Custom Clothing
I can make that shirt you want, that you've never been able to find. Want to recreate your favorite piece of clothing? Looking for a high quality cosplay outfit? Want a tiny backpack for your chinchilla? I can help you design what you've been looking for, and then I can make it for you.
Commissions cost $15-$20 per hour, depending on how difficult the project is. Custom garments are almost always more expensive than something similar bought at a department store. They're also more comfortable, more durable, and you can get exactly what you want. For a detailed description of my process, read the (long) description down below. 
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When I create custom clothing, the first thing I do is discuss what the customer wants--what does it look like, what's its purpose, what size should it be. Then I find photographs of the various elements of the garment, put them together, and show it to the customer. We discuss what works and what doesn't, and then I make a mockup, which is a fast and cheap partial garment, kind of like a rough draft. When I made a mockup of the frilly shirt above, I used a worn out bedsheet, and made a "shirt" with 1 sleeve, no hem, some of the frills, and the cuff. That let me learn what worked and what didn't work, and helped me visualize what the shirt was going to look like before I put a lot of time and effort into it.
I shopped for the right fabric, altered a pattern, traced the pattern, cut it out, and stitched all the pieces together. Except that it's never that easy. My teacher, who had more than thirty years of sewing experience at the time, said more than once that she still had to redo things or change her design halfway through. You alter the pattern, and suddenly discover you don't have enough fabric. You collect all the pieces you cut out, and realize that you cut two right sleeves and no left sleeve. You start stitching with the sewing machine on the wrong setting and have to stop and unstitch it. They say that when you estimate how long a sewing project will take, you should go through the steps, estimate how long each step should take, and then double that time.
It sounds frustrating, and it can be, but the satisfaction of taking a flat sheet of cloth and turning it into something useful and beautiful makes it all worthwhile.
I shopped for the right fabric, altered a pattern, traced the pattern, cut it out, and stitched all the pieces together. Except that it's never that easy. My teacher, who had more than thirty years of sewing experience at the time, said more than once that she still had to redo things or change her design halfway through. You alter the pattern, and suddenly discover you don't have enough fabric. You collect all the pieces you cut out, and realize that you cut two right sleeves and no left sleeve. You start stitching with the sewing machine on the wrong setting and have to stop and unstitch it. They say that when you estimate how long a sewing project will take, you should go through the steps, estimate how long each step should take, and then double that time.
It sounds frustrating, and it can be, but the satisfaction of taking a flat sheet of cloth and turning it into something useful and beautiful makes it all worthwhile.