How to Start a Home-Based Sewing Business
Starting your own home sewing business has many potential advantages. You can be your own boss, set your own hours and make money doing something you enjoy. Depending on your taste and talents, you can build your business around sewing wedding dresses, business suits, embroidery, pet clothes or anything else you can stitch. While sewing might be fun for you, if you're doing it as a business, there are practical and legal challenges you'll have to meet, as with any new business.
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Instructions
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Figure out the price you're going to charge. You need to cover the cost of your fabric, plus enough left over for a reasonable hourly wage. You also need prices competitive enough to convince people to buy, writer Jenny Fulbright states on the Power Home Biz website. Find out what other tailors or seamstresses in your community charge; show samples of your work to friends and ask them to say, truthfully, what they'd pay for it. That should help you develop a price range.
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Draw up a budget for your first year or first few months, the Small Business Administration recommends. You need to figure out how much you can afford to spend on sewing equipment; how many sewing jobs you can handle in the time you have; and, based on the number of jobs and your prices, how much money you anticipate bringing in.
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Contact your local government about a business license. Most states, cities and counties require you to take out a license, even if you're working at home; some require special permits for home-based businesses; a few ban home businesses. Ask about any other requirements you have to meet, such as charging sales tax on items you sell or registering a business name if you're not simply using your own.
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Buy your equipment. You'll need a sewing machine that's good enough to do high-quality work of the kind you have in mind, and fits within the budget you drew up. You'll also need needles, pins, scissors, measuring tape and more, Fulbright states. The website also recommends buying a full-length mirror to give you a better view of the garments you're working on. You'll need to buy fabric eventually, but you don't need to do that until you have orders to fill.
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Promote yourself. If you have customers or friends you've sewn for before, let them know you're in business and encourage them to spread the word. Let friends, neighbors and associates know about your new business. There are many other steps you can take--the Start-Up Biz Hub recommends making and handing out business cards, for instance--but word of mouth is both effective and free.
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Tips & Warnings
Some home-business owners try to fly under the radar, without paying for any licenses. However, all it takes is one disgruntled neighbor to report on you to cause trouble.
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