Success story: online sewing school
I run an online sewing school with a very specific focus of teaching people to make competition-quality Argentine tango, Salsa, ballroom and country dance dresses, as well as artistic roller, roller/ice dance and figure skating dresses – all for women and curvy teens.
My Latin-Skate and Ballgown Dressmaker School has over 220 members in twenty countries.
The school has become exactly (perhaps better than) what I dreamed in March 2014 when I first began drafting notes of what training I wanted to put in the sewing school.
In this blog post, I want to share with you another success story about Janet Cooper of South Africa. She is one of the many sewing school members who are making money sewing dance or skate dresses as a side hustle, or as a full-time successful sewing business.
But before I share Janet’s story with you, I want to give you my
top six tips for sewing dance or skate dresses for income:
- Be a solid dressmaker with both creative and technical skills.
- Be a great communicator and listener.
- Provide superior customer service which includes educating your client about the dressmaking process.
- Design dresses that flatter your clients’ body shape and size.
- Know how to fit each dress specifically for your client to remove as many wrinkles as possible.
- Wisely price your dresses to make a profit.
Because I made custom ballroom dance and skate dresses for over twenty-five years before beginning my online sewing school, Sew Like A Pro™, I made almost every stupid mistake and genius decision in the history of dressmaking for clients. If you want to learn from a professional seamstress, I have several learning formats that will help you.
- Fabulous Fitting Techniques: Learn to adjust commercial patterns and understand stretch fabrics.
- Sewing Business Academy: Business coaching for sewists, by a sewist.
- Latin-Skate Dressmaker School: A comprehensive, university-caliber sewing school for learning to make all styles of Latin dance, Country and Line dance, artistic roller, roller and ice dance, and figure skating dresses.
- Ballgown Dressmaker School: A comprehensive, university-caliber sewing school for learning to make Dancesport ballroom dance, Country and Line dance ballgowns.
I also created smaller workshops and courses that deal specifically with details of dance and skate costumes, but that require little or no sewing skills. You can check them out here.
Never miss free design and dressmaker training!
Get the Sew Like A Pro™ newsletter.
By signing up, I understand I will receive 1-3 emails a week. I may unsubscribe at any time.
Success story: sewing business by Sew Like A Pro™ member
I am delighted to introduce you to Janet Cooper, an active member in the Ballgown Dressmaker School and the Complete+ Program.
Janet lives in South Africa. Despite a 32.9% unemployment rate in her country*, Janet thrives making custom ballroom dance dresses for income.
Here is her story.
Janet attended my first-ever Ballgown Design Challenge in June 2020.
She did almost all the homework assignments and participated a lot in the community. She had also followed Sew Like A Pro™ on YouTube for years.
As a result of those two things, plus the fact that the global value of the South African Rand would probably never have allowed her to enroll in my school, I decided to award Janet a full scholarship to my Ballgown Dressmaker School and the Complete+ Program.
In hindsight, giving Janet a full scholarship to my dressmaker school was one of my best decisions E-V-E-R.
This is Janet's personal introduction when she joined the dressmaker school's private Facebook group in July 2020.
Shake the COVID blues with an online sewing school
Like many of us the summer of 2020, Janet struggled with depression from the COVID shut-ins. But she felt I was giving her a chance to "change my life". ... and WOW, was she right!
As Janet said in her introduction to our sewing school group, her son is a ballroom dance instructor.
Within six months of following the Sew Like A Pro™ sewing systems, Janet's son said her dresses had improved so much that she needed to begin charging for them.
That was perfect timing for Janet to earn another scholarship to my LIVE Sewing Business Academy in 2022! (Formerly called "Dressmaker Business Academy", but the scope of the education applies to all small sewing businesses so I renamed it.)
August 2022 was the debut of Janet's first competition dresses made for income. You see her gorgeous sewing work modeled by her very happy clients and her son.
Outstanding, don't you think?
Fast forward another year to 2023 ... Janet tackled her first plus size dress made for someone other than herself. Her client said, "I've never had a dress made in two fittings with no tears!"
Now that makes me teary eyed for sure!
Did I already say my online sewing programs have become exactly what I dreamed they would be when I first got the idea to create the sewing school in March 2014? 😉
And just last month, Janet had her first vendor's booth at one of South Africa's largest ballroom dance events.
It's a good thing Janet listened to her intuition about me and Sew Like A Pro™ changing her life!
She studied and followed my dressmaker systems. She made the dresses. And now Janet has a profitable sewing business called Smart Dress Designs, in an economically repressed country.
If Janet Cooper can earn money and love what she does by creating a successful sewing business, so can you.
Do you want to have a custom dress made by a top level, professional dressmaker?
And do you want to save a lot of money on that custom dress?
Who doesn't want to save money on a top quality ballgown or Latin dance dress, right?
I suggest you contact Janet Cooper on Facebook to schedule a consultation to find out if she is available to make your next competition dress.
If Janet agrees to be your dressmaker, and you live outside South Africa ... odds are good you will save money because of the currency conversion.
Even better is that you will get a stunning dress made by a truly delightful woman. And, you will benefit the repressed South African economy.
Learn to earn money making ballroom dance and skate dresses
Do you want a side-hustle sewing dance or skate costumes?
Do you want a successful sewing business earning money making ballroom or Country dance, artistic roller or ice skating dresses?
Yes? YES!
Then I suggest you follow Janet's success patterns, and enroll in either the Latin-Skate or Ballgown Dressmaker School right away.
Enrolling now is the perfect time because I slashed tuition on the Latin-Skate and Ballgown Dressmaker School by 33% until the end of July! New payment plans make the Dressmaker School available for as low as $299 a month.
And if you have no urge to sew dance and skate dresses, but you have a sewing business (or want to begin one) I suggest you at the very least enroll in my Sewing Business Academy which will help YOU run your business with more ease, more profits and higher customer satisfaction.
Are you ready to get started?
Your coach in sewing dance and skate dresses,
Teresa
P.S. One day, I hope to share your dressmaker success story with my Sew Like A Pro™ email list.
But before I can do that, you must take the first step of enrolling in either the Latin-Skate Dressmaker School and Ballgown Dressmaker School. I cannot do that for you. But I can keep my fingers crossed that you decide to step up towards costume success.
P.P.S to Janet Cooper.... I adore you and am SEW proud of you! Giving you a full scholarship to my dressmaker school was one of my best decisions E-V-E-R. Thank you for being you, and for continuing to create a better version of YOU every day.
Never miss Sew Like A Pro™ dressmaker training. Subscribe to our newsletter today!