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Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Design, make, alter, repair, or fit garments.

Related: Fabric & Apparel Patternmakers Pressers, Textile, Garment, & Related Materials Sewers, Hand Sewing Machine Operators Shoe & Leather Workers & Repairers

Industries: Retail Service

Summary
Details

Sew buttonholes and attach buttons to finish garments.
Estimate how much a garment will cost to make, based on factors such as time and material requirements.
Fit, alter, repair, and make made-to-measure clothing, according to customers' and clothing manufacturers' specifications and fit, and applying principles of garment design, construction, and styling.
Measure customers, using tape measures, and record measurements.
Develop, copy, or adapt designs for garments, and design patterns to fit measurements, applying knowledge of garment design, construction, styling, and fabric.
Take up or let down hems to shorten or lengthen garment parts, such as sleeves.
Trim excess material, using scissors.
Remove stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades.
Let out or take in seams in suits and other garments to improve fit.
Position patterns of garment parts on fabric, and cut fabric along outlines, using scissors.
Position patterns of garment parts on fabric, and cut fabric along outlines, using scissors.
Record required alterations and instructions on tags, and attach them to garments.
Put in padding and shaping materials.
Assemble garment parts and join parts with basting stitches, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
Assemble garment parts and join parts with basting stitches, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
Make garment style changes, such as tapering pant legs, narrowing lapels, and adding or removing padding.
Maintain garment drape and proportions as alterations are performed.
Sew garments, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
Fit and study garments on customers to determine required alterations.
Measure customers, using tape measures, and record measurements.
Sew garments, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
Measure parts, such as sleeves or pant legs, and mark or pin-fold alteration lines.
Repair or replace defective garment parts, such as pockets, zippers, snaps, buttons, and linings.
Press garments, using hand irons or pressing machines.
Confer with customers to determine types of material and garment styles desired.
Fit, alter, repair, and make made-to-measure clothing, according to customers' and clothing manufacturers' specifications and fit, and applying principles of garment design, construction, and styling.
Examine tags on garments to determine alterations that are needed.

Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.

Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

Education

No formal educational credential

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

51010/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

24.53/hr

Currently Employed

1,290

Yearly Projected Openings

190

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Dependability
Cautiousness

Buttonhole machines
Curves
Desktop computers
Domestic clothing irons
Dressmakers ruler
Fabric or tailors chalk holders
Full body form or mannequin
Ironing boards
Ironing machines or presses
Laser printers
Protective gloves
Razor knives
Rotary paper or fabric cutter
Rulers
Safety pins
Seam gauge
Seam ripper
Serrated pattern tracing wheel
Sewing kits
Sewing machines
Sewing needles
Sewing patterns
Shears
Steam pressing machines
Straight pins
Tape measures

Accounting software
Computer aided design CAD software
Customer relationship management CRM software
Inventory management software
Office suite software
Point of sale POS software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

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Statewide occupation search

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Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers

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