Online Courses

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

I wanted to ask your advise/opinion on Online classes. I am seriously considering enrolling in Penn Fosters Dressmaking and Design course in Feb. I have been checking it out and for the price( $668.) I get plenty of instruction and a sewing Machine. I’ve also been looking online and have found several sites(including this one ) that teaches the same techniques as the class. Should I just use the online resources and just use the money to buy my own sewing machine? I plan to sew my own clothes as well as things for my home and children. So I will be sewing quite a bit. Help me weigh my options please. I’ve been really wishy-washy about it .

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Interesting question. I’ve gone and looked at PF Dressmaking and Design course, because I don’t know anything about it, so I really can’t say on whether this would be a worthy course or not. It would be so awesome if there was some kind of yelp review website for school courses. I probably could have saved myself from some horrible courses in college if there were. I better hurry up and patent that idea! In my honest opinion, I would only consider investing in a course like this, if I was seriously considering making dressmaking my career, such as becoming a professional designer. I think for most of us, we’re more like you. We want to sew our own clothes or make practical things that we use everyday. In cases such as this, I definitely think you can get by with more inexpensive resources. If you have any local sewing or craft stores, you can check to see if they have any sewing classes. Also, I’ve noticed that community colleges and schools that offer extension courses sometimes offer sewing related classes for reasonable prices. There’s a community college near me (Los Angeles) that offers a patternmaking class for $75. Just don’t jump into patternmaking before knowing how to sew. And then there’s site like ours who offer video tutorials on sewing fundamentals, which you can have unlimited access to for $5 a month and no contract. (We hope to start offering some pattern making tutorials soon as well.) I’m a little leery with this class being an online course for that price. Seems a little expensive. They don’t say what kind of sewing machine you get, but you really don’t need to invest a lot of money into a sewing machine. Sewing machine shopping may seem overwhelming, because so many machines boast all these bells and whistles. For just basic apparel and home sewing, you don’t need a fancy machine. And in my experience, I don’t even use 90% of the fanciness that my machine can do. You can get a decent machine that will do all the basics for under $100. Here is an example of one: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=sewing+machine&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=wEY&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsr&biw=1366&bih=664&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=574037623299790447&sa=X&ei=qgcST6WaDq_OiAKhurjfDQ&ved=0CMEBEPMCMAc Also, sewing is so hands on. I just think that if I were to invest this kind of money, I would want to be in an actual classroom environment. It’s just a little unclear from their site if you will be learning from text and diagrams or mostly video. Obviously, not everyone learns the same way. For me, personally, I learn best when I do something myself or I’m watching someone do it. This is why I created this site and our video tutorials, because I figure that there are a lot of people like me out there, who learn best by actually seeing it instead of just describing it. I try and make sure that I carefully break down each step so that it would be easy for a beginner to see what I’m doing it and understand why I’m doing it. In my experience, many of the people I know who are awesome sew-ers are mostly self taught. I learned to sew taking a class in high school and then everything else I learned was through good old fashion experimenting, trial and error, and talking to other people who sew. I definitely don’t know everything, but I think it proves that you don’t necessarily need to pay a lot of money to learn how to do it well. Just don’t put too much pressure on yourself when you’re learning. Trust me, I’ve had a lot of trial and error with more emphasis on error. The trick is to never give up. I hope you find our tutorials helpful in your quest to learn how to sew and if you ever have any questions about sewing, feel free to ask. (And it’s free!) Hope this helps you in your decision. Good luck

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Thanks for your speedy reply. I won’t be sewing as a career just for myself and family. I think I’m going to buy my own machine I’ve settled on a Singer Stylist 7258. The money I save on the course I’ll use to buy a dress form and sewing supplies. That sounds better to me . What books do you recommend for a beginner? Thanks again.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Well, it’s a little pricey, but check out the book Professional Sewing Techniques for Designers by Julie Christine Cole. This book was originally created to be a textbook for students, but she does an awesome job at breaking down garment construction. Here’s the link on amazon:http://www.amazon.com/dp/1563675161/ref … 1563675161 Have fun sewing!

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Yikes (at the price) BUT…. I have saved so much money because I am not going to take the online course that I’ll be able to afford it. Thanks sooo much for your help. You will be hearing from me often so get ready! LOL. Thanks again

[Author]

Posts