Sewing for Clients Part I: Current Project/ Loving the process

I'm still in AK working like crazy but things have slowed down enough for me to make this post. Upon my return I'll be exclusively working on a project for a client. This project has been a work in progress for the last two months since we were stalled due to schedule conflicts and other interruptions.   Well now I'm in full speed and plan to have this complete the 2nd week of September, since I'll be out of town on a work related trip to AK for 10 days.

My client came to me because she wanted me to make a version of this Mock wrap teal dress featured in the Metro (I think that's the name) magazine.The dress is stunning and is a great look for most any woman.

So my job was to find a pattern similar to what my client wanted and to modify it accordingly. The above dress has godets, a collared mock wrap top, and long sleeves with cuffs. So I got to looking and found Simplicity 3877. As you can see view A of the dress (the khaki one) is the closest match. It just so happens that my client loved this version of the dress and didn't want me to make any changes to it so it would look like her inspiration dress. The only change we plan to make is to remove the sleeve tabs which she didn't care to much for. Instead we'll lengthen the sleeve to convert it into a 3/4 sleeve. We picked a dark turquoise stretch sateen which is recommended for the project. It has the perfect combination of rich color, sheen, and stretch. I found the fabric at Walmart a year ago and only paid about $6 for a little less than 6yds of fabric (the fabric department closed shortly thereafter :( ). So the dress in the magazine is for $39.99 and the supplies for my version will cost about $9.  Since my Client is a dear friend of mine from church (whom I've been trying to dress for some time now) , I'm actually not charging her for my services (labor) on this dress. She's given so much to me and it's my honor to make her something so special.

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(Pattern and fabric)

 I absolutely love the Simplicity 3877 pattern!!! You may recall that I made version D back in May. This is a pretty popular pattern on pattern review.

(Simplicity 3877 view D)

I'm super excited about this project!! I've already completed fittings with my client and actually didn't have to do any alterations with the exception of what I mentioned about the sleeve above. She fit perfectly into a pattern size 12 for this dress.

All in all, I really love to sew for people. I've done so for a variety of people and for a variety of occasions. You can see a few of the items I've sewn for others mixed in with some of my other sewing garments on my Face Book page HERE.  The pictures of clients featured here are from a couple of years back. I don't have any pics of recent clients. To be honest I probably would not want to do client sewing everyday (hey, I wouldn't have any time to sew for myself) but picking up several projects a year is pretty fun. Hey one day, I imagine having a shop where I can offer my services in such a way and for a broader range of people. Right now I have my studio and like to take on only what my schedule as Wife, Mom, and Full Time Employee will allow.

The thing I LOVE MOST about sewing for others is being a part of the process of making a woman  feel beautiful. No one can deny the power of clothing and it's effects on its wearer.  Most of the sewing I've done was for Women who've needed formal gowns for special occassions such as weddings, proms, etc. Making them a One-of-a-Kind garment that's customized and well-fitted just always seems to make their event that much more special. Plus, I find every woman I work with to be quite fascinating!!! They all come in different shapes and sizes and in no way are less beautiful. Some Women can be so critical themselves and their Body. It's amazing how the right clothes can accentuate any figure and just lift the Spirits of Women. I love to be apart of the process of helping Women figure out the styles and colors that look great on their body.

I also sew for people because I like a CHALLENGE. In that regard I'm a masochist in the truest since of the word. Sewing for myself is challenging enough but it's even the more so when sewing for clients. I'm used to fitting my own body but it's a whole other ball game when you have to do it for others. But for every new  challenge I encounter there's potential for a new lesson on fit and sewing. Case in point, I've never had to do a FBA in sewing for myself, but I've had a couple of clients I've had to do so on. Sewing for those clients helped give me experience in that area. There's been other cases just like this. Trust me I've learned a TON from the few people I've sewn for. Sewing for others will definitely test your ability to problem solve and improvise!

I understand that there's alot of people who either do not like to sew for others or have had bad experiences doing so. And I can understand this, I don't believe it's for everyone. Trust me I've had a few adventures of my own and have learned alot along the way. Out of all the jobs I've done in the last 4 years (roughly 12 or so) , I can say that there was only one that I would have loved to have a do-over. Although my client liked it, I could have picked a better fabric alternative. It was a lesson learned and definitely one I'll always remember.

Trust me, I know sewing for others isn't an easy undertaking. It's definitely not something everyone wants to get involved in. To do so you have to be alot of things and organized is just the beginning. Sewing for other is time consuming and a heavily involved process. For me the love of doing it outweighs its challenges. In the next post I'll share a little bit of my STRATEGY with you. More next post.......

But first, what are your thoughts on sewing for others? In your opinion what are the pro's and con's? Does one outweigh the other? I'm interested in hearing your perspective (smile)!

BTW, if you're interested in the FABRIC GIVEAWAY from last post, don't forget to visit it and leave your comment.