Anybody dream of buying a sewing machine and making their own clothes?

[laGrosellaEspinosa]

How delusional am I?

I don't want to make everything but just the odd thing. A jumpsuit or a dress. I see a very clear vision of an item of clothing in my head sometimes and I think it's beautiful and I both want it and I want to create it.

Anybody have a sewing machine? Can they recommend a good solid reliable one that threads the needle (essential). Is it useful for making alterations even if you're not Stella McCartney (I reckon my designes would be better than her :-p )

Oh and for a while I sewed at the kitchen table. Sewing area is great but you don't need to start.

Re Stone Fabrics in Totnes - I dropped most of my holiday spending money there last time I was in Devon! I have a lovely silk dress I call my "Devon dress"

For fabrics, fabworks in dewsbury is well worth a trip. They now do online www.fabworks.co.uk . I go to leeds market too

And I do have a dress form, but find it less useful for fitting than I thought. It is useful for a lot of tailoring construction such as checking the proper setting in of a sleeve and really easing in a collar.

But it could be because I've put on at least one dress size since I bought it and also the shoulders were never broad enough for me. (Im broad-shouldeeed , fairly flat chested with a waist and hips). I'm thinking I need to make a sort of padded "skin" out of jersey and foam shoulder pads to fit over my dress form.

Yes, Leeds market is great! In fact, up here in the North of England (not sure re Scotland) is a wonderful hunting ground for good quality fabrics at decent prices. Whalley's and also Bombay Stores in Bradford are good for specialist stuff. Bombay Stores is great if you can't get to India!

I've also bought lovely stuff at Huddersfield and Leicester markets. And of course Birmingham. Preston is good, too.

B&M fabrics in Leeds is my favourite. They are so helpful. Also there's a great place called Fabworks who also have an online shop, if you're around the W Yorkshire area.

Out here in the East Anglian sticks I don't have access to all these fabled northern markets and shops, so mostly rely on online.

Good online places have sample services and though you have to pay in my view it's really worth it. Much better to pay £1 for a sample that turns out not to be what you want than £20 for a length of fabric you don't like. I also use online places for haberdashery - so, for example, Minerva Crafts has many more kinds of interfacing/interlining than my small local sewing shop sells, as well as really useful things like fusible staytape and tear-away vilene.

Online places I like:
Minerva Crafts
Fabworks (definitely need samples from here, but stock moves quickly so sometimes sold out by the time you go back)
Truro Fabrics
Ditto Fabrics (also have shop in Brighton)
Offset Warehouse (fair trade fabrics)
Fabric Godmother
More niche and expensive but have lovely things:Till the sun goes down, Faberwood, Drapers Daughter, M is for Make

There are loads more, these are just some I have bookmarked. I've also bought through eBay - for instance a gorgeous red/pink neoprene I made a coat out of.

One more question (I love this thread so much) - I want to try a rotary cutter instead of scissors. Are they universal? I'm left-handed.

Fabworks is my favourite place but their opening hours make me sad - until 4pm on a weekday and until 2pm on Saturday!

It's definitely worth making an effort to get there on Saturdays though as they have great fabric ranges (including the cheapest I've ever found Liberty fabric) and their website just doesn't compare.

Not rtft but...

Do it!
My first machine was an inherited 1970s singer. It blew up (it had been stored in a garage for about 10 years after my great aunt died). Second machine was a singer from Freecycle. I gave that away.

I now have a wonderful basic (£130?) Husqvarna and I make clothes for myself and my two children. I love it. I've got better in the 18 months I've had the Husq, and I love wearing the clothes i make.

I made a Jersey vest for my holiday last week in a teal colour with white clouds. I did a full bust adjustment and marvelled at my amazing skillz.

My DD wanted a dress to wear for Star Wars day at school so I bought curtain fabric from Amazon, made a pattern and made a dress in under a week. And she wore it. I was SO proud I told everyone.

I don't alter a lot of shop bought clothes and I last bought some clothes for me in June (running vest) and April (stripey Breton long sleeve tops but I prefer the one I made).

I love that I can make something simple in a bright or unusual fabric and it's unique.

I love sewing. I love talking about it and it's my favourite hobby. I can't think about anything else when I sew as it takes up so much mental concentration. Brilliant stuff.

I'm left handed too and bought a left handed rotary cutter which I hate. I went back to scissors pronto

I buy fabric from myfabric.co.uk (it might be .com) based in Germany. Hefty delivery but worth it if you buy a lot. I've had some cheery children's Jersey from there that I love.

There are also various fabric destash pages on Facebook - I've bought a few metres of Jersey from the Jersey destash ones.

I'm left handed and I cannot make my rotary cutter work at all. I use scissors.

I cut out on the kitchen floor and sew on the kitchen table. My fabric is shoved into an Ikea 4 hole kallax at the top of the stairs (very untidily) with patterns and thread and buttons also there. Machine goes on top when it's not on the kitchen table.

I've got a pair of pyjamas shorts ready to finish. First time I've tried trousers/shorts!

Hello other west Yorkshire folks. My friend has said she'll take me to fab works in Dewsbury (quick wave in case you are on this thread)

I think a day trip to Leeds may also be in order to sample the delights of the market, it's been ages since I've been.

Truro Fabrics has been mentioned as an online supplier up thread. I can definitely recommend visiting it if you're in Cornwall - brilliant for dressmaking, crafting and homeware fabrics and haberdashery, as well as a knitting department. I wish it was where I lived.

Love this thread. I haven't sewed anything since my little one came along, but this thread is inspiring me to dust off my Jerome machine and have a go.

Fab thread! Go for it OP

I used to sew when I was young but stopped when I had my DCs through lack of time. DD went to uni last year and I've tried to pick it up again though I still don't have much time. I bought one of the sewing bee books and have made a sleeveless top. I made it too big at first so unpicked it and made it a size smaller! I bought some more fabric the other day and plan to make another top in the same style before moving onto anything more adventurous. I'm using my 30 year old New Home and its fine so far though I would love a machine that does automatic button holes. I have a local independent haberdashers but it mostly seems to stock cotton so I think I'm going to have to look elsewhere if I get more adventurous, the suggestions on here are great. Thank you for all the advice, I didnt know there were so many dressmakers on here.

I have found my people! I am just starting sewing too - made one freehand circle skirt so far, now attempting the Colette Sorbetto top as an intro to patterns.

I found an old thread which has loads of online fabric shops gathered on it, if it helps?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/arts_and_crafts/1731961-Where-do-you-buy-fabric-online-Is-it-possible

Brilliant thread.
I started sewing from scratch about 6 years ago and went to local adult education classes where we were taught the basics. I bought a starter Brother Innovis machine which I still have and is still in use on occasion. I also have a Janome XL.
I've never looked back really and am well and truly hooked. I like the big 4 patterns and have learned through practice what alterations I need to make. I buy Sew Today and Love Sewing magazines.
Couple of things I wish I'd been told earlier - making a toile is always worthwhile; and, depending upon your preferred learning style, it's well worth going to classes or workshops.
Good luck!

duvet be careful with the Collette Sorbetto. It is not the best drafted top out there. There is a lot of discussion on the web about it. If you don't like the result don't assume that it is you - it could well be the pattern. I have made it - it was very short and didn't fit very well. There are much better patterns out there.

I think they've released a new version of the sorbetto that deals with some of those issues.

Does anyone want to post photos of their work to inspire us? I would really appreciate it x

There's a good fb group 'Sewing in the UK' lots of people showing off their makes plus lots of people willing to help if you are stuck

I have a self threading machine which is great - get one robust enough to do heavier fabrics. And I have the Lidl overlocker which is even more fab.

My tip is that I did a course to make a personalised mannequin, so now I can fit whatever I am making to my own shape - great if you want to design or drape rather than follow a pattern, or if like most of us you have odd dimensions.

I would love to learn tailoring - I once took dds shirt cuffs apart and refitted them to make her sleeve shorter, it is fascinating how all the bits fit together.

That's why I love tailoring. It's a mental challenge. But once you know the basics, and develop your own manual dexterity, tailoring isn't necessarily more difficult in the techniques. It's is more complicated and requires more time. And patience.

I see sewing as character-building in that respect.

Except ... all this talk of fabric has just forced me to spend £50 on linen and other stuff at Croat Mills. I just had to, I tell you!

Made this for my granddaughter from a piece of batik I brought back from holiday