Becoming a rockabilly fashionista can be expensive. So is there a way to beat the recession and look fabulous while saving money? Why, yes my lovelies, there is.
Why not make your own clothes? Afraid of sewing, or can not sew for toffee, well don’t worry, there is a way.
YouTube and other sites of the like can give you tutorials on sewing techniques, tips and tricks. I myself am venturing into the world of making my own clothes and was overwhelmed by the very thought of it. I can not sew, I thought, my clothes will look home made and drab, I kept saying. But this is not the case. Although I haven’t made anything yet, I am collecting all the internet pages and YouTube tutorials I can see in order to familiarise myself with the very notion of sewing.
My mother was never shown how to sew to how to make clothes and the like, this is because my Grandma (my mother’s mother) never knew either, and she never learnt to. As a child I never took it into consideration that someone had to make my clothes for me. I just thought they were magically conjured up by the clothes store. As a teenager I never wanted to learn how to make my own clothes. Sure I wanted to make my own clothes, but at that time, if you were caught sewing you were instantly rejected by everyone in your social circle. Now I wish I had stuck in at Home Economics in school… but it was simply looked down upon as a teenager. Okay, I am only 20 years old so there is still time. But it is frustrating because I could have been an expert by now and whip up skirts and dresses in a snap. So I devised a strategy that will help me and so far it’s working.
First, purchase yourself a sewing kit. At this stage it doesn’t have to be a fancy, 100 piece kit with multiples of colours and threads. Just a little one with a few colours of threads and your usual size needles will do.
Next, purchase some remnants of fabrics, any colour, and size and in a mix of fabrics will do nicely so you can see what the different options are. This will allow you to sew away until your hearts content without ruining a potential clothing item.
I found that using a Barbie doll to get measurements was fun and allowed me to mock up small, test pieces without the stresses of getting anything wrong. I’m sure Barbie didn’t mind getting stuck with pins and shoved into wonky looking pencil skirts, she’s been through worse the trooper.
Next just sew and cut and trim until your little heart finds and makes an outfit that the Queen would envy!! Soon you will be opening your own store and taking orders from friends and family to make them look fabulous!!
The benefits of making your own clothes ensures that you will have a one of a kind fit that will flatter you. Also you can pick and choose your own fabric, colours, designs and look. You can make versatile skirts and fabulous dresses that can turn inside out.
There are so many websites out there that dedicate themselves to knitting and sewing that there is no excuse for any one. You may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you receive but take it slow and read some blogs and tips one by one and you will be able to stitch in no time, it can not be simpler.
Just be patient and like I said above, Barbie won’t mind a wonky skirt, or a loose fitting dress. Until you find you feet, you are bound to
make mistakes. I make tonnes of them as a new sewer. I make my waist size to small because I didn’t account for seaming or zips. I’ve made a skirt to small because I never considered measuring the length of my legs, and I’ve even not taken into account the fact that I need to walk every where, and made a skirt to tight at the bottom, but hey, I used cheap fabric or ripped up old dresses and jeans in order to experiment. I will let you into a little cheat of mine; I can not sew in a straight line yet (as I don’t have a sewing machine, I have to hand sew). What I do, is use magic web, you know the stuff that you place between to pieces of fabric and iron over them and it magically sticks together? Well that I use for hems and tidying everything up, once I’ve done that, then I can muck about with sewing and trying to get it all in a straight line if I feel the need to.
If in doubt, there are classes that you can take or if you have a child, make sure they take home ec and then you can have a little dress maker all primed and ready for you.
