The following is a testimony from Jennifer:
When my daughter completed the USFSA basic skills and freestyle programs a few years ago, the cost of her ice skating training skyrocketed.
First I tried to save a few dollars here and there.
- choosing a more affordable private coach (not such a good idea as it costs more time and money to fix bad habits)
- supplementing private lessons with jumps classes, juniors (semi private) lessons, and camps (very helpful)
- extra practice during summer public ice (freestyle ice time at our rink runs $15/50 minutes while public ice is $5/80 minutes once at day a noon)
- sewing my daughter’s skating dresses (this is where the story gets good)
A few years ago I thought I would attempt to sew my daughter a figure skating dress. I’ve always been able to sew, but the slippery lycra and power mesh (the see through — usually flesh tone — panels on skating dresses) took some time to master.
I made her first dress with some bright blue lycra, the wrong kind of elastic and my basic sewing machine. Once I added a few crystals, it didn’t look too bad, so I kept going.
A few dresses later (along with one overlock machine and some experiments with lining and specialty threads) I was making dresses for my daughter’s competitions and drafting my own patterns. Then I volunteered to make a few character dresses for my daughter’s synchro team’s spring show. They were a hit.
I started working with her coach, making all the team dresses in exchange for the cost of participating. Her coach provided the fabric, a higher-end overlock machine, an industrial coverlock machine, and a great opportunity to show off my designs.
I have since made dance dresses for a collegiate synchro team, dresses for learn-to-skate groups, and custom freestyle dresses that range from $150-$675. In the past 12 months, I have made 275 dresses!
My business has become a wonderful way to pay for my daughter’s skating and my son’s activities while still allowing me to be a stay-at-home-mom. It has also provided me with a fun creative outlet (and my daughter loves that I can make just about anything we can dream up)!
Clement says
Wow, love what you did there. You made it seamless too. Good job on making a difference for your daughter. I’m pretty she feels the added love since it comes from you.
Beth says
I’m a figure skating coach and new skating director for my rink and this story is so inspiring! I really enjoyed reading this as I know the sacrifices my parents made for me to skate when I was young. I honestly don’t know how my family did it to be honest because I skated so much! Thanks for sharing your story!
Laura Vanderkam says
Great story! I love to hear how people discover ways to make more (you can’t always just save more). Out of curiosity, since you’re running an entrepreneurial business, and working and earning money, why do you call yourself a stay-at-home mom? Some women who run home-based businesses define themselves this way and others don’t. I find how people define this fascinating.
Melissa H says
Excellent! I have fond memories of my daughter and her skating dresses. Wish I would have kept one in particular but I think we passed them all along to someone who could use them.
Kat says
I love this story. I love your resourceful and creative spirit. So good for other women to hear and grow from!
Debi says
Very inspiring!! I also love that your costumes are much more modest than many others on the market. God Bless!
Jen says
What a great story! Thanks for sharing. I love how you thought outside of the box and it ended up being not just a money saving, but money making opportunity. Your work is beautiful!
Jenn @ The Spare Room Project says
What a great post, Jennifer! This is actually almost exactly how my mom and I paid for Irish step dance lessons when I was a kid. Once I got past the basic levels, I assisted with teaching the ‘baby beginners,’ as the 5-yo classes were known. I don’t think we really paid for anything except my soft and hard shoes after the first couple of levels.
In exchange, we babysat my teacher’s toddler, and my mom and I sewed/embroidered the team dresses. We probably could have made money making solo dresses (which are INSANELY expensive – and heavy!) if I had done more competitions and had that kind of network (and the inclination at that point). This is what I plan on doing when I have kids and get them started in individual sports, though. If you get creative, you can make almost any sport like this affordable!
Kat says
That’s awesome, Jenn!
Jessica says
Is there a way for parents to find out the scope of activity costs before getting a child involved? It seems like the fees and ancillary costs are a surprise to a lot of us!
Krystle says
I think one of the best ways is to talk to parents whose kids have been in the sport for a while. My husband and I recently added up the cost for my son’s hockey- equipment, ice time, travel costs, private lessons ($100/hr). In a couple years as he progresses we are looking at about $7,000 a year. We knew it was expensive, but didn’t realize it would be that much.
Amy says
I LOVE this story. I’m so happy for you. Thanks for sharing this, Crystal.
Krystle says
if only I could sew costumes to pay for my son’s hockey lessons 🙂 ice sports are expensive!
CathyR says
As a fellow mom of a figure skater, I was really excited to see a post on how to SAVE money on figure skating! I was clueless as to how the costs go up once a skater gets past the basic levels, i.e. having to pay for ice time AND coaching, not to mention club and competition, cost of dresses as your described… I have zero sewing skills, but fortunately our figure skating club holds used skating dress sales a few weeks before every major competition, so all of us parents can sell outgrown costumes and skates, and hopefully find gently worn items that will fit our skaters for cheap. The other way I’ve been able to save money — in lieu of some of the fees we would need to pay for skating club membership, I’ve started doing graphic design for the club. I love to see my daughter working hard at skating and performing, so it’s nice to help keep that dream going for her with some bartering!
LeahB says
This is fantastic. I’m definitely going to look into trading my skills for kids’ lessons and sports when they’re old enough. 🙂
Swapna says
That’s awesome! As somebody who cannot sew at all, I admire your talent and entrepreneurial spirit!
karen says
Amazing! Thank you for sharing your story.
Alicia says
Inspiring, thank you for sharing! I appreciated seeing how your skills have advanced!
Missie says
I would love your contact information. My daughter just started ice skating lessons, and the cost of the skate wear is quite breathtaking. I would love to support a SAHM business rather than a large company.
The Prudent Pantry says
I just love stories like this. Thank you so much for sharing.