Creative Studies
Interestingly enough, as lucrative as clothing alterations and repairs may be, it isn’t always consistent throughout the year.
Certain periods - prom and bridal season - will always be pretty busy (especially because there’s overlap between them), but the rest of the year can actually be pretty slow, depending on various factors that constantly shift year to year:
Inflation rises (current problem!)
Fashion trends change
Seasoned professionals retire
New apprentices start
Etc. etc.
In the current times of the crap-italistic hell-scape we all find ourselves at the mercy of, inflation has rise so much (with no signs of rising wages in sight) that’s it’s pretty much forced a lot of folks to take a break from clothes shopping. To be blunt: not many people can really afford to update their wardrobe year to year.
But one thing I’ve come to learn in my time as a small-businesswoman is to keep my skills sharp, and always expand them wherever and whenever possible.
(Especially because tight-shopping budgets could lead to a resurgence in the need for re-fashioning/re-garment construction… don’t worry, I promise I’ll explain later)
But not necessarily in the clothing and garment arena…
One of the best ways to review basic skills, or practice a new technique, or even to research how different materials behave in the same situation, is keep things small.
Scaling things down is both fiscally responsible (because then I don’t have spend extra money on extra material), and keeps my schedule flexible enough to service my clients throughout the year (because projects typically take less than a week to finish and document).
Yes, normally I document and take notes during my projects as they’re going, but never post or publish anything in real-time because that keeps my day-to-day schedule open for any last minute changes. Additionally, it gives me the space and time to actually focus on the process and really absorb what I’m trying to learn or re-learn; the “normal” content-creation strategies are just too much of a distraction for this type of skill-set.
(at least in my personal experience - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been injured by a sewing machine because I was distracted!)
My studio’s “creative studies” is all about focusing on the technique (or techniques) at hand and making sure that those skills are nice and sharp for wherever they’re needed. Or, at the very least, to have some form of reference for if (when) I’ll need to relearn them again.
It’s kind of a mixed bag by nature, but that only means there's just a little bit of everything for everyone - and all the shenanigan-ary that implies!
