What Sewing Classes Cost in Abu Dhabi, and What Is Included

The first thing almost everyone asks is what it costs. Not what we make, not how long it takes. The price. So here it is at the top, before anything else.

A first lesson is 250 AED and runs about ninety minutes. After that a lesson is 300 AED for two to three hours, which works out at 150 AED an hour. That rate is the same whether you are threading a machine for the very first time or drafting your own pattern.

What the price already covers

This is the part that surprises people. You do not need to buy anything before your first lesson. Not a machine, not scissors, not one pin.

Waiting for you in the studio:

• a sewing machine, set up and threaded
• scissors, pins, measuring tape, marking chalk, the whole kit
• the patterns for whatever we are making that day
• fabric and thread for your first pieces

Women arrive with a handbag and leave with something they sewed themselves. That is deliberate. You should be able to find out whether you enjoy sewing before you spend money on equipment for it.

What you pay for separately

Fabric, once you move past practice pieces and start making things you actually want to wear. A dress you will really use needs cloth you really like, and that choice belongs to you.

What I do is take you shopping, or send you off with a list and the name of the right shop. Around Madinat Zayed the same cloth can differ in price by half depending on which door you walk through, and knowing which one saves you more than a lesson costs. I wrote down where I buy fabric in Abu Dhabi so you can go on your own once you feel confident.

Why there is no group rate

Because there is no group. Every lesson I teach is one to one.

Sewing is a poor subject for group teaching. Everyone works at a different speed, every pair of hands finds a different way to go wrong, and a machine that jams needs someone beside it at that moment, not in ten minutes. In a class of eight you spend most of the hour waiting. You would pay less per hour and receive less of the hour.

Blocks of lessons

If you book a series the hourly rate drops a little. I do not push it and I never ask for it up front. Most women who write to me are still working out whether sewing is for them, and curiosity should not cost a fortune. Pay for one lesson, see how it feels, decide afterwards. I went through when a block is actually worth it in more detail.

The cost nobody puts on the page

When you compare courses, read what comes with the price. Private sewing lessons in Abu Dhabi are often advertised at 136 to 183 AED an hour, which sounds close to mine, until you reach the line where you buy your own sewing kit for another 150 to 250 AED before the first class. Some places expect you to bring a machine as well.

A machine is a serious purchase to make for a hobby you have not tried yet. Buy one after you know you want it, not before. When that day comes I put together how to choose your first machine.

How soon you make something real

In the first lesson. Not a finished dress, but a real seam on real fabric, and usually a small finished thing to take home. We begin with accessories and simple pieces, then move up to garments as your hands get steadier.

Nobody sews a dress in ninety minutes, and anyone who promises otherwise is selling you something. What the first lesson really buys is the answer to whether this is for you.

Where the lessons happen

In my studio on Al Reem Island. Women only, and it is the two of us in the room, so you can work at your own pace without an audience. If you have never sewn before, you are exactly who I teach most often. I wrote about the fears people bring to a first lesson, because they are always the same five.

You can see the full breakdown on the sewing classes page. If you want to try, write to me and we will find a time. Bring nothing.