Sewing One's Own Wardrobe

[Guest OneOutOfnOne]

I've been thinking recently about venturing into the world of sewing my own clothing. Does anyone here do this? I'm rather on the large side, so not only is it difficult to find much selection in my size, what's there can be kind of expensive. Plus the added bonus of not having to be seen out shopping for clothes by the wrong person, which probably crosses my mind more than I'd care to admit to. Given all this, the whole thing seems like a no-lose situation.

Opinions?

[Sally]

Have you ever sewn bevofre?

Sometimes adjusting a pattern to fit you can be a bit of a problem, but I have a bit of experience in my past and I was thinking about the same thing.

I hope you won't be embarassed when you go inot a fabric store and ty holdong bolts of fabric in front of you.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Little Sara]

I'd love to learn to sew, but it seems its not in the cards for the time being. I'll just get by for now, but hope to eventually learn. We have no machine and no place for it now, even if I could learn.

[Guest OneOutOfnOne]

I have sewn before, Sally, and rather enjoyed it, so all the more reason for me to do this! I have never sewn clothing, but I sewed a stuffed transmale elephant named Andrew who sits just across the room from me as I type. And I'm not much inclined to be embarrassed of making purchases, I simply noted that as a possible advantage.

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Sewed all my life - hand and machine. It is an art. Start simple and work into it if you want to become proficient. It is NOT cheaper, not with all the imported clothing that comes into our country, but you CAN sew a custom outfit if you have a particularly difficult body to fit from off the rack.

HINT - take apart old clothing - use a single egde razor blade, see how it is made. Then you can get a feel for what everything looks like on the flat. Start very simple - and expect failures and having to constantly rework results.

HINT - sewing is actually hand work to get it ready for machine work. Machines are only good for speeding up hand work

HINT - iron as you construct. Ironing the pattern parts to fit is the secret of clothing construction

HINT - avoid zippers at first. It take reaalllly good sewing to get a zipper to install correctly and lay flat like it should.

HINT - don't sew when drunk!

Hope this helps

Lizzy

[Guest Leigh]

i do this all the time. i love to sew my own clothes, and once you get the hang of the sewing machine, it's a lot of fun.

[Guest doodle]

I have sewn quite a bit . It can sometimes cost more to make something than to buy something. I don't know what size you are but I buy a lot clothing from catalogs such as Woman Within, and Romans which have sizes from 12w to 44w also Jessica London 14W to 34W . They have websites and will send you endless catalogs They have better selections then the stores and sell everything shoes, bras you name it. Once you get your size down. If you don't like it send it back- they have everything. I bought a really nice dress for 15 dollars on sale there is shipping charges of course.. Sewing is fun and you get a great feeling of accomplishment when you finish something and it comes out just right.. I would do more sewing I just don't have the time.

doodle

[Guest Little Sara]

Pretty hard to find the styles I want in mainstream fashion. Also somewhat hard to find stuff in my size, save for jeans apparently. I wear size x-small, or small (usually the former), or size 0W, a size 6W dress would be a bit big for me and would need adjusted.

[Sally]

HINT - don't sew when drunk!

Thanks for the tips - but that is actually how the zig-zag stitch was invented!

Pretty hard to find the styles I want in mainstream fashion. Also somewhat hard to find stuff in my size, save for jeans apparently. I wear size x-small, or small (usually the former), or size 0W, a size 6W dress would be a bit big for me and would need adjusted.

Did you just come here to brag?

Isn't it just the way of life, some of us have trouble getting clothing because we are too big and others have trouble because they are too small the only ones that have no trouble are the completely average!

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Little Sara]

Well, sizes I can find sometimes in the children's section, or in teen shops. The problem mainly is with finding styles I like. I don't want to be sexy, so going in a store selling only sexy clothes, I'll most likely go out empty handed. I want cute clothes, in my size, in the style I like.

[Guest Ryles_D]

I've always fantasized about sewing my own clothes. I think I'll consider doing that once I get top surgery. Right now it'd be a waste because I dont' feel comfortable enough in myself to do that. I hope when I get away from home I will- being called a girl 24/7 by mom doesn't help much.

I've sewn a little. I actually hand-sewed something for myself once, but mom thought it was just scraps (in my shirt drawer :/) so that kind of killed my confidence.