troubleshooting, you will be able to decrease the times you have to put the machine in the shop. When you’re comfortable working on the tension problems, you’ll probably want to be able to repair other problem areas that come up. Sewing Machine Repair For The Home Sewer book would likely save you not only many dollars, but also hours of downtime and frustration of having to leave a project to get the machine to a repair shop.

Other ways to save money by utilizing free online classes would be by learning the basics of pattern making and changing store bought patterns rather than buying patterns. Try making a skirt for yourself or for a customer with the free skirt pattern making class. If you have a regular customer that you do a lot of sewing for, and you already have a pattern that you’ve gotten to fit to a “T” for the customer (or a pattern for yourself), you might suggest that you could simply change up that basic pattern by changing the sleeve styles or perhaps make a new neckline or adding a collar to the pattern. Any one, or a combination, of these free online classes could save several hundred dollars over a period of time by not having to buy a new pattern in order to get different neckline styles or sleeve styles, etc and in reality you could make a whole wardrobe of clothes from just that one basic pattern.

And, speaking of saving money – for those who need a new gym bag, don’t run out to buy one! Make your own gym bag with the free tutorial that’s offered at PatternsThatFitYou.com. You’ll also find free instructions on how to change men’s t-shirts into casual tops for yourself. Hey, men’s t-shirts are MUCH less expensive than any blouse or top for women, so the savings could add up pretty quickly when you utilize that free online tutorial.

When times are tough and the economy is in a crunch, if you’re like me, I’ll be using as many FREE tutorials, classes and instructions as possible to keep my money in my purse and still be able to expand my business and do more for my customers.

Interest In Sewing Classes Surges

S. Denise Hoyle — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:10:00 +0000

Maria Rodriguez loves to sketch dresses and tops. Classmate Briena Pocevicius thought about opening a dress shop filled with her own creations. By the end of their advanced sewing class, Maria, 15, and Briena, 17, will have made hand-tailored outfits.

As Fashion Week in New York wraps up today, the Omaha Bryan High School students represent the surge in popularity of sewing classes in the Midlands — and the expanding need for fashion design courses.

At Bryan, for example, enrollment in sewing and fashion design classes has more than quadrupled since the 2002-03 school year. Throughout the Omaha Public Schools, enrollment in such classes has more than doubled, increasing from 536 students in 2002 to 1,174 this year.

That’s a major change from two or three decades ago, when sewing classes were so last season to many teens.

There are many reasons why more students are picking up scissors and heading to the sewing machine. There’s the pop culture prevalence of fashion-forward TV shows like “What Not to Wear” and “Project Runway,” where aspiring designers face weekly challenges. And there’s a resurgence of crafting and do-it-yourself projects among all ages.

Next year, Maria, a sophomore, is hoping to take a computerized fashion design class. Briena, a junior, already has taken it — and gives it rave reviews. She got to see how the clothes come together using computer- aided drafting skills (as you would to design a machine part or house blueprint).

In Wakefield, near Wayne, students fashion their sewing skills into profits. The studentrun “T-N-T” (Trojans and Teamwork) embroiders shirts for local teams and organizations and even does mending for community residents. The entrepreneurs used their profits to buy more embroidery machines.

Several sewing teachers said that today’s students are less interested in making clothes than they are in making things like purses, quilts, even beanbag chairs. Krystal Kolb, family and consumer science teacher at Bryan, said she has seen growing interest in sewing for several years — and feels it in her full class schedule.

“If we could have more sewing classes, they would take them,” Kolb said. “The last two years have been crazy.”

In 2002, 56 Bryan students took two courses — one in sewing, one in design. This year, 251 students are enrolled in four — three sewing and one design. Omaha Benson offers three courses in fashion design and two in sewing.

College programs are seeing enrollment increases, too. The University of Nebraska Lincoln’s textiles, clothing and design program has watched its number of majors increase more than 22 percent from January 2000 to August 2007. The department is graduating more students than in years past — and placing them with firms including Martha Stewart and Kohl’s.

Michael James, department chairman, said pop culture may play a role, but he speculated that the influence of “Project Runway” is no greater than that of “CSI” to forensics programs.

“Why do they watch that show in the first place? Because they’re already interested in fashion and clothing,” James said.

Read more of this article in the Southwest Iowa News.