The Internet is replete with sites, blogs and video tips on how to start a business. And the most relevant today is doing business without leaving the walls of your own apartment. People try themselves in all areas of individual entrepreneurship. But there is a unique profession that has always had all the characteristics of a real business. Historically, it began in the house of a tailor, who created fantastic outfits with her own hands. Only after a while tailors began to unite in artels, and then grew into sewing enterprises. However, even now there is such an activity as tailors who sew at home.
Seamstress at home - does it make sense?
There is always meaning, but this is not a profession for everyone. To be successful in this specialty, one must have creative thinking, ingenuity, perseverance and great patience. Since painstaking work requires a lot of attention and, as the people say: "Hands should grow from where you need to." Usually, outstanding tailors or “driven horses”, who take only the lowest-paid orders, either grow from such home workshops. But there are well-working seamstresses who earn and do not strain, although this is a rare occurrence.
The benefits of tailoring at home
- Everyone wants to have their own business, tailoring services allow this to be done.
- No need to spend a lot of time on the road.
- You can vary and build a flexible schedule to keep up with family responsibilities.
- You can sew at a convenient time. If it is convenient to do this during the day, you can use the first half of the day, but some creative people are more comfortable working in the afternoon and until late at night.
- Professionals allow you to choose your own orders to taste.
- There are no problems with the design of sick leave, vacations.
- No need to ask anyone when you are your own leader.
- There is an opportunity to manage to drive and pick up children from school and kindergarten.
- It is possible to have a hobby so as not to be overloaded with sedentary work, for example: sports or yoga.
Disadvantages of sewing at home
- The stumbling block of this type of earnings is disorganization. If this business is started by an unorganized person, then it is likely that nothing will come of it. Since at home it is most difficult to focus on the task. Permanent household chores, children, husbands require attention, and in order to sew, you need to be able to concentrate only on doing the work so as to avoid unnecessary mistakes and alterations.
- The cost of technology. You must have professional equipment: a sewing machine, an overlock machine, a sewing machine, a professional iron, and a convenient ironing board.
- Work area equipment. It is necessary to have a separate workplace, preferably a separate room where the equipment will be installed and a working area arranged, in which there should be accessories, fabrics, patterns and other important items.
- Lighting costs. It should be suitable, it is desirable that daylight penetrate. And lamps for the dark should combine white daylight and warmer. Such lighting will be most comfortable for the eyes. Lighting devices should be located directly above the working area.
Many people forget that working at home as a seamstress is a job requiring not only labor, but also financial costs for electricity. The mistake is made by those who do not include the cost of electricity, since all equipment consumes a sufficiently large amount of electricity.
How to build a sewing business at home?
There are two options for organizing your small business:
The first is to do business on your own. More suitable for professional tailors, as this is a big responsibility. You need to either sew a lot, making a profit from the quantity, or make your way into the layer of extra-class professionals in sewing expensive products. For example, an assortment of evening and wedding dresses.
The second is to work for the employer. This option is gaining great popularity, as many entrepreneurs prefer not to spend extra money on renting premises and buying equipment and accessories. And for seamstresses, this is a good alternative, since they do not need to look for customers and spend money on advertising. Mostly home-based seamstresses are considering vacancies, experiencing a shortage of clients.
The most popular types of products for the sewing business at home
Employers are looking for homeworkers when it is not profitable to create a sewing workshop or on condition that low-paying products are made:
- The assortment of bed linen, tablecloths and napkins is a very simple group of products in sewing, where only a straight line is required. It does not pretend to be very professional, but it requires speed of execution and accuracy.
- The assortment of home clothes: bathrobes, aprons, pajamas is a more difficult group to perform, but also does not require special skills, just like the following two groups.
- The range of overalls: for doctors, builders, repairmen, etc.
- Children's assortment: bonnets, panamas, vests, envelopes for the newborn, sliders and more.
- Holiday assortment. This lesson is for elite and highly skilled tailors and fashion designers who make evening and wedding dresses.
- Alteration and repair of clothes is also in demand.
Why didn’t you include the range of outerwear here? Because this is the field of activity of the studio, few homeworkers deal with this group of products. And if they do, then they are self-employed seamstresses, and they have enough money. This is a fairly extensive group of products: coats, jackets, trousers, skirts, suits, dresses and more.
Work at home clothing repair seamstress
People can not always afford to often buy new things, so go to the studio. Many ateliers use the services of homeworkers to perform minor repairs, which is time-consuming because they are engaged in more expensive sewing services. Not every seamstress at home undertakes remodeling and repair, but this service has a fairly large demand, especially in areas with a low standard of living.
What jobs interest lovers and professional tailors?
Those who do not have a high level of qualification are interested in the proposals of employers offering simple work on tailoring bedding and children's groups.
Professionals also vary in rank and experience. There are ordinary seamstresses with a secondary specialized education. This is the largest layer of toilers looking for jobs at home.
And there are pros! These are fashion designers who highly value their services. Such seamstresses at home do not need third-party vacancies. But in some cases, their services are used by wedding salons. High-level fashion designers and tailors sew wedding and evening dresses for the elite.
What are employers primarily interested in?
If suddenly there are not enough customers and there is an opportunity to find a customer on the Internet, why not take advantage of this? In Moscow and St. Petersburg, there are many sites promoting employment.
Common tenant requirements:
- Territorial residence.
- Experience: how many years and previous jobs.
- Skills: they often ask questions about the specifics of a seamstress applying for a vacancy.
- Accuracy and responsibility, as the employer provides its materials and requires minimizing marriage.
- The quality of the equipment that a seamstress has at home, in some cases, the employer provides his equipment, but this is extremely rare.
Some employers are reinsured and give assignments for the probationary period. And then, satisfied with the result, they increase the payment and give more serious orders.
Necessary questions for applicants to the employer
You can use any search engine that will give all the latest ads that provide work at home as a seamstress. Vacancies are provided, but they do not always stipulate all working conditions, so you should familiarize yourself with them in more detail.
List of required questions:
- What is the payment? How is it produced? After completing the entire order or at the rate of each completed unit, in cash or to a bank account, prepaid or at the end of execution?
- Are premiums possible on time or ahead of schedule?
- Are there any penalties if the order is not completed on time?
- Does the tenant provide all the necessary accessories: threads, needles, pins, buttons, zippers, etc.?
- Are patterns provided or details already cut?
- What are the deductions for marriage?
- Is the customer ready to help troubleshoot equipment issues during the order process?
- How will the finished product transfer take place, whether the employer will pick it up, or whether the tailor will need to deliver the completed order to the employer. Then you need to consider transportation costs.
In order for the contractor's expectations to be met, it is better to ask all questions and clarifications for each order received without hesitation. It is also important to know the phone numbers and legal address of the company.
Popular jobs for homeworkers in Moscow
Internet resources involved in the dissemination of information on employment in Moscow expose many offers for homeworkers. Designer tailoring of curtains, lambrequins, bedspreads and decorative pillows has become particularly popular now. There was a demand for this service, and, therefore, homeworkers familiar with the specifics of curtain and interior textiles became in demand.
The second most popular vacancies are seamstresses at home in Moscow, working with an assortment of light clothes: dresses, sundresses, summer blouses and skirts.
Sewing bedding is a fairly common offer, always in demand by both employers and workers. The third most popular work of seamstresses at home in Moscow is the sewing of bed linen, as this is a fairly simple operation to perform, requiring only speed of execution. But it has its own specifics, as often the tenant requires not only manufacturing, but also ironing and folding bed sets. And sometimes packaging.
Popular vacancies in St. Petersburg
Unlike Moscow, the Northern capital provides jobs for homeworkers manufacturing sportswear, automotive and aviation covers. Need a seamstress at home in St. Petersburg, able to sew leather and leatherette products.
At the moment, there are not so many proposals for those who want to sew at home, but they are. Announcements are updated regularly, and it is not known what exactly will be in demand in this field of activity tomorrow. But the latest vacancies of seamstresses at home in St. Petersburg are the sewing of sportswear for children and accessories for sports, and with good pay. Judging by the provided options for employment sites, professional employees are mainly required specifically for production and for sewing workshops. Perhaps this is due to a lack of confidence in the quality of execution without the control of technologists. It can be seen from everything that today in Moscow employers of tailors work much more than in St. Petersburg.