Do You ACTUALLY Save Money Sewing Your Own Clothes?
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- When people learn that I sew, they often make the assumption that I do it to save money. But is it actually cheaper to make your own clothing versus buying it at the store? This is what we're discussing in this episode - the startup costs of sewing, learning process, and time commitment.
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What are your thoughts on the topic of sewing to save money? Is it possible with clothing? Feel free to share your own tips for new sewists!
I just sewed some seat cushions. They were only less expensive because I already had the foam. The only upside is that I got a fabric I really liked. I didn’t have to “take what I could get”.
My feeling is that where you save money with sewing skills is having the ability to make a thing fit. I worked for a Belgian tailor for a couple of years in the 80s which advanced my skill set. As with anything, the more miles of thread you put down, the better you get at it. Also, a dress form is a big help. Thanks for all you do.
I started sewing in Jr. High for class. I feel in love. Then when I was pregnant with my daughter at 17 sewing helped for cloth diapers, and when she got older hand me downs worked. When she got older and taller I had to add extra length of her pants. Then my son was born and same story. When covid happened I was able to pay rent with sew
sewing and selling face mask. It is a great hobby and life skill to have.
Wow! You're inspiring😍
I think you made some very valid points and it is good to keep things in perspective. I would just add some benefits that out weigh the cost. Fit is a huge benefit to sewing your own wardrobe. color matching or finding the perfect fabric print is easier. But there are ways to bring the costs down: always shop with coupons, find wholesale sites on the internet for fabric but especially notions and parts, recycle, reuse, and repurpose older clothes, and buy used equipment. The art of sewing is also useful for learning to tailor your own clothes ( a tailor fit can make a huge difference). And last sometimes you can find or by what you need but with some practice and creativity you can makes it yourself. I personally think that sewing is a skill every man, woman, and child should learn.
Thanks for the video. I always appreciate you aspect on sewing. Years ago 1950's and 1960's housewives all got sewing machines in many cases to save money. Public schools had at least one classroom with 20 or more machines that the 'girls' could learn on. (I know as I wanted to take the sewing class and was told it was only for the girls, but I could take print shop). Women didn't work 'outside the home', so sewing was a cheaper alternative to buying clothes, but it was incorporated into their cooking and cleaning time. The woman next door had 6 kids, and she said that her sewing machine was mostly used to repair and resize the hand-me-downs from the older to young children. The skirt of an 11 year old girl could become the shorts of her 6 years old boy. So in her case she still purchased clothes but reworked them once that child out grew them. A key difference that made it cheaper then as opposed to now is fabric and threads were manufactured in the US. Today we buy fabric and threads from other places so at a very minimum we have to pay the cost of them being on ship. Then if you are more in the middle of the country you pay the additional trucking fee. Today the quality of the clothes are really much better, fabrics like gore-tex, and cotton blends that don't wrinkle are great and the manufacturing has improved greatly. Also clothing manufactures use multiple dedicated machines to piece together one garment. So I don't think sewing to save money is feasible anymore. I sew for the relaxation it provides me as focusing on a project is better than watching the news today. It's a hobby for me but I like the fact I can make things no one else has. I do a lot of holiday adornment sewing, placemats, napkins, coasters, table runners, wall decorations every year. That way I can control the theme and coordinate the fabrics. After the holiday I bring them to a Salvation Army store (the ones that wash up well), start buying fabrics for the next year’s holiday at the discount end of season prices and a month before the next holiday I sew my new adornments. I had gotten a box style leather change purse about 20 years ago and unfortunately lost it. I sewed a new one for myself. It has started many conversations when I pull it out in a store to get exact change as the register person never saw one like that before and many times asks about it.
I went down the "historical sewing" rabbit hole and have since tried to integrate 18th-century sewing methods to improve the garments I make... Spoiler Alert; the garments I THOUGHT I'd make are NOT the garments I've ended up finding make the most SENSE to make. What I realized, in my quest to seek a cottage-core historic look, Is that I really, really suck at handling the heavy-duty fabrics I want to wear; hand-sewing, or hand-finishing Denim SUCKS and requires an amazing amount of body strength, much like leatherwork! I also found the amount of skirt-gathering I wanted to do is really, really brutal on most sewing machines; I started going down this negative spiral of starting projects I really, physically, could not complete... But then I realized how to break it up; why not buy denim dresses with gather skirts from retail and second-hand sources? Why not outsource the heavy work to the factory machines that can handle it... And why not focus on the billowy blouses and lacework that I can physically manage? I really, really believe the way to see your vision through is to admit you need to specialize in making the garments you can make successfully and to be at peace with farming-out the pieces you can't handle to your wallet... on eBay... at 3am (coughs).
Fantastic insight, thank you for sharing! You're so right that it might make the most sense to focus on the garments you can sew well and purchase items that you find tricky, cumbersome, or simply don't have the equipment to DIY.
Valid points and advice. I prefer to sew my own clothes because it’s made to fit me and made out of fabric that I like. It has nothing to do with saving money. That’s the wrong mindset. I live near a fashion district so I am able to find great deals on fabric. Advice to beginners, practice sewing with inexpensive fabric. Keep things simple. Lots a great vintage machines from as early as the 1940s that are electric that are being sold for as little as $20-$100. Look for thrifted fabric, too. Use old sheets to practice sewing or for first sample before you sew with the nicer/more expensive fabric.
Having to use your seam ripper does not make you a failure, quite the opposite. You're learning from your mistakes.
If I have to use my seam ripper I'm taking a 1 hour break minimum. Most of the seams I have to rip are on king or queen sized quilts or with a 4 thread overlocking stitch so.... I need a break if it comes to that. 🤣🤣🤣
Decades ago, you v old save big money on clothes if you sewed. My junior yr in high school my parents gave my sister and I two basic patterns. A bunch of cheap cotton fabric and the extras we needed. We sewed our entire school.wardrobe over the summer. We had done almost no sewing up until that time. Saved a ton of money. But n ow you can buy a polester dress for $20. This may well change over the next few years.
Excellent points ! I prefer to buy T shirts and underwear.
Fabric in Europe is very expensive however, it’s a hobby and it gives many of us joy and it is also therapeutic . Sewing is like meditation, when you immerse yourself in creating something through sewing, you lose focus on other negative things that might be weighing you down.
You pretty much nailed it. I was just thinking about this the other day. it's definitely not cheaper. But depending on your skills it's gonna fit better and probably last longer. I haven't sewn clothes since pj bottoms in college. 😂 Maybe am infinity scarf now and then. I wish I had the attention span to take on increasingly difficult projects to challenge and improve my skills. 🤷
Clothing is the most difficult type of sewing for me personally. I can totally relate.
Excellent points... I started making a t shirt and I realized this very quickly haha. I bought a sewing machine and everything. thank you for confirming. it is fun being able to make things you like
I definitely don't save money sewing my own clothes, but I do have fun.
For me it's not about the money. Yes a tshirt at Walmart! But some things are just nicer made at home. We all should learn.
I only make clothes if I can make it cheaper. Regarding knits, I can buy them cheaper. I’m on a budget so, I do a lot of homework. I mostly make summer clothes with I can make cheaper.
You save money by altering your clothes for sure!!
Yes and no. I can create exactly the garments I want and ensure they’re made in a high quality long lasting way. However, it has been a HUGE learning process.
Learning at a community based sewing center has helped me save money AND learn faster from experienced experts.
I think of it as a hobby. Most people spend “extra” money (is there such a thing?), on their hobbies, whatever they may be. Heck, even knitters will pay more for premium yarns and needles. That being said, I estimate I break even sewing most of my tops. I avoid sewing pants since I find sourcing comfortable fabrics difficult and much more expensive than RTW.
love your channel
I just sew what I need. I buy tee shirts and undergarments. I look for fabrics that are not expensive. I save the fabric that have left over to make smaller things. I do tissue fittings. If I like a pattern, I will use it many times. I take off buttons and zippers off of old garments that cannot be mended. I have been saving buttons and zippers for years. They are a game changer. Buttons in the store are much more expensive in the store than they used to be.
That’s a great point about sewing the same pattern multiple times. You’ll get better and faster at making a particular pattern if you do it more than once.
And after you take off the hardware, you can use the fabric from old garments in new ones or as rags to clean the house.
Well done, you hit all the points that I thought of when I saw the title of the video.
Exactly! It’s more an expectation vs reality thing. I’ve seen people post pictures of like $60 inspo dresses and think sewing it themselves will be cheaper. It’s usually just not. $1,200 dress? Then it’s much more likely depending on the fabric.
And something that most people don't know is that the professional seams are made with sergers that can be as expensive as a sewing machine and not replace it. My current sewing setup is in the thousands because I go from quilting to clothing to everything in between. My mid arm was 900 and the serger was 50 used. My embroidery machine and start up on that was 400. Most of the time it's not worth making your own clothes UNLESS you have your own setup already with the machines you'll need. And that's also why most commissions cost extra. There's the time to draft the pattern then the mock up and fitting for that before they repeat the process to make it. Imo quilting might honestly be easier🤣🤣
Then again my first entry level sewing machine was initially used for corsetry, so I don't start with the easy stuff. 🤣🤣
Depends on what type of clothing you are sewing if u can find fabric for cheap and no mistakes then yes 🙌 you are right
I’m getting frustrated with $100 for cheap dresses
If you are using good quality fabric, and making things like pants and dresses with intricate cuts or details, it can save you money- especially if you are a lot of different sizes all over your body. It also keeps you from keeping or accumulating ill fitting clothing. Quality clothing lasts longer, too, so can be worn more frequently. Also, I don’t know a lot of people who make $300 an hour.
It’s an expensive hobby for sure and I’m grateful I can enjoy it. I don’t think I save but it’s a joy and satisfying feeling to create something. Most of my makes don’t work but ones that do I get compliments and that continues to encourage me. My dream is to retire and become a couture seamstress.
That is why making quilts are fun to make plus there are videos on how to make them. I can buy a knit dress from walmart for 9.99
but the fabric for the same dress is $14.00 per yard and I would need 4 yards.
A quilt can also be bought from Walmart for $20.
I moved countries recently and because of moving issues I've only got 1 set of clothes and after buying new trousers and shirts at a charity shop I realized its probably cheaper to just make my own. I've calculated that if I pay for a used sewing machine, thread and 2 1m sets of fabric I'll be spending the same amount of money or less if I were to buy new underwear, new socks, new shirts and t shirts so I can just use any failed pieces as pjamas and the rest as daily wear. It really does depend on how many clothes you intend to make, where you buy your materials and what you already have available to you but for me it looks like sewing will save a lot of money in the long run
I think you have to ask yourself if the clothes you want to make is even available for purchase. I like SHEIN's designers but the fabric is abysmal. Then the clothing with high quality fabric looks extremely plain and always comes in a limited beige-grey-black palette. With cost of time and fabric and specialized shopping, each garment I think is at least $100+. So I think mid tier fashion is more "produce-able" at home. Thank you for making such a wonderful video.
For me it’s about wearing what I like, clothes that fit me properly in the style that I love & not having to wear what is dictated to me by stores.
Even if you're not making whole pieces from scratch, you absolutely, definitely save money Learning to sew. When you can alter and mend what you own it prolongs the life of your clothes so you'll consume/purchase less. Everyone should learn at least sewing basics, imho :)
The negative impacts of cloth/fabric manufacturing itself however are still potentially great. That is, making your own clothing by buying fabric off the bolt, while it does solve some part of the problem of unethical labor, isn't always absolutely environmentally friendly or without a 'footprint'. As with anything, you have to research how the fabric was made, where it comes from, etc. Buying secondhand clothing *for the fabric* might be one way to address both the cost-of-making and the footprint issue.
What about hand sewing holes and tears in clothes ? Does that save money instead of buying new? I'd think that'd save lots of money
I save money! My sews are comparable to expensive beauties. Why compare yourself to crap?
So right! The quality of the well made garments we (well, you, my stuff is toddler level so far) make have nothing to do with fast fashion
That all may be obvious to us, but many people who aren’t already in the sewing world don’t know the prices of sewing machines, supplies, fabric, etc. I did this video to hopefully help newcomers understand the economics side. How many of us have had a friend send a link to a $50 dress and assume we can make it for them for less?
@@SewingReport oh, yes! Your video was so detailed, as usual, please don't think I didn't appreciate it!! It was so thorough and well explained, and I'm sure many people will find it useful :) my comment was just meant to hype the sewing people up!
If you can borrow a machine and start off making your existing clothes fit you better, or re-fashion thrift store finds, you can see results and gain some confidence before buying expensive fabric or trying complex patterns. Only make patterns that you will actually wear, long formal dresses will not get the same amount of wear as a well fitting pair of jeans, but may take a similar amount of time to sew, and may cost a similar amount for good quality material. Concentrate on getting a few key patterns to fit you well and then learn to adapt them. A word of warning, I think for most people who sew, getting a good fitting garment becomes addictive. It can make it hard to buy ready to wear, if you spot fit issues when you try things on. Especially if your body shape is not close to standard sizes. If you need an FBA (full bust adjustment) sewing your own tops is actually easier than trying to adapt ready to wear.
One should not get into knitting or sewing your own clothes with the intention of saving money.