Portland Fashion Institute

I would not recommend taking classes here. The instructor I encountered was wonderful but the owner is terrible to deal with. She was very misleading in conversations we exchanged regarding making up a class. I’m not going to get in to the details but it was very unfair business practice. I ended up taking a financial loss and can’t take the classes I originally signed up for. It looks like from other reviews I’m not the only one who has trouble dealing with her.

Although I loved my lesson with Christine I am really angry with Lynn. I will not be taking any more classes with her. She told me when to come to see her and then ended up charging my because she came in at an earlier time then she told me to come in. I talked to the owner and she just kept repeating herself that that’s not what lynn said. Is that how you treat a customer? I put the time directly in my calendar in front of lynn and I don’t have alzheimers. But I guess the customer isn’t always right. Then the owner just says that she emailed me letting me know when to come in. Oh in the morning of the day of my app. Exactly one hour before lynn though I would be there? Because I’m just gonna check my email halfway through sleeping and even if I did i wouldn’t have had enough time to get there. I’m so mad that I had to vent because the money is a lot for a young adult salary and i hate wasting money. I would not recommend doing privates with Lynn. and the owner could be a lot more understanding and actually respond to emails.

I had sewn a few things on my own but mostly bags, satchels, camera strap, and aprons — nothing that required fit. I was gifted a sewing machine for a graduation gift and signed up to take classes at Portland Sewing. I’ve taken 3 different class series — basically one class a week for about 1.5 years and cannot not recommend this place enough. I took a year off from sewing and came back to discover how much of the instruction I learned here stuck with me. I’m now changing patterns to meet my needs and am always impressed how the quality of my projects have improved. I’m going to continue taking as many classes here as possible and would recommend any one else with interest in sewing clothes to do the same.

I am a certified Family and Consumer Science teacher (Home Ec), have been teaching in public schools for 11 years, and have been sewing my whole life. I wanted to take my skills to the next level though and learn how to turn the ideas in my head into real clothes instead of just following others’ patterns. I started with the weekend series of Fashion Illustration, which was intense, but I learned a lot and walked away with successful drawings (I honestly didn’t believe I’d be able to do it!) and plenty of notes and handouts to refer to when I get stuck on something at home. Then, I moved onto Intro to Patternmaking (level 1 & 2) and FINALLY have patterns that fit me perfectly!
After this experience, and talking to a number of other students, I decided to join the Fashion Design certificate program. I’ll admit, with my experience and previous education, I was skeptical about being able to learn anything from the sewing classes, but in Apparel Construction you are taught professional construction skills, instead of home sewing, which increase your speed and clothing attractiveness.
Here, you will find focused and hands-​on instruction. The classes are small (10ish students) so you get plenty of help and attention from your teachers. The instructors actually work in the apparel industry and Sharon Blair (the owner) is very good at collecting experts in their field to teach specific classes. And, with those connections, you hear about opportunities for employment that you otherwise wouldn’t. Sharon’s whole purpose is to prepare you for jobs!

It pains me to give this place 1 star. The staff other than the owner were amazing and all the instructors I came into contact with were great.
What I am writing about is the owners lack of response and compassion. After I had signed up to take the class my step father’s lung cancer ended up getting the best of him and I had to drive to another state to help deal with funeral arrangements and to be with my family. I called the day the class was starting and told them I wasn’t going to make it and wasn’t sure when I would be back (since it was a 4 week series.) The person on the phone told me that I could do a makeup on their weekend times or maybe just sign up for the next session. When I got back to town after missing 2 classes I emailed the owner who told me that I probably shouldn’t come to the 3^rd class since I had missed so much and instead I should go to the weekend make-​up. I said ok great she then proceeded to tell me there was a charge for this (first time this had been mentioned) and I said ok forget it I will just take the next series, which she then told me I should have to pay for as they wouldn’t transfer my payment to that series (first time I was told this as well.)
I then decided to make the most of a crappy situation, paid for the weekend class and figured then I could at least go to the last class of the series. In each series you make a project. In this class it was an apron. I told the owner I would come to the weekend make-​up class. The instructor was great, but no information had been left to her about what to have me do to try and get caught up. So then when I showed up to the last class of my series, I had to try and sew an entire project in one night. It would have been nice if the owner had left materials for me so I could have and least gotten something out of the $ 100 I paid for one class.
I then emailed her again and told her how great her instructors were but that she should try to help people a little more and she never responded.
My recommendation is that if you want to take classes here, if you have issues don’t expect any assistance. Also the parking situation is horrible.

I took a sewing class here. While I discovered I don’t enjoy sewing — the staff here did an amazing job teaching me how to use a sewing machine and sew my first project.

I had 3 hours of private lessons. I’m self-​taught; never had a lesson or class before. Sharon was great. She advised me on how to tackle different fabrics and projects, and showed me different techniques and I got to practice them. It was really helpful to have the shop onsite to get different tools (she wasn’t a hard sell at all). I came from out of town, and I was able to ship my tools and materials to her in advance, and pick up any I had missed. The lessons were very helpful. Sharon was very encouraging, knowledgeable and patient. I could see that she’s got a wealth of knowledge and skill, and that one can rapidly improve your craftsmanship by working with her. Very inspiring.

I was a complete novice to sewing before I took the Learn To Sew series at Portland Sewing. Thanks to my *very* patient teacher Lisa, I successfully made an apron, robe and set of pajamas. I missed a couple classes and I was able to take the ‘rehab’ classes on Saturdays and make up the lessons with Sharon. All the instructors are great at teaching. As part of each class, Lisa taught us different sewing techniques and we were able to compile them into a handy reference binder. I can now successfully use my machine, understand sewing patterns and I’ll always keep my handy reference binder! There are a ton of classes offered so there is something for everyone no matter the skill level. And they even offer classes besides sewing like machine knitting, leather working and more! My only regret is that I moved away from Portland recently so I won’t get to take more classes!