When I got married 25 years ago, I inherited an ugly couch. As a new wife I was determined to make my apartment “cute”. I bought fabric and a pattern for a slipcover. To my dissapointment the fit was horrible and the tuck-in and ties were awful.
A year later we built our first house. I headed to the thrift store and picked up a chair and made a custom slipcover for it.
My friends and family loved it and started asking me to slipcover their furniture. In the mean time we got pregnant with our first baby. I told my husband when we had the baby, I would stay home and make slipcovers…he laughed. I had my first “real” client when my baby was 3 months old. I think he forgot how determined and focused I can be when I want something. He has become wiser over the past 25 years.
I still ended up having to go back to work part time as an assistant manager at Bath and Body Works when my baby was 7 weeks old to pay the bills. I did about one to two slipcovers a month during this period for clients. By the time my baby turned a year old, my business had grown enough for me to stay home and sew. So I took a leap of faith and quit my job.
I now have lots of designer clients, and regular repeat clients. With having the extra income I was determined to put it to good use and get out of debt. So slowly over the first 10 years I paid off the basement, the cars, and the house. UPDATE–I’ve now purchased 3 condo rentals with my slipcover income.