Are You Ready to Start Teaching Sewing?

Congratulations on starting your own sewing school!  In this website you will find different ideas on how to run your new school or studio.  Many people have different dreams, thoughts, and ideas about what their school should look like and how it should be run.  I will share with you what worked best for me and what didn’t.  My goal is for you to have a successful sewing school too. So sit back in a comfortable chair, grab a cup of tea, and start planning your new sewing school.

Are YOU Ready?

First and most important… you must know how to sew.  You don’t need to be an expert.  If you don’t know how to sew, then take a course or two at a local fabric store.  (It really is very simple). If you do know how to sew but just simple and easy things, then expand your knowledge and take a quilt class or a stencil on fabric class.  The more you know, the better teacher you will be.  I am constantly taking classes and seminars in sewing, quilting, stenciling, fashion and costume design, and what ever else I can that has to do with sewing, just to keep myself up to date.  You could also join a quilt guild, or a sewing club. I also took online sewing and fashion classes and courses. I received a diploma from an on-line sewing college program back when it was known as Thomson Education Direct, now it is called Penn Foster Career School. I took the program called Dressmaking and Design. It took me 18 months to complete the program. This online sewing program consists of seven instruction sets that take you step-by-step through techniques and skills you will need to sew your own clothes. It begins with Introduction to Sewing and leads you right into reading patterns, pattern lay-out, creating seams, stitches, and simple pattern alterations. The program also covers fibers and fabrics, the sewing machine, and both basic and advance dress making skills. Even though I have been sewing for 35 plus years, I wanted to further my education in sewing. I also have a diploma with another online sewing college program called Sewing and Dress Making with the Stratford Career Institute. That online sewing program consists of five modules that take you step-by-step through techniques and skills you will need to know to sew your own clothes, and sew items for the home. The course even touched on crafting and quilt making. This course took me 12 months and was more of a refresher for me. I did both of these online dress making and sewing college courses while I was teaching sewing. It was a great experience and if I find another one, I will take that too because I love to learn new things and share what I’ve learned with my students.

If you can not afford classes and seminars then read many books and magazines to inform yourself.  Keep these books in your sewing room as both decoration and future reference.  I have MANY magazines and books.  Each time I get a new book, I look through it and keep a pattern or idea that I want to use in my studio, and then I keep the book for easy access for my students to view too. We have a mini fashion and sewing library in our studio that students can go to at any time.