Originally Posted by Olivia's Grammy

This are the latest outfits I've made for Olivia

Originally Posted by Mary Ellen

It is so much more economical to simply buy second hand clothing, that I no longer sew for "daily use" most of the time, but still sew garments...for special occasions.

I add all sorts of embellishments, like French Hand Sewing, English Smocking, machine embroidery, and the like.

Then I also make costumes for Historical reenactments...and that sort of thing.

Now to make sewing more affordable, I shop 2nd hand stores...and yard sales. (side note: this is much more difficult for me of late, due to being disabled and no longer able to drive myself about, but sometimes, to lift my spirits, my husband will drive me to various thrift stores) For the wide lace on my civil war era hoop slip, I used a lovely dust ruffle...

And when one daughter wanted a dress for her prom, and could not find one she liked and could also fit into the budget, I hit the thrift stores.

Discovered two size 0 (zero) evening gowns by the same designer, using the same fabric (different styles however)...snatched them both up for next to nothing. Carefully un-sewed them, and made my daughter's dress out of that fabric. At first she was heart broken that it took two dresses to make her one..but once at the dance, when all the other girls were ogling over her custom made dress...her heart healed and she felt so happy with what I had made her.
On fancy fabrics that unravel easily, I recommend french seams...

I do basically the same thing for myself. Especially as my sizes get larger. It becomes harder and harder to find conservative cuts in large sizes that actually look nice on the big body, even if you go to a large size store...what happened to well designed clothing for large women? BLAH! So same thoughts to into my own garments, but it is always harder to sew for yourself than for others.

Perhaps it was a large skirt made of lovely Linen fabric and it becomes my new vest. Or a dress of just the right fabric that becomes the primary fabric for a blouse where I blend fabrics of two or three colors, where the weight and wear of the cloth will be the same, but the color or print will vary...

If the shirt, for example, has a straight front, no darts, no tucks, I will redraw the pattern onto large freezer paper (often taped together) to play with my design idea before cutting fabric... and then subdivide the pattern so I can pin in place to make sure there will be enough to do what I want, before anything
begins... When I have the fabric pieced together like I envision, I lay the pattern back over the new fabric, cut out and sew.

So upper left of fabric X is balanced out by same fabric on lower right...and fabric Y goes in the opposite positions, while fabric Z blends and pulls the design together for sleeves or yoke, or both.

And when I can find wedding dresses in distress so marked down to almost nothing, I have a field day taking those valuable trims, applique's and things off, and re purpose them into some new things that would otherwise look plain.

Sewing does not have to be so expensive you can not afford to do it. If you can piece quilts, you can rethink what to sew for garments.

Think of it as recycling...buttons to harvest, good zippers, and good cotton is becoming so expensive, you can shop for quilt material that way too.

One time, I had a daughter who was called to the front of the classroom. Her teacher ordered her to turn around, then she unbuttoned her dress (it buttoned down the back), she was so certain that we had lied on our form to get free lunches...and this garment was her imagined way to prove we had more money to spend than we had claimed. To her surprise, no fancy label, just another "home made" dress.

I had conference with the principal over this issue, you can be sure.
Then I did the right thing to do.
I started offering up sewing lessons to the women of that poor, small community so their children could be better dressed, and they could learn how to turn "a pigs ear into a silk or linen purse".

At the time I had a VW transport van, so would also take them on thrift store shopping outings to larger communities to harvest what we could find there. What fun we had...pack a picnic and drinks in the big cooler and forget $ at the fast food spots, we maximized our time and our $$$.

Moral lesson here, and end of the story gone longer than intended...open your minds to "new resources", and remember the lessons our depression era surviving women folk left for us to learn from. Not to mention how resourceful our pioneering, westward migrating, foremothers had to be when homesteading in an area with no stores, new or second hand, and no way of getting to a larger community with dependable frequency to get what they desired.

Buy it new, make it do, wear it out, do without.

And if you need me, let me know.
It would take me a while to dig out the old photo albums full of my home made clothing to scan, digitize and post for viewing, but if you really want me to...I would.

Mary Ellen
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Originally Posted by Pollyv9

I have really enjoyed reading all the comments on this string. I used to make all my clothes and my daughters also. Have made everything from square dance dresses to sports coast for my husband.

Nowadays I buy dressy things and haunt thrift stores for men's shirts and sweatshirts that are a couple of sizes to large for me because I love to remake them.

The shirts are really cute, you can use your scraps, or buy new. Cut off the bottom, cut off the sleeves to the length you want and start trimming. If you are interested I will give the complete instructions.

This is great for anyone out there in my situation, getting older and broader.