Accurate dress forms are core tools for successful patternmaking. For those who would like to attempt to create their own forms to conform to individual sizing, several methods are available. I have created several plaster cast forms, one of which is pictured here. To be honest, these forms are difficult to cast, hard to cut off and frequently collapse.

Lifelike rag dolls are becoming scarce in the children's doll market that is dominated by molded plastic pieces. Hand-crafted fabric dolls are more costly to manufacture than molded plastic, so that is why sewing your own rag dolls for the little girls in your life may be the next hobby on your list.

The footwear industry always has room for entrepreneurs who will design shoes that are both cute and nonrestrictive to the natural shape of the foot. The first tool needed to experiment with custom shoe design is a shoe last.

Live models are usually best for fashion photography if you can afford them and if you are willing to risk the models' pictures being used around the web in ways you cannot control, including alterations of the images. Using yourself, friends, or family members as models carries a privacy risk.

Editor's note: this article was written around 2010 and lightly updated in 2024. Due to ongoing advances in the display industry, it would be advisable to conduct current research to be fully appraised of the current market before following recommendations here which may be dated.

Rock on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

For a small, independent sewing pattern company, several options exist for publishing sewing patterns for the home sewing market.

(Photos Copyright 2012 Fashion Belle, showing international delivery of a Poly Star flexible foam mannequin that is awaiting the finishing touches of face paint and wig)

These photos have one thing in common. I took them both on working days as an apparel patternmaker. The upper photo is from the Empire State Building looking toward south Manhattan in New York City, in view of a couture design room where I worked.

Experience working in the fashion industry can be a valuable stepping stone toward starting your own business producing sewn products, however, even with no prior experience, an entrepreneur's knowledge of the target market is the first key to success.

This article is primarily for aspiring fashion designers in the United States where the apparel production landscape has undergone fundamental changes in the last few decades starting with an increase in offshore manufacturing in the 1990s, leading to closures of many domestic textile and sewing factories, up through