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If you think you have the drive and talent to become a seamstress, internships are an excellent way to spend experience the lifestyle and work environment of a chosen career field.
Always write a polished and succinct cover letter highlighting your talents and experiences in the field. Explain why you’re interested in the position and what you could bring to the table. Also sparkle up that résumé and tailor it to the internship. Make sure there are no grammatical, spelling or factual errors.
If you have a portfolio of designs and dresses, you may wish to include it. Then scour the internship possibilities online and in your local area. Seamstress internships tend to be seasonal with interns needed for summer launches. If any position is closed, make sure to bookmark it and check it again in the winter. Be one of the first to apply for best chances.
If you’re able to commit 10 to 20 hours a week for a three to six month stretch, you may wish to check out this site. It has six different possible internships available including one for seamstresses that can also be taken in conjunction with the pattern-making internship. You’ll need to fill out the form to receive an application for the internship and they leave an area to upload a résumé or cover letter. Make sure yours will shine and get noticed, as Bbeauty takes only a few special interns a year. In exchange you’ll receive hands-on experience in the beauty fashion field and offers a direct supervisor to help train you.
Bbeauty Designs Studio
50 East Main Ave., Suite C
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Phone: 888-619-6660
Fax: 408-213-9520
Email: [email protected]
www.bbeautydesigns.com
A simply fabulous opportunity to study in Puglia, Italy with a fresh new company that’s inspired by playful colors. English is the only language you need and the full time position spans two to three months. A great way to break into the industry, the internship covers such expenses as travel, food, weekly stipend and housing –those benefits are as good as it gets!
This position is best suited for a quick team player and someone who works well with others. You must be creative and interested in fashion and material. You’ll need to have experience with translating designs into patterns, pattern alterations as required and making samples for the fashion show. Apply to the site directly for your chance.
SEAMSTRESS INSPIRATION:
Elizabeth Keckley, the Multi-Faceted Seamstress
A dressmaker is an honorable and well-respected profession, as the person holding the needle must be an artist, a visionary and fashion-forward. The words dressmaker and seamstress are not always interchangeable these days, but one notable exception is Elizabeth Keckley.
From 1818 until 1907, Elizabeth Keckley proved to be an exceedingly talented and intelligent addition to the fashion industry. Mrs. Keckley (sometimes recorded as Keckly) was born into slavery in Dinwiddie Country Court House, Virginia. Although her mother Agnes was a ‘privileged slave’ (meaning she had been taught how to read and write even though such a thing was illegal at the time), Elizabeth endured hardship for over 30 years.
Agnes saw to it that Elizabeth also learned to read and write, and the young woman grew up with a business savvy and indomitable will that was ahead of her time. Thanks to her marvelous skills as a seamstress, a bit of social networking, and a slave owner who took a keen interest in her gift, she was able to convince a number of sponsors and make enough money creating beautiful dresses to not only pay for her freedom, but that of her son, too.
Finding herself in Washington D.C. after a fruitful stint in St. Louis, her base clientele was comprised of government elite, including the wives of Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jefferson and her long-standing relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln, spouse of President Abraham Lincoln. Keckley pushed on, eventually producing the autobiography Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, chronicling her extraordinary journey making gowns and dresses for many notable women.
Keckley’s amazing handcrafted work can still be witnessed today. Mrs. Lincoln commissioned a superior gown for her husband’s presidential inauguration, a dress that’s currently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Hanging at the Kent State University Museum is the quilt Keckley designed using a variety of scraps left over from the gowns and dresses made for Mrs. Lincoln. Each piece is a testimony to the accomplishments of an immensely adept, talented and creative seamstress.