Introduction: If you are interested in working in the industry, wish to start your own business, or would like to make clothing for yourself and your family like that priced for thousands of dollars in NYC, this is the program for you.
All lessons are three hours. It takes that long to make sure fittings and pattern adjustments are accurate. Your three-hour private lessons will speed you through the learning process at a fraction of the time and price a college program would cost. Sign up for five lessons now through December 31, 2022, and the fifth lesson is free. Five lessons - $400. The procedures you will learn are those used in industry that I taught my college students who included design room personnel. I’m currently finishing the fashion-technology program and its supporting eight-book series that I wrote for those students. Three books are offered on my website. I’ve just finished Grading to Fit, which will soon be available for sale.
In no time you will be producing truly professional, exquisitely beautiful, well-fitting clothing. Learning how to make beautiful clothing is a lot of fun. High-end sewing is much easier than the home sewing methods currently on the market. One sews slower, gets done faster. One sews less because the clothing is made well, and therefore lasts.
Worried about the planet? This is sustainable fashion.
Want to save money? Twenty or thirty dollars will buy the fabric needed to sew a suit worth $1000 or more dollars.
You will be shown how to design and make anything. You will be learning the planning, designing, drafting, and grading skills you need to do this. These life-long skills will save hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars over a life time.
Want to learn how to copy a ready-made garment without removing any of the stitches? Want to be able to take a picture of a garment in a shop window and then reproduce it at home?
Have fitting problems? Is your body asymmetrical and nothing you have ever owned has ever fit? Want to learn a better way to fit home sewing patterns? Want to be able to make anything, no matter how much it might cost in the stores? If so, you’ve found me!
I’m now providing private lessons in my studio as I finish my series of fashion technology books. Here is the information I learned in the industry where I was trained by European masters. I’m a production pattern maker who worked in both high-end custom and industrial couture. I’m experienced with both mass-production and the creation of custom garments that sold to preferred customers at Sax and Bergdorf Goodman’s in NYC. I’ve made high-priced clothing for Philadelphia’s Main Line millionaires and wedding gowns that sold for over $10,000 for debutantes who were married in St. Peter’s in New York City, and then celebrated at their receptions in the Ritz. I know how to set up a factory, and I know how to use the same techniques in the home with minimal equipment, just a few drafting tools and a basic sewing machine. This is how I sew for myself and my family. Coats, suits, chiffon blouses cut to match, slacks, play outfits, children’s clothing, men’s suit jackets, etc.
In your private lessons you will learn the same high-end design, drafting, and sewing lessons that I taught at two leading Philadelphia universities to design-room personnel. My college students included both degree and continuing professional education people. Some knew nothing about sewing; others were home sewers who wanted to learn how the professionals sew. All learned quickly. We all looked forward to our Saturdays together. They told me what they needed to learn; I designed the lessons and wrote my books to meet their (and your) needs.
Your private lessons are supported with college classroom-tested drafting and sewing books they critiqued and that I am completing. Because the private lessons focus on students’ individual needs, and because the books provide the information you need when working at home, you will progress quickly through the material.
Each private three-hour lesson costs $100. In addition you will need to periodically buy the textbooks that cost $90 to $100 each. You are charged the wholesale price.
All of the courses and textbooks are self-contained. What you need to know to produce each garment from start to finish is in each course/textbook.
All of my textbooks contain step-by-step diagrams that are real patterns as drafted in designing departments, scaled down to diagram size. They show exactly how the work is done in a designing department in the exact order as done by professionals.
I enjoy interacting with my students, and the challenges that are involved with teaching custom fitting. Many people have a great deal of trouble finding clothing that fits them. Because mass-production requires manufacturing clothing that fits average measurements many people think they have problem figures, but that is not the case. They just have figures that are not average. Helping them learn how to draft, fit, grade, and sew clothing that fits them perfectly is a real joy. They are so happy to have the help, I find this to be the true reward for writing my books and teaching my program.
