The making your own clothes thread

[MulberryPeony]

Just because a few of us seem likely to get back in the habit with some spare time/wanting to look expensive/capsule wardrobe/consume less.

I made quite a lot of my own clothes as a teen and early twenties but I’m not sure I’ve completed a project for me since. Hand sewing wadding into padded curtains did me in!

I’d like to make a copy of some floaty shorts and duster coat I already own. Got a fair few basic patterns for tops and throw on dresses so might make something light for summer too. I’d like some comfy trousers but worry I’d end up with something resembling pjs! Thinking of repurposing a slub woven cotton smock from a few years ago as there is oodles of fabric to go at.

I’d class myself as a beginner level but happy to adapt patterns. Button holes scare me.

Would anyone like to join me? What is on your to-make list? Any more beautiful sites for me to browse expensive looking fabrics like the merchant and mills one mentioned the other day? Does anyone know of any sites where I can look through a pattern book like the catalogues they have inside fabric shops?

Place marking! Have been sewing a patchwork chair cover and doing mending so far this lockdown but just about to start a Sew House Seven dress, hopefully. Made a version last year in classes and liked it but not the fabric so much (cheap for a test run) now I have linen but no teacher! Gulp....

@BestIsWest. Just been chatting to OH about this thread and he told me M+S also used to insist on a needle change every hour. He said they once came in and didnt like the lighting, so he had to change all the flourescents in the factory .

Our generation of sewing trade is dying out. He did his apprentiship in 1978 and said he only had one lad train after him. Certainly all my peers who worked in factories are now retiring

Luckily there still seems to bea renewed interest in sewing

I live in Nottingham, not a huge place but with a history in the rag trade. Over 1500 people joined the sewing scrubs facebook page in days, I thought it was quite encouraging there are more stitchers out there than you might think.

Hi everyone. I bought a sewing machine 2nd hand a few years ago and did a couple of beginners courses. I started making a dress 2 years ago then stopped due to life being so busy and never started again. Got the sewing machine out as my DS has textiles lessons at school so we thought we'd make something while we are schooling at home. It's reminded me how much I enjoy sewing so the dress is coming back out! Hopefully that will go well and I'll start sewing regularly. Can I ask where people buy their fabrics? I've been watching the sewing bee on TV and some of the stuff there is amazing - where do they get it?!

I'm a keen sewer but I can go months without doing anything so not an expert. I inherited a load of habby items from an old auntie including these scissors.....any idea what they are for? It might be something to do with button holes?

Ive got some too, always known them as buttonhole scissors.

I took the waistband off a pair of jeans that were too high at the back (oddly not in the front), cut a wedge off the yoke and sewed them back together and the fit is astonishing - I haven’t had jeans that fit so well in ten years! Either my arse is no longer a fashionable shape (ahem, likely) or jeans bum fitting has gone the way of natural fibres on the high street. I am very inspired and want to make my own jeans now! Do you think you need a special machine? Mine had difficulty with some of the places where there were four layers of denim and there are bits on jeans with more than four layers where seams join. Is there some way round this, or do you need an industrial machine? I have been dipping in and out of sewing for a couple of years and my machine is ancient and the instruction manual assumes a lot of existing knowledge that I don’t have.

@oldraver. I shall ask my mum about that.

Yes - button hole scissors! I've googled. There should be an adjustable screw but there is a hole where one was....:)

The FBA is effectively built in if you do your own block from measurements, but I found it was hard getting the sleeves/armholes right afterwards

lightbulb moment for me right here. I always just assumed I was rubbish at sleeves it didnt occur to me that might be the reason .

I have a needle specifically for jeans MaryLennox but so far not used it as I abandoned the project I was going to use it for. Not sure how much difference it would make?

@MaryLennoxsScowl you don't need an industrial machine to make jeans. I make them with my normal machine.

A couple of tips. A special jeans needle is important, if you a just trying with a standard 80 needle then that is why your machine is struggling. You need a jeans 100 needle. Another tip is to use a hump jumpers, or a folded piece of scap fabric behind your foot when you have a thick layer to go through. You want to keep the foot flat, if it is on an angle you will struggle to get it to stitch properly.

If after all this your machine is still having problems then it could be one of 2 things. Either you are using a cheap machine (such as the l idl ones) in which case you might want to uo grade ( nothing wrong with cheap machines for most things, but they don't have the power to go though 4 layers of denim) or there could be a problem with your machine. I've used a Bernina that had problems with thick layers but after a trip to service guy it had no problems.

Older metal framed machines often have a bit more power than the small modern machines so a second hand buy could be worth considering.

@frenchfancy thank you very much! I have neither a proper needle nor did I know the foot had to be flat! I’ve got a vintage Singer which is iron (from a charity shop) so expect it would be tough enough from what you say, and it was serviced not all that long ago. It came with something I found online was called a throat plate - is that what that’s for?

No the throat plate is the metal bit the the foot sits on that covers the bobbin. Sometimes there is a spare one with a different sized whole. You don't need a hump jumper, I don't have one. I just fold up a scrap of fabric and stick it behind the foot.

@tinselvestsparklepants

Which Sew House Seven dress are you making?

sewhouse7.com/collections/alberta-skirt/products/the-tea-house-top-and-dress

I have this Sew House 7 pattern in my "to do" list. And fabric in the stash to make it.

I made a Cashmerette Upton dress on Sunday - its brilliant!! Except I somehow used the wrong fabric for it - I had (mentally) put aside the fabric for the Assembly Line Cap dress and instead I made an Upton with it. No problem - it works quire well as a Upton, but now I don't have any fabric in my stash suitable to make the Assembly Line dress - drat!

So maybe I will make the Tea House dress instead .........

The Mississippi Ave dress is rather lovely too

Hello all
Joining in despite not getting much sewing done at the moment as working long hours and have given up my normal sewing space so my daughter can revise for her finals. Currently making a skirt that probably won't get worn until the autumn now but I don't like leaving things half made.

Loving the new series of sewing bee, the fold line have a blog and vlog about the patterns used on each show and I've seen companies like Minerva identifying fabrics used for those asking.

I follow Burda and there is a new French one which is amazing

@littlebillie a French Burda?

Just ordered a bunch of lovely fabrics - to augment my already ridiculous stash - and a trouser pattern from trend. And a couple of books from Amazon...

I have bugger all free time, but I'm going to get my 10 year old involved - her arts and craft projects have just become needlework!

French burda is definitely not new, its been around for decades. We have quite a lot of sewing magazines with douzens of patterns in them. I often pick up couture actuelle and ottobre (I'm pretty sure Ottobre is available in English and is very good for basics). There are loads of others but I have forgotten their names.

I've been making my own clothes for the past few years. I'm a sucker for dresses but I really need to make more practical comfy clothes. I've got a year long membership to Seamwork. They have dozens of patterns that you can access and download and also tutorials on how to go about making them up. I paid about 79 for the year and it will be coming up to renew. Not sure if I will bother but I do have a lot of their basic patterns now.

I'm making a Liberty blouse with one of their patterns and also some beautiful Liberty Tana lawn but I've run out of steam trying to get the sleeves finished. My sewing room has become my work office as well as well as a mask making factory so I have little inclination at the moment to finish it off.

Nice to see another part of the internet about sewing.

Making my first children's dress this week and placemarking on this thread

Following

I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to make my own clothes, however, I literally do not even know how to sew in the most basic of ways, I can’t see up a hole in a seem, or return a loose button to its home, can anybody point me in the direction of where I should even begin?