Cost of sewing your own clothes - Page 2

[Think of Winter]

I think if you compare the quality of the fabric and finished product, you do save money. I made a cute Amy Butler Barcelona skirt for less than $30, and similar skirts in Boden are about $80. Virtually any time we wear something I've made, people comment on how nice it is. If you're sewing for yourself, you'll end up with things that really fit you, and don't need to go to the tailor. So if you like really special fabrics and styles that you choose yourself, then sewing your clothes is fun. If you're looking to just save money by making your own, maybe not so much. Unless that sort of thing is fun for you!

I'm a fabric snob, but I never pay full price for fabric. I like coops, and if I need something at Joann, I wait for a sale or buy with a coupon.

I have several sewing books already, but I just bought another one that I couldn't bring myself to return to the library. It's called Sew U, and it's by the author of the Built by Wendy patterns that Simplicity does. The books has lots of good tips in an easy to read format, and it comes with 3 patterns.

On thats subject, I never pay full price for patterns, either. I generally use Simplicity, McCalls, or Burda, and those are regularly on sale at Joann for $1-2. You can pick patterns online, then go to the store when they're on sale. Kwik Sew are good, too, but I only get them through a coop to save. They're still about $6.

[sewmom]

Those are are some good links for bra-making supplies, sewchris. If anyone is interested in bra-making just send me a PM and I can share some tips and info. You can make bras for at least 1/4 of the cost of retail and probably 1/10 the cost for hard-to-find sizes.

Several years ago I started shortening the bands of retail bras so I could get a cup large enough to fit that was not loose in the back. Eventually I took apart so many that I figured out how to make them from scratch in any size. There are a few other moms here that I have either tutored in bra-making or make custom ones for them. Sewing is such a great skill to have.

[sewchris2642]

You're welcome. I love both the Threads website (and their discussion board) and their magazine. I don't make bras on a regular basis but I do make my own cotton knit underpants from the KwikSew Beautiful Lingerie book (http://www.kwiksew.com/Catalog/Book_Lingerie.cfm).

[dds07]

$8.00/yd is expensive, nice fabric. If you want to be cheaper than buying clothes, you have to get cheap fabric and re-use your patterns! You can find fabrics on sale for $1.99 at your local Jo-Ann's, Hancock, etc...look online for free patterns and tutorials. You can definitely save money sewing your own, but you can also be more expensive if you use fancy patterns that take lots of fabric and if you use designer fabrics...

[Pogo0685]

I don't have a local fabric store, I have hobby lobby and wal-mart : they both are not so great hobby lobby has more than walmart but I never seem to find sales, so the closest real fabric stores are over an hours drive away.

[Smokering]

For my baby girl, I've found clothing options, in order of thriftiness, are:

- hand-me-downs
- home-sewn clothes from cheap fabric or repurposed other clothes
- op shop clothes
- clothes from cheap MIC stores
- home-sewn clothes from expensive/full price fabric
- nice clothes from fancy baby stores

Where I live we don't have Wal-Mart, but we do have The Baby Factory and similar places. The clothes aren't great and they're all MIC. And I don't know if it's just where I live, but op shops are EXPENSIVE around here! I bought a large woollen jumper today to felt down into a coat for the baby, and it was $8. I'm sure a few years ago it would have been around $2! And another thrifted top I bought recently was $12 - very cool top and worth a lot more, but still.

Compared to that, I bought some $3/metre fabric from a store in town. Half a metre of one colour made one pair of pants and two hats for the baby; the other half-metre of a different colour will make her a top. And from a more expensive fabric store I found some very cool $3/metre polycotton which I'm planning to make into a Victorianesque steampunk outfit. With the lining and notions, I'm expecting to get a really voluptuous skirt, a vest and a dress for the baby, like nothing you could buy at a store, for maybe $30? Custom made it'd be, what? Five times that?

So if you're a funny shape, like modest clothing, like out-of-fashion or anachronistic styles, refuse to buy unethically-produced clothing, or just like quirky out-of-the-mainstream clothes, it's worth it. I wouldn't do everything by hand - jeans, for instance - but I did make DD a cute pair of jeans from my old ones, with a floral accent fabric that was a remnant on sale. She's wearing them right now and looks a cutie!

[Surfacing]

: subbing

[bodhicitta3]

Originally Posted by Think of Winter

I think if you compare the quality of the fabric and finished product, you do save money. I made a cute Amy Butler Barcelona skirt for less than $30, and similar skirts in Boden are about $80. Virtually any time we wear something I've made, people comment on how nice it is. If you're sewing for yourself, you'll end up with things that really fit you, and don't need to go to the tailor. So if you like really special fabrics and styles that you choose yourself, then sewing your clothes is fun. If you're looking to just save money by making your own, maybe not so much. Unless that sort of thing is fun for you!

I'm a fabric snob, but I never pay full price for fabric. I like coops, and if I need something at Joann, I wait for a sale or buy with a coupon.

I have several sewing books already, but I just bought another one that I couldn't bring myself to return to the library. It's called Sew U, and it's by the author of the Built by Wendy patterns that Simplicity does. The books has lots of good tips in an easy to read format, and it comes with 3 patterns.

On thats subject, I never pay full price for patterns, either. I generally use Simplicity, McCalls, or Burda, and those are regularly on sale at Joann for $1-2. You can pick patterns online, then go to the store when they're on sale. Kwik Sew are good, too, but I only get them through a coop to save. They're still about $6.

I have made 2 of the barcelona skirts! the second one I paid 6.99 for the amy butler nigella fabric and only used one yard (since I am a small). In that case i feel like I am definatley ahead because the skirt fits and I can use difereant material to make several of the same style...saving me money!

[lanamommyphd07]

I've been debating that very thing for so long now! While I sewed my heart out when I was young (prom dresses, etc), I dropped it once college hit, etc. Now that I'm older, and have spent hundreds of hours shopping in stores only to be discouraged and put off by chemical smells, etc., or throwing things away or giving them away after I've bought them and found I didn't really like them, I have decided to once again buy a machine so I can finally have a pair of pants that wasn't made for a 12-year-old....I'm tired of waiting for fashion to catch up with my taste! And don't get me started on little girls' clothes......what on earth happened to "cute"? So yes, I believe I will save a fortune and be much happier in even a 16$/yd home-made outfit...yes I will.