Sewing Business Blog

The Votes Are In…… And I’m AMAZED!

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A few weeks ago we ran a post asking the question,  “Who do you sew more for…… plus size/full figure women or overweight/obese children”?  We have gotten a TON of emails from people answering that question and reasons WHY they do what they do.

By far the MAJORITY of people responding say they sew for full figure/plus size women.  Many of the reasons were basically the same – “I am a full figure woman, can’t find anything that fits properly, so I pretty much sew for myself, and help out a friend or two as well”.  The book/class preferred by these women with the “I sew for myself” answer is the “Sewing For Full Figure/Plus Size Women as a Home Business” because that manual contains ALL of the classes plus additional information at a reduced price than if they were to purchase “some” of the classes now, and some more later.  In reality, the idea of having all the information in one manual is more beneficial than many separate classes that they may “lose”.  I would never have thought about that answer, as I figured the “business” manual would primarily for those in a sewing business – amazing!  We did have some responders who are indeed in a sewing business, and because they themselves are in the plus size category, they prefer to sew for the same type of women, as opposed to working with overweight children.

On the other hand, those who preferred the “Sewing For Plus Size Children as a Home Business” are ones like I would have been a few years ago – had grandchildren who were very much overweight and had some friends who also had grandchildren in the overweight/obese size ranges.  These people also purchased the business manual because it contained ALL the size ranges for overweight boys/girls so the information they needed was in one manual regardless of whether the overweight child was 6 years old, 10 years old, boy or girl – everything was at their fingertips.  In addition, the business manual contained the information about how to alter store bought patterns for plus size children – so they figured they were all set regardless of who they were sewing for, what ages they were sewing for, or if they were making the patterns or starting with a store bought pattern and altering it.

Regardless of whether you’re in a sewing business or sewing for just a few people, I’m sure one of the above books will help you in getting the perfect for that full figure woman or for those overweight children.

Do You Sew Mostly For Plus Size Women or Plus Size Children?

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There are many articles regarding the statistics concerning overweight/obese children, as well as the numbers of full figure/plus size women (adults actually – not just women). We’re wondering if you who are in a sewing / alteration business actually do MORE sewing for the overweight children category or plus size women.

While I would venture to say that regardless of which category you go with, there are enough potential clients to keep you busy. As you spread the word about your business, you will see a steady increase in customers. Flyers in a fabric store, small classified ad in your local newspaper or mini flyers in every “local” bill you pay (local gas bill, water bill, power bill, etc), will certainly increase your customers as well.

In the near future we will be doing some tutorial type posts for working with these two categories of customers, and we just want to get a feel of who you all are sewing for, so we can concentrate on what the majority of our readers need.

We have three websites you can look at to see the types of information we have available already to help make it easier to sew for those truly hard to fit individuals. These sites are BigBeautifulPeople.com, (for big/tall men and full figure/plus size women), PatternsThatFitYou.com, (for men, women and children) and PlusSizeChildren.com (for overweight/obese children).

You can see our tutorial post about making a custom skirt for plus size girls using their own personal measurements: http://sewingbusiness.com/2012/07/26/how-to-make-a-custom-fitted-skirt-for-an-overweightobese-child.aspx — and we’re planning to add more of the tutorial type posts to help answer your questions about sewing for overweight and plus size people.

No Plus Size Patterns For Children Under Age 6??? Wait A Minute!!!

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM9y0-2pbWU

While doing some research for a video we’re doing regarding our Plus Size Children patterns and classes, we found some very disturbing information.  First of all, did you know that there are NO, I repeat NO, commercial patterns or clothing for plus size, overweight or obese children under the age of 6?  Are you also aware that 1 in 5 of all children under the age of 6 is overweight or obese?  WAIT A MINUTE!  Our Plus Size Children patterns DO cover that age range — you can see on PatternsThatFitYou.com and PlusSizeChildren.com that we DO have a size range of 2-4-6 as well as the size range 8-10-12 and 14-16 — and ALL of the size ranges are made from actual measurements of plus size/obese children.   We spent over a year, and on a continuing basis, collecting actual measurements of overweight and obese children from our customers to put into a database in order to construct patterns that would fit these “forgotten” children.  Look at the difference between an “average” size 10 and an “overweight” size 10 in the following picture:

The “overweight/obese” child size 10 measurements – if you could find a commercial pattern to fit them – would be a woman’s size 16-18 or perhaps larger — and how many of those garment styles would be suitable for a 10 year old?  If you have, or know, some overweight/obese children, you know that there isn’t much difference in the “height” of the obese child, the big difference is through the middle, and even in the commercial patterns that are designed for the “plus” size (16 Plus, etc), AREN’T for any child other than maybe a little overweight 16 year old, not the 6 or 8 or 10 year olds that are overweight.

We are in the process of putting together a series dedicated to helping those who have overweight/obese children, grandchildren, neices, etc to be able to alter a regular store bought pattern to fit them as well as how to use the overweight child’s own measurements to make garments that will fit perfectly.  You can get a head start right away by checking out the patterns, books and classes we have at PatternsThatFitYou.com and PlusSizeChildren.com.  AND, for those of you who have overweight girls in that totally “forgotten” “no patterns” age group under 6 years old, you can check out our Easy Pattern Making for Girls ages 2-6 and the two websites just mentioned.  You will FINALLY be able to get clothing to fit your child!

Why Sew For Plus Size And Overweight Men / Women / Children?

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Because they are EVERYWHERE!!  Just look around you – in parks, restaurants, shopping malls, movies, at bus stops – how many overweight / plus size / obese men, women and children do you see?

The July 2, 2009 issue of Pensacola News Journal, http://pnj.com has an article entitled “Mississippi still nation’s fattest”, and goes on to say that the South is the nation’s heaviest region.

Now, just because you may live in the other parts of the country, don’t think that you don’t have your share of overweight and plus size people to sew for!  There is only ONE state that has less than 20 percent obesity, and that is Colorado at 18.9%.  The article says that in 1991, no state had more than a 20 percent obesity rate, and that currently, Colorado is the only one under 20%.

The report goes on to say that Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity at 32.5%, and that this state also has the highest rate of overweight and obese children, at 44.4 percent, and then mentions the states that follow and their rates of adult and child obesity.

“In 31 states, more than one in four adults are obese, says a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation”.

The term “obesity” as referred to in this article does indeed mean “obesity”, and does not count those of us who are just “somewhat overweight” and still can’t find clothing patterns or garments that fit properly.

If you haven’t already done so, I’d highly suggest that you begin sewing for this niche that apparently is getting “larger” all the time!  Check out PatternsThat Fit You, Big Beautiful People  and Plus Size Children for pattern making classes, books and information as it relates to plus size and overweight men, women and children.