My dad started a sewing machine repair store when I was a kid. I don't know too much. I think he worked for someone else for a time and/or worked from home and decided to open a shop. Once he opened a shop, then my mom, who sews, got involved as well and it became a place where they also sold patterns and material and sewing supplies. I don't think they ever did very well and I think they really couldn't get on the same page. There also weren't the resources there are today for assisting small businesses. The store eventually folded. My mom brought home leftover material, thread, patterns, etc and stocked her sewing room with them and spent years using up some of that stuff.

My mom also took in sewing at home for years and years and later became self-employed as a cleaning lady. Her skills were in high enough demand that when my dad went through chemo about 16 years ago and she had to mostly be home to care for him, she could make one phone call and have work on her terms for the hour or two she had available on some afternoon when he was doing well enough to be left alone briefly. This helped them enormously. I think my mom fundamentally has better business sense than my dad. She also sometimes sews stuff (or did a few years back) for my cousin's gift shop, to help support their success.