The easy and slow days of summer provide an opportunity for us to take on a new hobby, sewing or decorating project. This could be something on your “bucket list” such as learning to knit new scarves for the upcoming holiday season, creating an oil painting all by yourself or reupholstering that hand-me-down bedrooom chair.
If you are an expert sewer and a people person you may enjoy teaching others to sew. Frequently, fabric stores and craft stores hire people to teach sewing. All that is generally needed is sewing expertise, regardless of how you learned it. Your local community college may also hire sewing instructors without college degrees for continuing education or enrichment classes.
After you have taught for awhile, you might consider opening your own sewing school. This is an especially good moneymaker if there are no other sewing classes in the area.
The Business of Teaching Sewing by Pati Palmer and Marcy Miller offers excellent advice on starting a sewing school.
While sewing is my fellow blogger, Elizabeth’s, area of expertise, I ran across this collection of books entitled “The Art of Sewing”. First published in the 1970′s and offered by Time-Life Books it includes several titles such as “The Art of Sewing:Delicate Wear”, “The Art of Sewing Creative Design” etc. As a designer I am attracted to the beautiful illustrations and the colorful bindings and it is fun to see how things have changed in the last thirty five years.
The Art of Sewing by Time-Life books–Traditional Favorites issue
It is difficult to find but several of the titles are available on Amazon.com and the entire set was for sale on ebay at one time. However, there are individual books for sale on a regular basis on ebay.
Jean jumper: This tool is a piece of plastic designed to help the sewing machine foot work over bulky seams such as those found in jeans.
Kimono sleeves: Kimono sleeves are cut in one piece with the garment front and back.
Knife pleats: Knife pleats are more commonly called straight pleats. Knife pleats all run in the same direction; your pattern will give detailed instructions on making the pleats.
Knits: Fabrics which are knitted rather than woven. Knits have more stretch than woven fabrics; some patterns are made especially for knits.