Why they don't understand
09-23-2011, 11:46 PM
#71
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 294
Originally Posted by catladyquilts
people don't understand the love and hours of work we put into a quilt, not to mention the cost of fabric, batting and thread. remember the utube about the binding? the lady bound an entire quilt in seconds while her "overseers" stood around. it's the opposite with designer clothing - it is so expensive because their name is in it but it is made by these same people that make no money
My father's suits and dress shirts were all bespoke. He let me take one suit apart when I wanted to learn about tailoring. Except for the topstitching, the rest of the suit was sewn by hand and clearly shaped by hand (for instance, one shoulder pad was slightly thinner to compensate for his higher shoulder and the armscyes were each formed to adjust for the slight differences in musculature). There were no fusibles and there were all sorts of details that off the rack suits don't have (extra pockets, what quilters call prairie points finishing the edge of the inside breast pocket, a trouser stay, etc).
Those suits and shirts also lasted forever. They look as good today as they did when he was still working.
While the original cost was many times the price of a suit off the rack, he knew that there was no slave labour involved in making them and that the higher cost would be offset by the longer wear.
I think that being a doctor gave him more insight into the true cost of working with one's hands that maybe some other people don't have.
09-23-2011, 11:57 PM
#72
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 294
Originally Posted by GGJudy
I do believe our fabrics are over priced. I took sewing in school for six years (7-12 grade). I am 73 years old. It use to be profitable to make your own clothes. You could make a classy dress or suit at far less than you could purchase one of the same quality. Not many people make clothes any more because it's simply not worth the cost and effort unless you are going for some special look. I'd like to know what fabric prices look like if you are buying wholesale. Most of our quilting fabrics are NOT made in America.
I can't make a good shirt for the same price I could get the best shirt available at Wal-Mart. Those shirts are made to standard patterns, with messy seams, poor sewing, plastic buttons and poorly designed collars. The shirts I make are much closer to Turnbull & Asser.
Compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. At a level attainable by a home sewer, the true manufacturing competition is bespoke tailors, not Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart will probably never go out of business catering to the lowest minimum standard. Turnbull & Asser will never go out of business catering to the top standards.
And just a note: the US has never made top quality cotton fabrics. We've always had more success exporting raw cotton to other countries. So we're not really losing anything by importing cotton fabrics.
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