I've often thought about how nice it would be to hire employees in our Alterations shop, but it's just so hard to find people that know how to dissect what needs to be done on anything they approach and then alter it.  In Southeastern Minnesota, the older crowd of sewists that do alterations are retiring, which means an influx of phone calls for our business because of mom's 30 year reputation. 

So the wheels have been turning. If I were to take on an employee, what are the things I want them to know and how could I train them while still being able to sew on my own work.  When you're a small business as small as we are, stopping to train someone slows your productivity down so much that there's no profit to be made in the business. After many conversations with other business owners, over the summer it occurred to me that I could record the sewing I'm doing in the shop and turn it into courses, as if they were training videos for someone I'd hire. 

So I bought a camera and started recording. 

I've been recording since the middle of the summer. The thing about economy changes, when people are strapped for cash, they have us mend their clothes and people still get married (pandemic rules or not). So I might have a day where I patch stained pants for a local dairy farmer because he can't afford new and then turn around and hem a $3500 USD wedding gown. I might replace the zipper on a coat for the ambulance crew and then repair a horse blanket for one of the ranches. So I've been recording. Everything.

I found a course platform that I love and I am working behind the scenes on a very beginning class on the basics. I'm not quite finished with it, although I plan to open it soon for pre-order. For those who are interested in checking out my freebies, the website is 

https://sewingbycarolyn.vipmembervault.com/