[Beautiful247]

My desire is to have my own clothing line and to be a great example to young women to feel great about themselves and still maintain an image that us young women are suppose to maintain... I draw sketches of my ideas on paper and I kind of know how to sew but I want a company with people working for me to bring this big dream of mine to life, but I don't know where to start... what tips can I use to get my business started? And how can I find a business loan to get me started?

[Wondergirl]

First learn to sew all kinds of materials -- cotton, silk, knits, duck, burlap, canvas, wool, etc. Learn about nap, darts, plackets, buttons and buttonholes, hand sewing, machine sewing, glue guns, colors, patterns and plaids (and how to match them), all the different types of collars, clothing styles through the ages, the difference between velvet and velveteen and between plaid and check, know what seersucker is, and how to make leather. Learn how to knit and crochet. Learn how to sew on a button the correct way whether the button has a shank or not.

Then take business classes, bookkeeping courses, management and corporate culture classes, plus psych and soc too.

Make all your clothes, even your underwear. Make clothing as gifts and check to see if the recipients wear them. Every time someone says, "You MADE that? Make me one too!" then make one for that person too.

Around about that time, you will be getting close to thinking about starting a clothing business and about twenty years from establishing your own fashion line.

[ChihuahuaMomma]

I tried rating Wondergirl's answer as "HELPFUL" but since I have already done so, AMHD won't let me again, but I did want to say that she gave FANTASTIC advice. I have a friend that is the best seamtress I've ever met. She could sew ANYTHING. She does random jobs for people that request them, and her business is purely word-of-mouth. She just made 16 curtains for a new café opening. And made $950 for 16 hours of work... They turned out beautifully, and she spend $65 on materials...

What I am trying to say is Wondergirl is right, build a reputation before you try to build a business..

[Fr_Chuck]

The hardest part of getting a line is selling it to someone, whow will not just steal your ideas. Many of the commercial lines work off in-house designers who are employees of the company, They have people like yourself, who scetch their ideas, and sometimes make a sample or they have a engineer who takes the ideas and makes a pattern and from there samples are made. Next the enigeer will figure out changes to the pattern to make it work in mass production.

Normally getting your name on it, is years down the road as you become known. Now if you want to sell locally, or on eBay, many have eBay stores where they sell their orginals.

[Wondergirl]

Two young black women, twins, learned to crochet when they were youngsters. They made potholders, purses, sweaters, socks, you name it. Now they are in their 20s and have started their own line of crocheted wearing apparel. According to the article I read, their stuff is so hot that Hollywood people are beating a path to their door, and they are able to charge thousands of dollars for their handiwork.