Ever since childhood, Jessica Keller has noticed a gap in Wagga's fashion market.
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"I've been sewing for 12 years but when I started there was nothing around to teach me," Ms Keller said.
"The internet wasn't fabulous so I learnt from books and my grandmother. There were no options for me, there was nowhere to learn in Wagga and as a 17-year-old it wasn't an option for me to go to Canberra."
More than a decade later, the Wagga woman has opened the Sew Me School of Fashion and Design on Fitzmaurice Street to teach others what she's learnt.
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"I was hoping to start this up last year, but then COVID happened so I've delayed the opening to this year," she said.
From next month, Ms Keller is planning to run a variety of courses and one-off sewing sessions, including an ongoing sustainability in sewing workshop.
"I could make things that I could sell, but I don't want to do that. I want to teach students to make things themselves," Ms Keller said.
Between 2014 and 2019, Ms Keller owned a dance wear company called Vigorous Array. An online-only business, her costumes were made at home at sent all over Australia. But the business was very niche.
"I've made a couple of bridal gowns which I've sold [online]. Going from dance wear to bridal was a huge leap that led me to couture, which is something I'd never really done before," she said.
In March, Ms Keller will host her first couture masterclass at the Fitzmaurice Street business, which she says will be an experience she learns from as much as teaches.
"[I'm making] a panelled ballgown skirt, with a boned petticoat under it. I've made petticoats and I've done boning before but it's not something I've put together before," she said.
The sense of achievement in completing something that she's never done before, Ms Keller says, is the feeling she's looking to pass on to her classes.
"Joining pieces of fabric together into something you can wear, something you can walk down the street in knowing you've made it, it's a great feeling," she said.
"Everybody has a different body type, so knowing how to make something fit you perfectly, that makes you feel so much better."