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You are a
Skill Builder
About the Skill Builder
You are a very curious person. You often feel inspired by learning new things, and enjoy the process of investigation. Slow and methodical mastery is important to you. You like to seek out new techniques, and to sometimes stretch yourself with challenging projects. You may have specific areas that you feel stuck on, and you want to master them (for example, zippers, buttonholes, or sewing pants).
Your Goals
Build your confidence and abilities over time.
Feel a sense of accomplishment.
Make things you’ll really love to wear and feel proud of.
Conquer a particular skill.
Your Biggest Challenge
The Learning Plateau
In talking to thousands of members in our community, we’ve found that Skill Builders like you have a pretty common problem, which we’ll call The Learning Plateau.
The Learning Plateau is common in many endeavors, from sports to music and art. When you’re first learning, you tend to see progress quite quickly. These early learning successes inspire and motivate you to keep going.
But after a little while, you might begin to feel stuck. You’re not learning or progressing quite so much anymore. For someone like you, this can be frustrating and a bit uninspiring.
The problem is, you don’t have a clear path to keep learning. There are so many choices in what you can sew that you sometimes feel that you choose your projects more on a whim than based on what you’ll learn.
For a learner, this can be hard. It causes you to hit a wall. You might:
- Feel like you’re not really progressing or getting better.
- Get a little bored or uninspired.
- Feel like you’re stuck on a particular skill.
- Seem unsure about what you should sew to keep getting better.
- Find it difficult to balance challenging yourself and getting those quick wins!
Where to Start
To get beyond the learning plateau, you can add a dash of structure to your sewing. By developing a personalized learning plan for yourself, you can begin breaking sewing down into the component skills you want to learn.
Here’s how to get started on that path:
The Audrey Jacket Class
In this class, Haley walks you through the process of making the Audrey denim jacket, step by step. You’ll learn exactly how to sew this classic wardrobe staple in a series of short, bite-sized lessons. Haley covers everything from fabric and fit to details and hardware.
Learn More
How to continue your adventure
As you build your skills in a methodical way, you might find that there are certain areas you’d like to focus on. Here are a few of our pattern recommendations for building key skills.
Why we recommend this for you:
You’ll learn how to install a separating zipper and snaps, as well as work with stable knits like double knit fabric. For an extra challenge, use the bonus variation to sew a zippered sleeve gusset!
Resources to Help:
Alternative Options:
Why we recommend this for you:
Learn to sew a swimsuit with this Seamwork favorite. You’ll conquer sewing with swimwear fabric and the basic techniques that go into classic swimwear.
Resources to Help:
Alternative Options:
Why we recommend this for you:
With Carter, you’ll learn a fun shirring technique you may not have tried before. This detail can be adapted onto other patterns that use elastic too!
Resources to Help:
Alternative Options:
Would you like to join us?
If you’re interested in becoming a part of the Seamwork community, we’d love to have you along. We’ll help guide your sewing adventure with patterns, learning, and our amazing community.
Patterns
Choose from over 200 patterns, with two new patterns each month. Build your confidence with easy patterns you can sew in an afternoon, or challenge yourself with a bigger project and a video class. No matter what your experience level is right now, our in-depth instructions will guide you.
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Classes
We like to think of sewing as an adventure. There might be a map, but you get to choose what path you want to take. We’re here to help you discover those paths and support you along the way. We do that with our online classroom, as well as weekly videos, articles, and tutorials. Whatever you want to sew, we’ve got your back.
Visit the Classroom
Community
You don’t have to go at it alone. The fastest way to grow is to lean on the experience of others. After all, so often we don’t know what we don’t know! Our private community is just for Seamwork members, where you can post projects, track your goals, and ask questions. You’ll always have a place to go for a little advice or to find your cheering section.
Visit the CommunityWhether you're a seasoned sewist or just starting out, Seamwork gives you all the tools and resources you need to succeed:
Unlimited downloads from our library of 250+ patterns, with new patterns added monthly. Many of our patterns are available only to members. Plus, you can filter by difficulty.
Free access to our members-only Design Your Wardrobe Program. Learn to think like a designer and plan an entire wardrobe with this hands-on course. You'll create a moodboard, build a palette, define your look, and plan your projects.
Free on-demand sew-along classes that walk you through every step. Start and stop them anytime. They're comprehensive but not too long so you can spend more time sewing.
Discounts at your favorite indie fabric shops. Save at dozens of beloved online indie fabric shops around the world. The savings alone may pay for your membership.
Feedback, support, and inspiration from the friendly Seamwork community of 20,000+ sewists. You don't have to go it alone. Ask questions, share your creations, and browse more than 5,000 member projects.
Get fast support from our experts. Our pattern makers, designers, and instructors are there to help anytime you get stuck.
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