ABOUT ME:
Shops and Sites I Recommend:
*Lillians Prom Boutique, Peru, IN~ This service-oriented dress shop features thousands of prom and formal dresses, along with boutique jeans and day-wear dresses, shoes, and jewelry.
*Heritage Industrial Stitching, Peru, IN~ This shop is the best in sewing and mending heavy-duty clothing and jackets, leather, motorcycle gear, and sporting clothes.
*Christy Wright~ Christy is a Dave Ramsey personality and is an invaluable resourse for small businesses.
Sewing is something I do in my “spare” time, after my full-time mission of being the best wife and mother I can be to my husband and our two children.
The earliest memory of sewing is of when I was five years old and stitched a pair of slippers for my older brother. My mother taught me to sew. Then I made doll clothes and even some of my own clothes. Though I fought the lessons at the time, I’m glad for a mother who insisted I learn basic sewing and clothing construction, for it has served me well in developing my alterations business.
Two incidents projected me into that path.
The first was when I was single and rich (ha!). I took a new, and very shapeless, dress to a local alterations shop to have some darts installed. What they did to that beautiful dress was unbelievable and I knew I could have done the work myself. Goodwill got a brand new, botched dress that day.
The second instance happened when a friend called me, practically in tears. She was to be a bridesmaid and had just been given a homemade dress which had been thrown together, looking more like a paper bag than a gown. I gladly accepted the challenge of fixing it. As it turned out, the only part I didn’t have to fix was the neckline. After many hours of work, and remaking the entire dress, she had a formal that fit her perfectly, and was, in her husband’s words, “hot!”
My payment was a bag of coffee and a cute mug. But that project paid off in many more ways.
That was when I saw clearly my love of making a perfect fit and seeing the change from disgust to delight on a client’s face after they see themselves in properly-fitting garments.
A few months later, I called the local formals shop (Lillian's Prom Boutique), offering my services as a seamstress. Since that time, I have worked as a contractor with them. Also, I have built a successful sewing business, altering hundreds of wedding and formal dresses, prom dresses, suits, and everyday clothes from my home.
To me, sewing is more than mechanical; each garment is a picture of the client, and should complement their personality well. I look forward each day to the alterations I’ll sew, to the people I’ll meet because of it, and to seeing that satisfied look when I know I’ve done the job well.