Welcome to Sewing For A Living!
Hi there, I’m Daniela Koeva, founder of Sewing For A Living.
Sewing and designing clothes is easier than you think. Don’t get overwhelmed by all the different advice you read.
Here, at Sewing For A Living, we demonstrate our own approach to sewing and designing clothes. We try to find the balance between the technical side of sewing, the pattern drafting science and the artistic expression of this marvellous craft.
We break down all the complex sewing advice out there and give you just the stuff that we actually use in our work.
If you are just starting your sewing adventures, this article might be a great place to start.
What you can get on our blog:
1. Sewing tutorials on a wide variety of topics, including alterations and tailoring of ready to wear clothes, making costumes and much more.
If you are a visual learner you can check out our video tutorials. Or, if you prefer written instructions, there are plenty on the site, too.
2. Pattern drafting tutorials. We put on tutorials on how to make your own patterns. We show you how to draft the basic flat patterns for all clothing elements: the bodice, the dress and the pants. And, we admit we have a thing for knits, so here are quite a few knit patterns and pattern drafting techniques, too.
3. Clothing design.
We write about clothing design and how to combine design elements to create the styling that reflects yourself. We also show you how to modify the basic patterns to create different designs.
Why you should follow Sewing For A Living
You can read more about my story and why I started this blog here. My goal is to provide the best, actionable sewing and pattern drafting advice I can to as many people as possible.
Sewing For A Living is for people, who want to:
- Learn to design and sew their own clothes.
- Make some money on the side sewing for other people.
- Tailor and alter RTW clothes.
- Learn flat pattern drafting.
- Make family and friends unique and friends unique gifts.
- We aim to be of use to those who sew at home and to those who want to make a step ahead and develop their skills as fashion designers.
- We try to deliver our knowledge in a manner that is easy to comprehend but accurate with the science of pattern making.
How to use the site
You can find our latest content on or home page.
Everything that concerns clothing design and pattern drafting you can find in our Clothing design section.
For practical sewing advice, please visit Sewing Tutorials Page.
For a full list of our patterns, please visit or Free Patterns Page or the Pattern Store.
If you are interested in learning more about me and why I started this blog, see ours About me page.
Ask us anything or share your sewing projects. Sewing is more fun with friends!