FAQ

Thoughts on Sewing for Other People

March 28, 2018 By Chie

Reading this blog post, made me think about the reasons I sell my clothes, as opposed to sewing only for myself. I have read and seen sewists’ struggle (too dramatic?) to keep their closet small on the blogsphere and Instagram. We love making clothes. We sew when we get new fabric. We sew when new patterns are released. I have been sewing clothes for more than 10 years. Can you imagine how many clothes I would have accumulated by now had I kept them all to myself?! I live in Tokyo. Tokyo apartments are notoriously small. I only have one tiny closet which I split in two to store my own clothes and the clothes for sale. Besides that, as a seamstress, I have a lot of other stuff to store in my house, such as patterns, threads, notions, fabrics, fabrics and fabrics….

Selling my handmade creations helped me keep my closet considerably minimal. Selling my clothes helped me keep going with my sewing obsession without filling the house with countless clothes.

Recent custom order, from antique kimono to wrap dress

Here are some ways that selling my creations helped me:

Sewing for other people is fun
Often, other people give me ideas that I would not have come up on my own. Sure, you might not be sewing exactly what you want to sew all the time, but it gives you more variety. Requests are unexpected, which is great depending on how you look at it. My kimono dress series wouldn’t have started unless I taken on a project for a client to upcycle her kimono. I would not have any ideas on how to make costumes. I would not have learned how to fix wedding dress when it is too small for a bride. The list goes on.

Sewing for other people challenges me

Had I not taken the offer from my friend to make her wedding dress back in 2011, I would not have had wedding dress business. Taking on an unfamiliar project is intimidating. But once you get over the fear and tackle the project, you learn. You learn new skills. And the more you do it, the easier it gets and less intimidating for you to take on new challenges.

Cream shift dress

I’m not criticizing for people who only sew for themselves. I think it’s great if you are like Katie, who sews for herself, reflect upon what she’s made and take and run with it. She learned what her style is, and was able to better create her capsule wardrobe. If she did not sew for herself, she might not have gotten there. By writing this, I wanted to remind myself why I do what I do and that is is good for me to do. Sewing for other people is for my personal development and creative fulfillment as well as making other people happy with their new clothes. I also LOVE sewing for myself, and in fact, am currently enjoying wearing this new button up. Any thoughts?

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Things to Consider Before Taking on a Freelance Sewing Work

October 17, 2017 By Chie

What I think about before saying yes to a sewing gig

Over the past couple of months, I’ve taken on a various sewing gigs. Instead of writing “what I made” posts, I thought maybe I should write about what to think about before saying yes to a particular sewing project. I hope this will be useful for someone thinking about sewing for other people.

1. Do some research

Before agreeing to take on work, I do some research. List up the materials and notions needed to complete the project. How much do they cost? Can you buy the fabric online or do you have to go to fabric shops to buy it? You will have to estimate higher if you have to go buy fabric yourself, considering the cost of transportation and time. Try and estimate how long it will take to sew. Do you already have similar patterns you can modify or do you have to draft one from scratch? Writing this up will help you avoid the situation of agreeing to work that does not make monetary sense. It helps you come up with a reasonable fee for the client when you know what you are charging for. It’s better to know how much work is involved before going in than being surprised once you start.

Sometimes I agree to sew something that looks complicated which turns out not to be. For instance, when a client asked if I can sew the dress above, I was hesitant. The pin tucks, small ruffle details, tiered skirt…It looked like it would take hours and hours of work. Plus, I did not have any similar patterns. Surprisingly, it was fairly simple to sew since many pattern pieces involves straight sewing so the cutting was easy. It is a pleasant surprise when that happens! Also, I often ask clients to provide garments that fit them well and

are similar in style, so it would help me cut the time for drafting patterns, which results in lower estimate.

2. Is it mass production or one-of-a-kind custom work?

I get asked to sew for other people’s shops, sometimes. The work could be “make three of this top in size medium and four in size large”. I found out that this kind of gig doesn’t pay well and I don’t enjoy it as much… It’s one thing to sew multiples for my own shop, but it is another thing if I have to do it for some other shop owner. It might sound selfish but at least the former makes me feel like I’m suffering for my own cause!

3. It’s ok to take on work that does not pay you minimum hourly wages, sometimes.

It might sound like I’m contradicting point number 1, but if a project is something you are interested in, you can learn new skills from or you would enjoy making it, you might want to consider working on the project regardless of how much it pays you,. At the end of the day, it is not all about money. It is about growing your business and constantly learning new skills.

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Why I Make Tablecloths in My Down Time

April 17, 2017 By Chie

One of the biggest challenges of being an entrepreneur is to have consistent work coming in every month. Some months might be great and some months might not be so good in terms of the amount of incoming work. When you’re in busy season, you have to manage your work and triage it to get everything done on time. On the other hand when you know it’s not your busiest month, you have to work hard to create more work.

In my recent downtime, I made tablecloths. Many of them. It was commissioned by one company I work with. I pressed the fabric hem and sewed straight lines over and over again. It is not sexy nor Instagram worthy but I take on work like this for several reasons.

One is to keep the client happy and build a trusting relationship. They might not give you the work you absolutely love at all times, but work is work. When you are starting up, you cannot be too picky.

Two, it was surprisingly relaxing to do this simple task. It was a good break from creative work. It felt similar to knitting, where you repeat the simple pattern over and over again. Knit, purl, knit purl….

Lastly, it helps me keep going with my business. The money I earned from making tablecloths can be put elsewhere to grow my actual business. So regardless of its sexiness, I take on work like this sometimes to have healthy finance for my business.

P.S. Other small business tips here and here.