I Won ASDP's 1st Master Sewing & Design Professional Scholarship

During the Christmas holiday I was ill for two weeks with the flu.  I was in bed for an entire two weeks.  Deliriously, I made up my mind to apply for a partial scholarship to become certified as a Master Sewing and Design Professional awarded by the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals and I won.  

To apply candidates were required to submit an essay describing why they should win the partial scholarship.  

Here is my essay.............   

    My name is Blondell Howard. I have been a member of ASDP since 2007. I own the Sassy SEWer-Sewing Lounge in Baltimore, MD. I learned to sew at the ripe old age of 22, LMBO! My mother sewed and I have an aunt who worked in the garment industry in New York and Connecticut. However, neither had time to teach me. So, I decided to teach myself. I can honestly say it was a slow and sometimes painful process, but I persevered. In 1999 I took a part-time job with Husqvarna Viking Sewing Machines. My primary job was to sell machines. My primary goal was to develop my sewing skills. Viking provided me the opportunity to teach sewing machine/serger operation and creative class. I loved that job and met some amazing seamsters. However, most of the classes offered were geared towards quilting and machine embroidery. I wanted to sew apparel. After Viking, I began teaching various sewing classes for JoAnn Fabrics.

To gauge whether what I had taught myself was correct, I enrolled part-time in Baltimore City Community College's (BCCC) Fashion Design Program, all while working a full-time job. I successfully completed classes in Garment Construction, Advanced Garment Construction, Flat Pattern Design, Fashion Illustration, Draping and Textiles. BCCC's goal was to prepare students to work in the fashion industry. My goal was to develop my sewing and fashion design skills.

In 2007 my employer was purchased by a national bank. Therefore, my accounting position was eliminated. I wasn't worried because I knew how to sew and wanted to teach others fashion sewing. The time was ripe to open a sewing lounge. Project Runway had created a renewed interest in garment sewing.

Fast forward to today. I'm still in business, but need to take it to the next level. Finally this year I attended my first ASDP convention and fell in love. It was the best sewing conference I had ever attended. I left inspired, challenged and in admiration of the members of ASDP. These were my kind of gals, garment sewers. The skill level of ASDP members was outstanding. I knew that this is what I wanted to do in my second career. Most members I had never met before, but they embraced and encouraged me to pursue custom sewing. Before the 2012 conference I was adamant about not sewing for people. After the conference, I knew I could do custom sewing.

I believe that the ASDP Master Certification will benefit me in various ways. Master certification will validate my sewing and fashion design skills. Most importantly, Master certification will allow me to offer custom sewing with confidence. Master certification will announce to the public that I am a skilled professional that will deliver superior custom clothing. Master certification will further develop my sewing and design skills. Master certification will allow me to mentor, encourage and attract sewers who want a career in fashion sewing. Lastly, Master certification will allow me to help grow the ASDP membership. 

I'll keep you posted on my progress!