WHY I WENT BACK TO FASHION SCHOOL
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Sewing has been in my life for as long as I can remember. My mum taught me at home — embroidery first, then making my own clothes, the two of us working things out together. I did textiles at school, and when I left at sixteen I just carried on making my own things. Later, when I moved in with my now-husband, I made my work suits, ran up curtains for the house, all of it. Sewing was always just there.
Then, for a good stretch, it wasn't. Life took over — moving to the US, raising my sons — and making became something I used to do rather than something I did.
During Covid, that shifted. My feeds filled up with sewing videos — people cutting fabric, assembling garments, sharing little techniques that turned a simple project into something polished. I watched thinking, I can do that. But I wanted more than just sewing again — I wanted my work to look intentional, not homemade.
IMPROVING SEWING SKILLS
I wasn't initially looking to go back to formal education — I was just after a garment construction class, something practical to sharpen my technique and finish. Pressing, sequencing, accuracy — the fiddly details that make something look properly made.
Pattern-making, though, was always the gap. Everything I knew was self-taught or picked up from my mum, and drafting patterns properly was the one thing I'd never actually learned. Doing it the formal way back then would've meant staying in education past sixteen and going on to college — and at sixteen, like most of my friends, I wanted independence, a job, my own money. So I left, kept sewing, and pattern-making just stayed on the "one day" list.
Years later, with my sons heading into high school and a bit more time opening up, the timing finally felt right.
That's when I came across the Fashion Institute of Florida. After speaking with the owner, I enrolled in Sewing for Beginners — a class I was hesitant about, since I already knew how to sew and starting at the beginning felt unnecessary. But it was required, so I treated it as a stepping stone. I've written more about the learning environment and teaching approach separately. What surprised me was how much value there was in going back to fundamentals inside a properly structured class.
While I was doing Sewing for Beginners in person, I also enrolled in Garment Construction 1 and 2 online. Doing both at once changed how I understood garment making — not just how, but why.
By the time the beginner course ended, I was fully invested. What started as a practical decision about finish became a real commitment to learning and discipline. That eventually led me into pattern making for children's wear, and further than I'd expected.
WHERE I STUDIED
The skills in this series came from my time at the Fashion Institute of Florida — their garment construction, pattern making, and professional fashion practice curriculum is the foundation for a lot of what I still do today.
CONTINUE THE SERIES
This is the first in a six-part series on returning to formal fashion education: