Skilled Trades
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
Design, make, alter, repair, or fit garments.
Median salary (BLS)
$41,640
10th–90th percentile (BLS)
$30k – $64k
Job outlook
No separate BLS projection for this specific role
AI exposure
Plan a path to Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
Education
Typical entry: No degree required
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
Entry / Junior
$29,920
~2 yrs to advance
Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
Established
$41,640
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers
Senior
$52,655
Key skills
A typical day
- •Measure parts, such as sleeves or pant legs, and mark or pin-fold alteration lines.
- •Remove stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades.
- •Sew garments, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
- •Let out or take in seams in suits and other garments to improve fit.
- •Measure customers, using tape measures, and record measurements.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Skilled Trades
Explore all- Purdue University50% admit · $78,000 grad pay
- Ohio State University53% admit · $68,000 grad pay
- Pennsylvania State University55% admit · $70,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.