Apprentice Garment Pattern Making Jobs in Chicago, IL

Making It SewFun is seeking a part-time Adult Sewing Instructor who is skilled, confident, and passionate about teaching the craft of sewing to adult learners. This is an opportunity to lead a classroom of motivated adult students in a structured, supportive, creative environment on Chicago's South Side.

This role is designed for an advanced sewist who can meet adult learners exactly where they start — which, for most of our students, is at the very beginning. Our adult students — men and women — enter the You Can Make It® program as beginners and progress through a structured seven-level curriculum that builds foundational skills and takes them from basic garment construction to advanced garment construction. You will need the technical depth to teach the full range of that journey, and the patience and instinct to make every step feel achievable, encouraging, and rewarding for an adult learning something new.

• Open and close the studio according to established procedures
• Deliver structured lessons aligned with our You Can Make It® curriculum
• Demonstrate advanced sewing techniques with clarity and confidence
• Guide students through sewing pattern reading, fitting, and alteration
• Assist students in troubleshooting construction challenges
• Conduct fittings and demonstrate pattern adjustments for a range of body variations
• Ensure safe and appropriate use of all sewing equipment and tools
• Record attendance and complete student evaluation sheets
• Communicate supply needs and class updates to students as needed

• Minimum 7 years of sewing experience, personal or professional
• Advanced proficiency in garment construction, fitting, and pattern alteration
• Ability to read, explain, and work from commercial and PDF sewing patterns with confidence
• Experience teaching or instructing adults in sewing or a related creative skill
• Ability to adapt instruction for students at different skill levels within the same class
• Strong communication skills — clear, encouraging, and technically precise
• Comfortable leading a class independently from open to close
• One year of formal teaching or training experience preferred

Making It SewFun opened its doors in 2004 with a belief that sewing education deserved more than a one-size-fits-all approach — not just classes, but a structured, intentional pathway that takes every student seriously and meets them where they are.

Twenty years and more than 1,000 students later, that belief has grown into something bigger. Making It SewFun is not just a sewing school. We are a creative education hub on the South Side of Chicago where serious practitioners and passionate teachers do meaningful work together.

If you are looking for more than just a part-time job — if you want to be part of a purpose-driven community that is genuinely changing lives through creativity — this is the place for you.

Location

9107 S. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60643

makingitsewfun.com

If you are an advanced sewist who loves sharing the craft with adult learners, we would love to hear from you. Apply today and bring your expertise to the Making It SewFun family.

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