Will the Professional Seamstress please stand up?

[Casey July]

I have been sewing professionally for about 8 years (Really sewing for about 13). I do it for a living (I have a HUGE resume). I do it for love, I do it for the taffeta.

Yes, it feeds my children, but it also feeds my soul. I feel like I have a personal relationship with everything I make. Every dress is a woman, every suit is a man. They just want to be touched and caressed.

But it burns my buttons when someone says, "Will you make me a corset?" And I say, "That will be $200.00 please." And they say, "O, I have to pay you?"

Come on, what part of Professional Seamstress do you not understand? You want all the years of experience, all the years of mistakes, all the hours of cutting and sewing and...well, FOR FREE? Let me tell you, I do a lot of work for free! I help a lot of people out! Everyday I price my things so that normal people with a normal income can have them, and wear them.

But come one, do you just hand your children over to a stranger? 

And I hate when my fellow creators do the same. They make something amazing and when I asked how much someone paid they say, "I did it for free." COME ON!!!!!

Your worth your weight in cogs! Especially if your really really good. 

So go out there and sew, glue, whatever! But don't forget to get paid. Validation is a major part of the Steampunk world. You make this whole world exists!

[Arabella Porter]

You go girl!!

[Casey July]

I am starting a new line of Steampunk Jackets. I have recently realized how much I love making them. There are a lot of people out there who make corsets and stuff, I love to make the jackets...so I am going to just work on that.