Hemming Clothes Can Be a Nice Sewing Business

A Good Way to Bring in Extra Money is Doing Sewing Other People Don't Want to Bother With

Have you bought clothes and found that you have to change the hem in order to get them to be the right length? Did you re-hem it yourself rather than paying a tailor? Then you have the skills you need for a business that's easy to get into and always has some demand.

Hemming things is a service which many people need. Even though they "could" do it themselves, they don't want to. They think it's tedious, or don't want to spend the time. So they either end up rolling up their pants and shirtsleeves (and having them unroll and look cloddish before long), or paying someone. Here's the thing: That "someone" they pay could be you! You yourself may think hemming is tedious when you do it for yourself. But money adds interest to any task. You will smile when someone asks you to hem their clothes if they have a check in their hand!

Put an ad in the paper, hand out cards, and spread the word among your social circles. If you do a good job, you'll get lots of repeat business. Repeat business is the backbone of a service endeavor, so do your best work.

Avoid mentioning prices in advertising, because each sewing job is different. Some fabrics are very hard to deal with, and you'll want to charge a higher price for those.

Don't forget to include your overhead in your prices. The cost of your sewing machine, thread, advertising, and time all need to be figured for. Charge by the job rather than by time, since a job may take only 5 minutes.

Have the customer choose the proper length while standing in front of a full-length mirror, and then pin the fabric in place so you can be sure to get it right when you actually do the sewing. It's easy to forget just where "about there" was when you're looking at a pair of pants that are no longer on the person!

If a kid is going to be wearing the item, ask whether to leave a lot of extra fabric hidden above the hem line. Kids often grow faster than they can actually wear clothes out, so it can save the parents money (yet bring you more jobs) if the hem can be let out a few times to keep up with growth. For adults, an inch of extra fabric is usually enough.