My mom has been sewing for as long as I can remember!  She started in Home Economics in high school, and she hasn’t stopped since. When we were little, she’d make our clothes for us.  She could throw together something from nothing, and make it work.  As we grew up she began sewing for the public where she’d take elaborate patterns and make beautiful everyday clothing, suits, dresses, gowns, costumes, etc.  Over the past 30 years, her sewing has evolved to pretty much alterations only.

When I refer her to people, I usually make a joke and say she’s the best seamstress I know, and she’s been sewing for about 100 years.  Some laugh, and some… I never hear from again!

My mom isn’t the only person in our family who sews, however.  My grandmother used to sew when she was able, and I can whip up a few things here an there, but I really can’t follow a pattern.  I used to make my kids cloth diapers because I would make my own patterns an it just made sense in my head, and I made a lot of the Minion’s infant gowns out of some of our favorite old t-shirts.  I even have a tutorial on my site on how to make a DIY reusable bowl cover!

Learning how to sew isn’t very complicated. It doesn’t have to be cumbersome if you have the right tools and can follow simple directions. Often times, you can find online sewing classes, and you may even be able to find someone in your local area who teaches classes!  I’ve held sewing classes before, and they’re lot of fun! Find online classes you’re interested in taking at fernstudium-infomaterial.de.

The busiest time of the year for my mom is prom season in the spring, and as you can see in the photo above, some of the dresses she gets in are very elaborate!  She takes on a set amount of clients over the duration of about two months, because prom dress alterations can be tedious work.  When I was in high school, she made all our our dresses from scratch (mine, my sister’s, and our friends), but like I said, now, she’s just doing alterations.  Some dresses only take a few hours to alter, and some take a couple of days depending on what needs to be done.  She really enjoys being able to see all of the beautiful dresses before the big day, but the real pleasure come from seeing the girls (and some of the guys suits she’s altered) all made up on prom night!

If you’re new to sewing, the best advice I can give you would be to start out with something simple like a pillow cover or a simple pillowcase dress.  You want to start with something that doesn’t require a lot of materials, cutting, piecing together, or thought.  Just jump right in, and practice!  You’ll find your groove in no time and soon you’ll be helping girls have the best red sparkly prom dress!