Does anyone else make their own clothes

Purple_Sparkles

Hi,

Over the years I have made pretty much every type of garment you could think of and I love it. Buying patterns and fabric when you can find it from shops does make it expensive, I buy my patterns in bulk from the states, car boots sales etc... I must have over 500 now and most of them have been used many times. Fabric I tend to get from car boots, freecycle, charity shops or £1 per metre stalls. I do sometimes bulk order from wholesalers but that's only once or twice per year. I also buy clothes from jumbles sales etc... and re-use fabric or customise the garment in some way, I've been doing this for over 30 years, don't think I'll change now.

If you want to know anything feel free to pm me - happy stitching.

geekgirl

I love making bags. clothes etc... I don't use a pattern I use guess work. I would like to use a pattern but it seems so complicated.
I made my daughters wedding dress in Sept and it looked pretty nice. I have made my kids clothes and mine and my OH but my most favorite thing ever is to make fancy dress outfits, esp for kids. I love it you can really go to town.
But unless you source material and clothes to revamp as mentioned in above post it is now more expensive to make clothes yourself.

HelenKA_2

Hadn't seen this thread for a while, hope it's ok to keep posting on it.

I stopped in a shop in Lendrick Muir on my way to collect DD2 fom camp on Saturday morning. Got a good bargain, last of a roll of upholstry fabric, measured 2m but charged for 1.5 as end of roll and slight flaw and reel of cotton (have to grit my teeth to buy that G stuff but frightened I'll ruin machine if go for cheap and cheerful).

Few hours later (while washing from camp doing!!) had made slip on covers for my lovely glider which was bought for me when camping DD was born (10yrs ago EEEK!) but the bottom cushion has worn through to the foam and was looking too tatty.

Then made nice tote bag from remains with appliqued flower from DD1's old pj's for 17 yr old's bday pressie.

All for £4.30.

But then I felt guilty for sending present that really cost so little and had to force myself to wrap and send without including fiver. Hope she likes it.:o

AussieLass

Would anyone know how to work this pattern out for a childs bean bag I wish to sew. DH reckons it can't be done without the radius given on the side panels. If not would anyone have a better pattern? I have searched & searched the web. :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance.

Beanbag linky

Savvy_Sue

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squeaky

dearbarbie wrote: »

Hello

Just wondering whether anyone here sews their own clothes to save money?

Hi,

Yup, a few people do here on Old Style so I've added your post onto an earlier thread.

Click on the in the quoted bit after your name to join the thread at your own post.

dolly_day_dream

AussieLass wrote: »

Would anyone know how to work this pattern out for a childs bean bag I wish to sew. DH reckons it can't be done without the radius given on the side panels. If not would anyone have a better pattern? I have searched & searched the web. :rolleyes:

Thanks in advance.

Beanbag linky

I looked at the pattern the best I could - poor eyesight - getting old:o
From what I could make out from it you do need to know the circumference of the circle to know what width to make the panels. This is possible:j

To find the circumference you x the diameter (64cm for the children's bean bag) by pi 3.141 This gives you a circumference of 201.024 - rounds to 201cm If you divide this by 3 (three panels) you get 67cm So the width of the panels needs to be 67cm + seams. I hope that makes sense.:o

Mrs_Flittersnoop

http://www.alternative-windows.com/beanbag.htm

Aussie, I'm sorry but I couldn't read the instructions on your link, my eyes are just too bad these days but I found the above instructions, which may or may not help you?

Good luck
Mrs F x

champys

Does anyone know any tricks to ease the process of attaching a set-in sleeve? I'm a reasonably competent dressmaker, but I always struggle with them and never quite get them in correctly in one go. Just did some yesterday and remembered how fiddly I find it. Still with getting older tops and dresses look tidier with a little sleeve rather than sleeveless, so I guess I will be doing them more as time goes on!
Any hints or tips would be very welcome.

Mrs_Flittersnoop

Another of my pet hates, champys! (sometimes I wonder why I sew? ).

Ok, some tips I have picked up over the years are:

1. Try sewing the underarm seam (from notch to notch along the bottom of the sleeve if you see what I mean) first. Then pull your gathering stitches so that the top of the sleeve 'cups' inwards and pin it every so often into the armhole (place pins at right angles to the seam). I always sew sleeves in 'the wrong way up' (according to some experts), with the gatherings on top so that I can smooth them out of the way and stop the puckers forming.

2. Try 'stitch plus' when gathering (I think that's what it's called). Basically you hold down the back of the presser foot as you sew, so the fabric gathers slightly underneath the foot. Then as you get lots of fabric under the foot, gently let the fabric go, and hold the foot down again for the next couple of inches or so, until you have gathered all the length you want. Easier and more evenly gathered than stitching a row of stay stitching and pulling up.

If all else fails, and the sleeve still refuses to set in without puckering, try sewing the seam again about a quarter of an inch (5mm) away from the first seam (towards the shoulder), this has the effect of flattening the sleeve cap a little which gives a little more fabric to set the sleeve into (does that makes sense?), and should help you to avoid the puckers.

3. It depends on what fabric you are trying to use, some polys and synthetics are horrible to try and set in without puckers. If all seems impossible you could try flattening the sleeve cap on your sleeve pattern, instead of having a deep upside down 'U' shape along the top (from notch to notch) you redraw the cap line a little inside the original line, thus making the sleeve cap slightly less curved and hopefully easier to set the sleeve into the armhole.

I used method (1) to set my sleeves into my jacket yesterday and they went in like a dream - this is Very Unusual for me :rotfl: but it worked, so I wasn't arguing. It helped that the fabric is a soft drapy cashmere which eases and steams beautifully though.

HTH a bit.
Mrs Fxx