Making Your Own Clothes

HOBBIES · GLOBAL

Making Your Own Clothes

What to start with, buying fabric, the kit you need and fitting

Sewing clothes is a practical skill with a steep first week and a gentle slope afterwards, and the usual reason people stop is starting with the wrong project.

What to start with

A simple elasticated skirt, a pyjama bottom or an unstructured top with few pieces and no zip, buttonholes or lining. Patterns marked as beginner exist for exactly this.

Avoid knits, slippery fabrics and anything fitted for the first few projects. Cotton poplin, chambray and linen blends behave predictably.

Buying fabric

Check the pattern's fabric suggestions and the amount required for your size, and buy a little extra. Note the width, since 150cm fabric goes considerably further than 110cm.

Order swatches where you can, since colour and weight read very differently on screen. Prewash fabric before cutting, because shrinkage after making is unrecoverable.

The kit

A basic machine, sharp fabric scissors kept only for fabric, pins, a tape measure, a seam ripper and an iron. Pressing at each stage is what separates home-made from handmade, and it is the step beginners skip.

Fitting

Pattern sizes are not shop sizes — measure and go by the body measurements on the envelope. Make a toile in cheap fabric for anything fitted.

Most patterns are drafted for a standard height and bust, so shortening or lengthening is normal rather than a failure.

Cost

Making clothes is not automatically cheaper, since fabric and patterns add up and mistakes cost material. It becomes worthwhile for fit, for fabrics you cannot buy ready-made, and for the skill itself.

Buy fabric for a specific project rather than building a stash, which is where sewing budgets disappear.

Learning

A short class teaches in an evening what videos take months to convey, and many fabric shops run them. Sewing groups and libraries with machines exist in many areas.

Repairs

The same skills fix everything already in your wardrobe, which is where a machine earns its keep fastest.

Patterns

Paper patterns, printable PDFs and projector files all exist, and PDFs need taping together or printing at a copy shop. Independent designers frequently write clearer instructions than the big pattern houses.

Read the whole instruction sheet before cutting anything.

Tools worth upgrading

A better iron and a decent pair of shears change results more than a more expensive machine. A walking foot and a few specialist feet cover most difficult fabrics.

Change the needle regularly, since a blunt needle causes most skipped stitches.

Why bother

Clothes that fit, fabrics you choose, and the skill to alter and repair everything else you own.

WHERE TO BUY

Ready to shop Minerva? Use the link below to visit the official store.

→ Shop Minerva — official site

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