KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City nonprofit is helping revitalize the art of sewing by training people to become industrial sewing machine operators.
Through a partnership with both the U.S. and Missouri departments of labor, The Sewing Labs is offering a 30-week Sewing Salon Training Program course, which eventually pairs folks up with a paid apprenticeship. At the end of the program, students are awarded their industrial sewing machine certifications.
26 students are currently enrolled in the program and thanks to a grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the $4,500 course is free to current students and covers training for up to 108 students.
"This is something that we can utilize and no one can take it away, we can do this and create our own income as well," current student Hilary Holt said.
Throughout the course, students get hands-on training and learn the difference between domestic and industrial sewing machines. The latter operates at a faster rate than a domestic sewing machine and is able to stitch several layers of material at a time.
Staff members say the program started in 2021 after several companies contacted The Sewing Labs in need of trained industrial sewing machine operators.
"We've been approached by boat and marine companies who are needing upholstery, we've been approached by alterations companies," explained Eileen Bobowski, manager of development and outreach with The Sewing Lab.
According to an email from a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of Labor, The Sewing Labs is the only organization in Missouri registered through its office of apprenticeship with 806 active apprentices in the industrial sewing machine operator occupation nationwide.
For students, the program is a chance to move the needle and design a different life path outside of college.
"It's pretty rare to find something as interesting and as free and open, as inclusive as this, outside of your college situation," current student Garland Ervin said. "There are other males in this field. It's not as closed off or as separate from everybody else as you might think it is."
The machines used in the Sewing Labs are free to students and were donated along with materials. Donations are encouraged as the nonprofit also offers an open stitch lab, where people can bring in their own projects and use their machines at no cost.
"We've off-shored this skill and this manufacturing for 40 or 50 years now, but it's coming back and there's such a need right here in Kansas City," Bobowski said.
According to Bobowski, certificated trained stitchers can make at least $15 an hour.
