Sew Inspirational

The Business of Teaching Sewing

by Marcy Miller and Pati Palmer

Palmer/Pletsch Publishing, which has been conducting sewing workshops and training sewing instructors here for nearly two decades, has revised its popular book The Business of Teaching Sewing. First written in 1995 by Pati Palmer and Marcy Miller, the book has been used as the text for training teachers at the Palmer/Pletsch International School of Sewing and Teacher Training Institute in Portland, Oregon, USA and Sydney, Australia. But it was time for an update because much has changed since then, especially in the use of computers and the Internet.

Pati Palmer says that now is an ideal time to enter the business of teaching sewing. Sewing classes that used to be offered in all public schools are now cut out of many schools, creating a need for independent sewing teachers. Moreover, she says, the interest in fashion-sewing has made it to mainstream television and newspapers. “Shows like Project Runway have made sewing a creative form of personal expression,” says Palmer. “Teens and twenty-somethings up to those in their forties are asking, ‘Where can I learn how to sew?’ Quilting is also hot.”

The Business of Teaching Sewing includes ideas compiled from more than 30 years of teaching experience. Since the 1970s, Palmer/Pletsch educators have taught thousands of seminars and hands-on workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and more recently in the company’s full-fledged sewing schools in Portland and Sydney. Palmer/Pletsch has been training teachers since 1991, and over 300 are actively teaching.

The Business of Teaching Sewing covers business management tips, image, teaching topics, pricing, lesson plans, teaching techniques, classroom setup, marketing, traveling and teaching, and related ways for the entrepreneur to increase income. Book owners can go to a Web site to download editable forms for marketing and teaching.

The Business of Teaching Sewing
by Marcy Miller and Pati Palmer
21.5cm x 28cm (8 1/2” x 11”), 128 pages. Softcover.
More information is available at www.palmerpletsch.com or email mccalls@mccalls.com.au for your nearest stockiest.