As a larger lady with not a lot of money to spare for specialised shops, it's often hard to find clothes in my size, but once I actually do find clothes my size, it's even harder to find something that makes me look, or more importantly, feel good.

I've often thought about making my own clothes, I have a lot of designs and ideas that I think would be flattering on me.
Problem is, I don't even know where to start, and I'm terrible at sewing.

I can crochet and cross stitch pretty well, but you need to see the mess I make when trying to fix a simple hole in a shirt to believe it. Not matter how much I try, how slow I go, how clean the edges of the hole are, it just always looks awful.
I don't know how to use a sewing machine either.

First I want to ask: How many people here make their own clothes? If you do, do you ever buy clothes from the store any more? Or maybe you only make your own clothes for special occasions but otherwise you just wear store clothes?

Second: Any advise on how and where to start would be greatly appreciated - But before you suggest, classes are not an option for me at this point in time.

Thank you

Not me that's for sure, and I can also cross stitch and knit. Why not go to a dress maker? Take a pattern and fabric and have them make it.

Sewing is like any other skill activity, the more you practice and study, the better you get. Where to start? Start small and with something that doesn't matter too much to you. A good place would be with a bag, pillowcase, dinner napkin (learn hemming), scarf, or apron. Learn some hand stitches and get more comfortable with the machine. Learn how to follow a simple pattern and work from there.

The right tools can also make a difference to how you feel about sewing. Sewing wax really does help with hand sewing. Use tracing or marking pencils to mark where stitches go and get a good thread picker for when stitches go awry. You'll also need sharp scissors, pins, and a variety of hand sewing needles (even if you do most things on machine, you'll still need some needles for finishing). Also, there are different kinds of thread and some of it bunches up horribly in your machine as well as on your needle.

Once you pick up skill, look online for tutorials about making clothes from scratch or tailoring clothes to fit you better. I never got to this level, but I saw a great video about how to fix the gap at the back of jeans, for example.

As for making my own clothes, I don't. I tried to make some for a while but found it too expensive as well as too time consuming. I sewed a lot of my son's clothes when he was very little and I've made shirts and hats for men, but unless it's something special, I'd rather just get ready made clothing from the thrift store and make minor fixes. I have a friend, though, who is amazing with design. She's gone to school for it and can whip up anything in no time. Mostly, she makes historical clothing, including shoes. *Drool*

I've never gotten a quote but I imagine it's pretty expensive, plus I'd love to have the feeling of satisfaction knowing I made it myself, and if anyone asks where I got it, being able to say "I made it!"

Also, I wouldn't want to pay someone to make something I've designed then it turns out it isn't flattering on my body at all.


ETA: My personal goal would be to have a few items of clothing that I love (I'm the kind of person that'll wear the same 2 pairs of jeans until they're so frayed they're unwearable) and to make my own wedding dress (and matching brides maids dresses for my 2 best friends). I already have the design in mind, because I've searched EVERYWHERE and I can't find anything close to what I want.
Another goal is my own bras because my size is *very* hard to come by, even in speciality stores.

Fabric and thread can get kind of pricey since I'm sure you'd want good quality materials to work with. I've never made people clothing before but I've made lots of other things like doll clothes, bedspreads and curtains for dollhouses (used to make the dollhouses, too), curtains, Christmas stockings.. with all of that stuff I could get away with cheaper fabric. The only experience I have with people clothing is hemming stuff, fixing rips and altering some stuff so it fit me better. Which brings me to: have you considered having purchased clothing altered to fit you better or learning how to do it yourself? I used to have a real problem getting shirts (not T-shirts) to fit because I had to buy them to fit my chest, which meant that they were too big everywhere else. I had a few taken in at the side seams and it didn't cost all that much at the time. Then I taught myself to do it.. by hand. I even learned how to take the waists of my jeans in so the back didn't gap too much. (Lack of a nice, shapely rear end, lol.)

The problem with that is the difference in size between my bust and body is stupidly big, I can't buy dress shirts / blouses from stores because even if i go up to the biggest size (usually a 22, if they even have that) it's still tight around my bust (the buttons pull) but the rest of the shirt is loose everywhere, around the neck, the arms, and the body, it would only make sense if i could get it in my body size and then take it out just around the bust but then it would look weird because it would have extra panels of fabric around the edges.

I mostly want to make flowing clothes that cinch in just under my bust. I have a couple of dress tops like that (I only wear a top if it's longer than my butt and crotch, even when lifting my arms) but I got them from my auntie after she had them for years and it's like they just don't make them any more, you know the kind that have strings on either side (not a belt) and you tie it up behind you.

I think i'll try and make an outfit on a small scale first for one of my baby dolls - I have lots of fabric because I don't throw away clothes that are broken or too small.

If you already have a shirt that you love, you can use it as a pattern (once you're willing to cut it apart). You'll need to take the seems apart carefully, then treat it with a fabric stiffener, like a starch. Then you can lay it over cloth, pin it, and use it as a guide to cutting. My mother did this for me with one of my favorite skirts. It's not a project for a beginner, typically, because you need to also think about the way your cloth is woven when setting down the pieces.

I'm thinking of making my own clothes as well.

I'm still learning.

But you're better off sewing your own clothes as sewing is a dying art that is relegated to only those who are going pro or sadly, those working in factories, domestic or international.

The expendable nature of sewn goods is obvious. But I want to make my own clothes because the clothes don't exist yet.

I want to make my own clothes. It's more about making clothes that fit a style I like than anything. I want my own futuristic apocalypse style clothes, if that makes sense.