MODULE 1

LESSON 1
Core Concepts in Dressmaking
 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

1.Assess Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies; and

2. Understand the business environment and business

ideas.
 MOTIVATION

When a man's suit fits, when the

construction is beautiful, when the sewing and
fabrics are there... in the end, you'll look the
best in it.

John Varvatos
MIND YOUR VOCABULARY
Competency – the quality or state of being properly qualified or
adequate.
Innovative – tending to introduce new things or methods.
Vision – the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to
be.
Consumer – one that acquires or utilizes goods or services.
Market – People with the desi
Research – Diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject
in order to discover or revise facts, theories, and application.
Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies of a Dressmaker/Tailor
Before starting any project or business endeavor, it is a must to
know one’s Personal entrepreneurial competencies (PECs) as well as
the possible market for your products.
 An entrepreneur is a person who takes the risks of venturing into a
business or enterprise. All successful entrepreneurs possess
Personal Entrepreneurial Competencies or PECs which include their
characteristics, traits, attributes, skills and knowledge that make
them prosper in business.
 Basically, most successful entrepreneurs in the dressmaking
industry have the following PECs:
C – reative and Innovative. They are always on the lookout for new
creations or designs and new ideas in clothing. They think of better
ways to run a business and improve on the products and services
offered.
O – pportunity Seeker. They are keen observers of their
environment and have an eye for spotting new trends in garment
industry that could spark a business opportunity.
M - otivated. They are ambitious. They see the bigger picture and
make things happen.
P – eristent and Determined. They continue to pursue a goal despite
some obstacles they may encounter.
E – fficient. They devise ways to ensure work is accurate and
completed on time. They always strive to meet or even raise
standards of quality and find ways to do things.
T – rustworthy and Honest. They are honest and honorable in all
business dealings and interpersonal relationships – whether it is
between business partners, employees and peers. This is important
in developing good will and loyalty.
E – motionally Stable. They have strong emotional stability. They
know that loss and failure are inherent in any business endeavor
and that they are ready to face any risk that comes their way.
N – egotiator. They employ careful strategies to connect and negotiate
with other people. They communicate well with clients to determine
how they want a sewing job done.
C – omitted. They accept full responsibility for the problems
encountered, help own workers to get the job done and strive to keep
the client satisfied.
I – nformation Seekers. They read books, attend seminars, and
consult experts to be aware of the latest service techniques and
technology in garment industry. They have a thorough
understanding of fabrics, seams, and pattern applications. They
personally seek information about their clients to serve them better.
E – xcellent Planner and Goal-Oriented. They are excellent at
developing logical, step-by-step plans to reach goals, overseeing
progress and using them to make business decisions.
S – elf-confident. They have self-confidence and they believe in their
own capabilities. Belief in one’s capabilities is very important in
achieving any goal.
Developing personal entrepreneurial competencies (PECs)
Becoming an entrepreneur can be one of the most challenging
decisions of your life. By choosing this path, you are giving yourself
the ability to control your own destiny rather than simply choosing
to work for someone else. Here are some ways to develop your PECs:

1. Dream. Write down the things that you want to experience in your
life. No matter what your status in life is, list down whatever you
want as many as you can. Be specific of the things you want.
Those things you listed will inspire you to fulfill your dreams.

2. Create a vision. Visualize what you will be doing few years from
now. Realistic conceptualization is one of the key factors of
becoming a successful entrepreneur.
3. Set your goals. Goal-setting ideally involves establishing specific, measurable,
attainable, realistic and time-targeted objectives. Your goals should be related to
your vision.

4. List down all of your new ideas as an entrepreneur. Write down what business
you want. For example, if you want to start your own dress shop, then write down
your ideas in detail.

5. Perform self-analysis. List down your personal qualities, your strengths, and
weaknesses. You may also list down your experience, hobbies and interest that
you can expand into business.

6. Make a plan of action. After analyzing oneself, you should determine possible
actions. It could be strengthening specific skill and minimizing a weakness. You
may turn your weaknesses into strengths through trainings and doing a lot of
readings. Your plan must work within a specific period of time.
Environmental and Market
Analyzing one’s personal entrepreneurial competencies is not
enough to start a business. It is necessary to look around and see if
the environment is conductive to start a business. The process of
gathering and using information about the external market and
competitive trends is called environmental scanning. It includes both
viewing and searching for information. The following questions are
useful in gathering data:

1. What are the needs and wants of consumers within the

community? Needs are defined as goods or service that are
required for health and safety. Wants on the other hand are things
that are desirable or of interest and are not necessary for survival.
2. How are existing needs and wants being served? This will give you
an idea on what business to pursue.

3. What are the products that satisfy the needs and wants of the
target customer? Are sleepwear and children’s wear included? If
these products already exist, you can think of how you can improve
them.

4. What kind of sleepwear and children’s wear do mothers usually

but? How often do they buy them? This will give you an idea on the
products that you need to focus on.

5. Where do they usually buy sleepwear and children’s wear? Are

there existing industries in the community that manufacture
sleepwear and children’s wear? If the answer is yes, you really need to
innovate to make your product competitive.
Formulating a Business Idea

The needs and wants in the community that are not

addressed may be considered business opportunities. All
business ventures start with a business idea. The best
business idea is one which addresses the needs of the
market and corresponds to your skills and interest. Here are
some steps to take to think of a sound business idea:
1. Identify the needs and wants of the community. Find out the things that are
wanted and deemed necessary in the community. Find out also the things that
irritate people of the chores that they hate to do.

2. List down possible business ideas. Think how you can improve the needs and
wants in the community. You may also think of the services that would relieve the
people in the community from the chores they dislike.

3. Make a self-assessment. List down your skills and interest. Limit down the list of
business ideas to that only interest you and that you have the capability of doing.

4. Conduct a research. Find out the value of your business idea to the consumers.
Will it satisfy the needs and wants of target costumers? Why would they but your
product or service? You also need to study the current trends and issues as
regards to your business idea. The data that can be gathered from this research
could be used in performing a SWOT analysis.
5. Perform a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to
evaluate the STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS
involved in a project or in a business venture requiring a decisions in pursuit of an
objective. Strengths are the positive attributes of your business idea. These may
include a new or innovative product or service and relevant skills, competencies,
knowledge and work experience. Weaknesses are the negative attributes of your
business idea. These could be undifferentiated products or services and lack of
work experience. Opportunities are uncontrollable external events that you can
potentially influence. An Opportunity could be a developing market such as the
internet and booming economy. Threats are uncontrollable external factors that
may work against your business and require you to take protective action. These
include emergence of a competitor and changing market requirements.

6. Assess and finalize your business idea. If your business idea answer the needs
of the community, corresponds to your skills and interest and has more strengths
than weaknesses and more opportunities than threats, you may have thought of a
sound business idea.
LEARNING ACTIVITY

Direction: To test how far you have learned in this module, answer the following
questions below. Write your answers in your notebook.

1. Among the PECs of a successful entrepreneur in sewing, which do you

possess? Which do you need to develop?
2. How do you compare your PECs to those of successful entrepreneurs?
3. Why is a plan of action important in developing your personal entrepreneurial
competencies?
4. Why is there a need to continuously develop and improve your own PECs?
5. How does SWOT analysis help in pursuing a business?
6. Why is it important to understand the environment and market in formulating
a sound business idea?
Source

Hilario, Carmelita B. , Clothing Technology Made Easy , Philippine Copyright, 2001 by Rex
Publishing, Inc.
 Lesson 2
Safety Measures in Dressmaking
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

1.Discuss the types of Risk and Hazards in Industry;

2.Identify the common hazards and potential accidents and

their preventive measures; and

3.Observe proper preventive measures in sewing a garment.

MOTIVATION
 Risk is a random incident that may possibly occur, and if it
occurs, it would have a negative impact on achieving
organizational goals.

 A hazard is an agent having the potential to cause harm or hurt

to the target. We can call the possible source of danger as hazard.
The terms ‘risk’ and ‘hazard’ are mostly used interchangeably.
However, in terms of risk assessment, they are two very different
terms.

 A hazard is any agent which can cause harm/damage/ injury to

human beings and their environment.

 Risk is defined as the probability that exposes one to a hazard

which leads to a negative effect.
TYPE OF HAZARDS

1. Physical Hazards

 They often affect many Operators in the workplace, for example

occupational hearing loss, postural defects, falls, accidents, etc.
Hearing loss is one of the most common problems in a
manufacturing unit with heavy noise-making machines like
some industrial sewing machines or cutters; postural defects
like cervical and bone shape change can occur if a person
needs to sit or stand in a particular wrong position for long
time.
 Some of the problems associated with the physical environment at
the workplace include:
1. respiratory problems, allergies, skin problem, etc., may be
caused due to excessive dust. Adequate ventilation, exhaust fans,
etc., are helpful to make the environment clean and dust-free.
2. a low light environment for working, and shortage of eye
protective glasses, can cause eye problems.
3. prolonged sitting, and continuous work involving the eye, creates
eye problems (strained eyes) and backbone problems for the
Operators. Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) is likely to occur at the
workplace due to long hours of sitting to complete the work.
Problems like backache, stiffening of neck, cervical and wrist joint
problems can also occur during stitching work.
These problems can be solved with the following tips.
1. Always work with the right body posture.
2. Keep the stand/machines at a height till bust level
and straight wrist position to avoid bending your
neck and back for a long time.
3. Use wrist rests to avoid strain in the hand and wrist
joint.
4. Take short breaks from long sittings, maybe after an
hour or two, to relax the strain in the back.
2. FIRE HAZARDS

They are common in those industries that use a lot of flammable material,
like cotton, chemicals, etc. Fire hazards occur mainly due to the following reasons.

• Improper working of fire and smoke alarm bells in industries

• Absence of fire and smoke alarm systems in many industries
• Improper maintenance of fire exits or emergency staircase
• Lack of proper exit route or emergency staircase to reach the place of safety.

Every industry should keep fire extinguishers as a safety measure.

3. BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS
 These involve hazards due to bacteria, viruses and toxins. It can
be due to non-airy and dark rooms, suffocation (bad ventilation),
and unhygienic conditions of washrooms.
 These also include animal bites and stings, problems from toxic
plants, and transmitted diseases through animals.

4. CHEMICAL HAZARDS

 Some chemicals can cause a hazard in the work area. There are
many categories of hazardous chemicals. Certain chemicals are
harmful when mixed with other chemicals.
 Chemical hazards are very common in apparel and textile industry
while at the time of dyeing and printing.
5. PSYCHOSOCIAL HAZARDS

 This means that the status of mental health and emotional well-
being of the Operators in an organization may not be normal.
 These could be due to a feeling of job insecurity, long working hours,
lack of enthusiasm towards work, frustration about not being
allowed to deliver quality product due to pressure of quantitative
production, harassment at workplace and poor work life balance.
 This aspect should be dealt with care, as these are sensitive issues.
Behavioral therapy, like continuous counselling, meditation, yoga,
participation in recreation centers, music therapy or occupational
care are effective in reducing sick leave days and poor work
efficiency at the workplace.
6. ELECTRICAL HAZARDS

 These are common in the textile industry as fabrics, machines and other fire-
prone equipment are being dealt with here. It is quite dangerous when an
Operator creates an electrical contact with keyed up equipment or a conductor.
 Electrical accidents mostly occur when the individuals are working around
electrical apparatus which is live but they think it is dead. Wrong use of
equipment and use of faulty electrical equipment also causes accidents. Working
on, or near electric equipment, without adequate training or appropriate Notes
equipment, may be one of the reasons. Shocks from faulty equipment can lead to
brutal and permanent injuries.
 Due to serious injuries, the chances to fall off from ladders or other work
platforms are high. Apart from injuries or accidents, such mistakes or avoidance
lead to damage of the plant, machines, equipment and property.
Some Common Hazards and Potential Accidents and their Preventive Measures
HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES FOR SEWING MACHINE OPERATOR

One should follow all safety precautions. Sewing Machine Operators should
follow these safety precautions while working.

1. While sewing always concentrate on the machine and the task at hand.
2. Always use shields and guards while working with the open moving parts of
machine.
3. Use safety glasses and earplugs while working on high-speed sewing machinery.
4. Always wear proper footwear to avoid leg and feet injury. The footwear worn
should not slip off from the feet while operating the machine.
5. Turn off the sewing machine before oiling it or while changing parts.
6. In the event of a cut wound, or any other injury, immediately report to the
group leader. Wounds should be cleaned and covered with a bandage.
7. All tools and machinery required for production should incorporate ergonomic
design principles and should not require an excessive force to operate.
8. The tools should be easy and comfortable in holding and using.
9. Work area should be properly designed like enough space for performing tasks,
appropriate working height and proper sitting arrangement.
10. Improper furniture and poor ergonomic conditions lead to serious health
problems such as musculoskeletal disorders for example carpal tunnel syndrome,
lower back pain, forearm tendinitis, neck pain, etc.

Operators working on a sewing machine

https://ncert.nic.in/vocational/pdf/ivsm105.pdf
11. Unpadded stools that may also lack a backrest lead to the Operators having to sit
in an uncomfortable position without adequate support for the entire working
shift.
12. If there is constant use of pressing irons in sewing units, the humidity level
becomes very high, which may create discomfort for the Operators.
13. Be provided with short breaks to prevent muscular pains.
14. Take proper physical rest and mental relaxation in order to prevent injuries.

15. Adopt an appropriate sitting posture while working. Avoid working in

uncomfortable and awkward postures.
16. Do not work with hands above the shoulder height on a regular basis. Arms
must be placed at a lower level and near to the body. Frequent bending and
twisting of wrists, back and neck should also be avoided.
17. Operators should take proper rest. Give your muscles rest during the tea/snacks
break, lunches and weekends by doing something different from what is routine.
Sitting position while working on a sewing machine
https://ncert.nic.in/vocational/pdf/ivsm105.pdf
GOOD LIGHTING

Proper lighting at the workplace is very essential for productivity. Conversely,

poor lighting can cause eye strain, fatigue and headache, which results in poor
productivity. Practices for good lighting.

1. There should be an arrangement for proper natural lighting in the sewing

department/unit. This may help decrease the electricity bill.
2. Work stations that need more light should be moved closer to the windows.
3. Use a combination of natural and artificial lighting arrangement, and try to
adjust the lighting at the work area such as, drafting and cutting.
4. The interior color of the walls affects the illumination needed. Make sure that
the ceilings should be as close to white as possible. Use pale colors on walls.
 Benefits

1. Good quality of work with less faults and high production;

2. Decreased tiredness and work-related illnesses, Notes like
itching and strain in the eyes
3. Better health of operators will decrease the number of sick
leaves, and increase productivity
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER

Many a times, chemicals are used for different processing in textile

and garment industries. Dyes, solvents and other chemicals are used to
create different fabric finishes. Hence, proper ventilation, respiratory
protection, and other personal protective equipment should be readily
available to protect Operators during chemical processing.

As a lot of work involves close viewing of the fabric, material or

garment, eye protection is critical. Operators in the garment industry can
avoid eye injuries by using proper shields on high-speed sewing
machinery or appropriate safety glasses.

Before using any tool or machine, the Operator should be trained in

safe working practices. Some of the measures are given below.
SAFETY MEASURES TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS WITH SCISSORS

The following safety measures should be taken.

1. Use suitable storage system, such as racks, boxes, etc., near the
working area at a comfortable height to place scissors, blades, etc.,
after use.
2. Ensure placing lighting fixtures in a way that the light should fall
on the working surface from the left side or from the front. This
promotes better visibility.
3. Prohibit carrying scissors in pockets, or in the hand when going
from one place of work to another.
4. Do not hold scissors with sharp sides up. Do not use it when the
middle screw is loose.
5. Fix disposal points for used blades.
6. Use protective footwear with adequate resistance to slipping
and penetration from a dropped scissors or other sharp objects.
7. Avoid leaving scissors around the work area. This can injure
both the Operator as well as others walking around.
8. Provide even floor surfaces with slip resistance so the operators
do not slip.
9. Free the work surface and floor off debris and other waste to
avoid tripping and falling.
Safety measures to prevent accidents with needles

1. Keep needles and pins at a fixed place, such as in a special box, and all small
tools in separate bags or boxes. Do not leave them at the workplace.
2. Do not hold the needle, pins, etc., in your mouth or tuck them in the clothes.
Do not leave it in the fabric too. An Operator can sew through one’s finger.

Safety measures while using spray guns

Spray guns are used to get rid off any stains on the fabric that may have been
transferred while manufacturing. These guns use a cleaning fluid (many times
ethylene) which may cause headache, dizziness and fatigue if inhaled, or spirit which
can cause redness and excessive dryness of the skin, if exposed.

Train the Operators in the use of the gun. Spray the cleaning fluid onto a rag and
then use the rag to clean, rather than spraying on the garment directly.
Safety measures while ironing
1. Practice caution while using a hot iron as it can cause a
major injury.
2. Check for any faults with the cord before using it.
3. Turn on and hold the plug with dry hands.
4. Place the iron only on a heat-resistant stand.
5. Ensure that the cord does not touch the iron soleplate while
ironing.
6. Select an ironing mode (heating temperature) suitable for the
fabric to be ironed.
SAFETY AND NAVIGATION SYMBOLS
LEARNING ACTIVITY

ACTIVITY 1
Prepare a chart of the hazards in the garment manufacturing industry.
Collect pictures of various type of hazards in the industry through the Internet.
Label them and put this in your portfolio

ACTIVITY 2
Watch a short video on the hazards that occur in the garment manufacturing
industry and the safety measures that should be taken. Prepare a reflection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqKwYZ1rYgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO9Dy5aTNN0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI7aEf5Pia8
SOURCE

PDF Safety Measure in Dressmaking

PDF Dressmaking Module