Not Having Notes And 6 Other Reasons Why You Cannot Sew Advanced Styles

To grow as a fashion designer, you need to take steps to move from learning to sew the basics to learning to sew more complex and advanced styles. It is normally expected that the more time you spend as a designer, the better you get, but if you are still having problems sewing advanced styles, there might be some things you are going wrong. 

Last time, we reviewed a video by Desola of Daisy’s Wardrobe on why your fashion business is not making money, and, this week, we reviewed a video by Ada-Uju of Stitchadress on ‘Why You Can’t Sew Advanced Styles’. In it, she discussed things fashion entrepreneurs do that affects their ability to make sew advanced styles. 

The video aims to help fashion designers see the mistakes that are making that hinder them from sewing advanced styles and how to correct them. 

This video review will cover;

• useful points fashion entrepreneurs can learn from,
• important points missed out,
• the relevance of the information provided to fashion entrepreneurs.

Why You Can’t Sew Advanced Styles

Many fashion designers have the complaint of having difficulties when it comes to sewing certain items. Things they struggled with many months ago are still in their way and they have not been able to perfect the whole act of sewing. 

If you are having issues with sewing certain styles, the following might be reasons for this;

1. You Are Not Practicing Enough

One reason you still cannot sew after all the online tutorials or fashion school lessons is that you are not practising enough. There’s a big difference between sewing a skirt one time and sewing it ten times. 

You will master a lot of things when you sew something many times over unlike when you sew it just once or twice. You will surely encounter many difficulties and need tutorials when you sew something for the first time, but when it is something you have done multiple times, it becomes embedded in your memory and you can sew it without difficulty or help. 

If you are having lots of issues with sewing, it might just be that you haven’t practised what you were taught enough to know them. 

“As a beginner, I had to practice a lot to perfect the things I knew. I realised that I couldn’t just learn something once and move on, I had to practice constantly each time I learnt something new.” – Bukky Akindele, Creative Director, Romi and Rire.

2. You Don’t Perfect a Section of Dress Making at a Time

If you want to learn how to sew, you need to learn one first before you move. Dressmaking is very broad – there are sections for men, women, and children. 

When you want to learn to sew, you might first learn how to cut a blouse. Perfect how to cut and sew a blouse. It does not mean you should not learn how to sew other things, but perfect a section first before move on to perfect another. 

If you don’t perfect making, say a blouse first, and you move on to making a skirt or a pair of trousers when a complex blouse is brought to you, you will not be able to sew it. If you are having issues with perfecting how to sew, take one section at a time. 

Always have a goal for every season. You can learn other things at that time, but, focus majorly on your goal.

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3. You Don’t Try Out Advanced Styles

If you see advanced styles and you run away from them, you will never learn how to sew them. If you have learnt the basics of sewing but can’t sew certain styles then it might just be because you are running away from them.

To get better at sewing, you need to challenge yourself. Take up advanced styles and spend as much time as it takes to perfect them if sewing is really what you want to do. 

Do not wait for clients’ fabrics to sharpen your sewing skills, buy fabric, sew advanced styles, go to Pinterest and Instagram and try out styles from there. Try to sew as close to the picture you have seen. 

4. You are in Too Much of a Hurry

Many people try to rush the process and use 3 months to learn both men and women fashion. It doesn’t work that way. Even the journey to getting a Bachelors degree in university started from elementary school. 

If you want to learn a craft and you think you can learn it in 3 months then you are not on the right path. There is a large difference between someone that learnt from 3 months and someone that learnt for 6 months, and an even greater difference between them and someone that learnt for a year. 

If you want to get better at sewing, put your time to it. Don’t be in too much of a hurry. Take your time to learn properly. 

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5. You Are Not Putting Your Mind to it

Many people just do things haphazardly and without much care. You don’t mind if the game and zip don’t align or if the curves of your neckline are not perfect, you just do things anyhow. 

Every professional takes the time to pay attention to details. If you don’t put your mind to making items properly, those tiny details you neglected will show in your finished products. 

Anything worth doing is worth doing well so you need to put your mind to it. If you have been sewing for 2 years and you are not as good as someone who has been sewing for a year, it might just be that you don’t pay attention to details like that person. 

6. You Don’t Have Notes

Many designers learnt from a fashion school, YouTube videos or through internships but have no notes. If you have no notes, there is no way you can grow as a beginner. 

Always have notes to go back to because this is one of the most important ways you can grow. 

“I learnt fashion design online. I paid for classes and learnt from my house because I need to care for my newborn. One thing I never failed to do was take notes. Notes help a lot. When I got stuck, I would just go back to my notes to check what was wrong. They really helped me learn better.” – Bukky Akindele, Creative Director, Romi and Rire.

​​​Other Points Missed Out.

7. You Ignore the Basic Rules of Sewing

If you must learn to sew advanced styles, you must learn to follow the basic rules of sewing. Some times, one thing that hinders designers from being able to sew advanced styles is not doing this. 

Everything, from cutting fabric to the method of sewing, has rules. If you constantly ignore these rules and basics, they might prove to be a hindrance to your growth as a fashion designer. 

The Usefulness of the Information to Fashion Entrepreneurs.

As a fashion designer, learning to sew advanced styles perfectly takes you from the league of regular designers to the league of experts. This video is helpful because it opens the eyes of fashion designers to things that they might be doing that hinders heir growth in the business. 

I recommend it for every fashion designer that is finding it hard to sew advanced styles. Also, remember that it is not enough to read this article, practising what you learnt here is key!