Is sewing really cheaper?

I get asked this question quite often. Or, more frequently, I get told by people that don't sew that sewing is not cheaper than buying new clothes. My answer to this is usually, "It is for me". This is for numerous reasons.

Before I tell you why it's cheaper for me, you should know that new clothing here in New Zealand is probably more expensive than it is in places like the UK or the US. Fabric and sewing supplies are more expensive too. We have a small population and are pretty isolated so almost everything is more expensive and harder to get. 

Start up costs

I guess the start up costs for sewing can be quite high if you want to buy everything new and you want lots of gadgets (I'm not judging). I learnt to sew on my Mum's sewing machine that she bought second hand thirty years ago. It's still going strong. It doesn't have many fancy features but it does a good job. Both of the sewing machines I own are second hand. One of them was a birthday present from my parents and I've been using it for about five years. It's from the early 80s, is good quality and will probably last for years yet. The other one is a 1950s Elna that I bought for $15 at an op shop. The man at the place where I got it serviced said it was in perfect condition which isn't bad for something that's around 60 years old. Sewing does require an initial investment but it doesn't have to be a big one.    

Comparing apples and oranges

You may be able to get a dress cheaper than I can make a dress, but it doesn't mean that you can get a dress comparable to one I've made. I love vintage clothes and predominantly sew with vintage patterns using vintage or vintage style fabrics. I can't buy the style of clothes I like new very easily. Occasionally 'vintage' will be in for a season and vintage style clothes will flood the chain stores but I still don't buy those because they don't fit in a way that I like (too short, too much ease etc). I could probably buy a new dress from the mall for about $50 but I prefer to compare the cost of the dresses I make to the cost of buying a similar vintage dress because when I sew something I want it to look like it is vintage.     

On the left is an apple print shirt dress I made a few months ago from a vintage pattern. On the right is a lovely vintage 1950s apple print shirt dress from Simplicity is Bliss on Etsy. Okay, so the colours and shape aren't that similar but I couldn't find a better match.

Cost of my shirt dress:
Fabric 3m @ $10p/m
Buttons $5 at a vintage shop
Pattern $0.20 at an op shop

Total: $35.20 (that's about US$27)

The dress on the right is US$185 (NZ$240) not including shipping. Don't think that I'm criticising vintage sellers for their prices. I'm not. I realise that they have to make a living. I love vintage and I do buy it, I just can't afford to buy all vintage clothes. Instead, I make clothes that (hopefully) look vintage but cost me less than vintage would.   

Quality

This kind of follows on from the above point. While my sewing is far from perfect, the things I sew are usually better quality than what you can buy at cheap chain stores. I don't shop at cheap chain stores because I have ethical issues with them but sometimes I buy chain store clothes from the op shop. Quite often these clothes have rarely been worn and some still have their tags attached. I'm pretty careful with my clothes and handwash a lot but I've found the quality of most chain store clothes is pretty terrible. I have things that I sewed about four years ago that are still in good condition and that I still wear. Most chain store clothes I buy from the op shop start looking shoddy after a couple of washes (yes, I know they're already second hand when I buy them, but still).

Cotton floral print from an op shopped muumuu

I try and sew using natural fibres like cotton because I'm not a fan of synthetics. It's hard to buy cheap new clothes made of natural fibres. At the moment I'm making a circle skirt made of 100% wool fabric. You pretty much can't buy anything that's 100% wool at chain stores here. I also try and sew clothes from fabrics which will wear well. It is far cheaper for me to make a wool circle skirt than to buy one (if I could even find one here). It will probably last longer too, which will save me more money in the long run. Rather than comparing the clothes I make with poor quality/cheap clothing, I'd rather compare it with clothing of a higher quality because this is a better comparison. For me it is definitely cheaper to make higher quality clothing than it is to buy it.

Sweatshop labour

I was kind of hesitant to write about this one because I'm not perfect and do sometimes buy things new that were probably made by someone who was paid very little, is banned from joining a union, and is not protected by health and safety regulations. I'm also aware that some people are not in any position to buy things that were not made in those circumstances. I don't want to make people feel guilty if they can't afford to buy clothes made in ethical circumstances because I'm not in a position to buy them either. 

We all know that one of the main reasons that cheap clothing is so readily available in many western countries is because of the use of cheap overseas labour. Sewing your own clothing means that you know that your clothing wasn't made in a sweatshop. However, this doesn't mean that the fabrics and notions you sew with weren't manufactured in similar conditions. The cotton picking industry in particular is known for exploiting its workers, including children. Unlike clothing, fabric does not usually have a country of origin label so it is impossible to tell where it was produced. While I try and buy fabric and notions second hand there isn't exactly an abundance of fabric in the op shops where I live. Most of my zips and buttons are from op shops. I do buy new fabric when I can't find it second hand. While part of the reason I make my own clothes is because I don't want to support companies that use sweatshop labour, I'm well aware that sewing is certainly not a perfect solution. In saying that, I do think it's hard to compare the price of clothes that were made in poorly paid and often unsafe conditions to something that has been sewn by someone for themselves. Sweatshop made clothing is cheaper only because of the way that it's been made. If I compared the clothing I make to clothing made here in New Zealand (which presumably uses fabric sourced from overseas) then the things I make would be far cheaper.

In the end sewing is cheaper than buying new depending on how you judge what "cheaper" is. I know that sewing my own clothes is cheaper for me. Sewing is also my hobby and I enjoy it so the fact that it saves me money is only one of the many reasons I do it.

If you sew, do you think it's cheaper for you than buying new?   

A wee bit Givenchy

I've finished my exams, and yesterday I went op shopping to celebrate. I found some badass 1970s platforms and a (sort of) designer hat. Things that were said to me while I was op shopping included, "You remind me of my mother. She had a coat just like that." and "You remind me of me when I was a little girl. We wore coats like that and ribbons in our hair like that." I was wearing a 50s dress and coat, and had a scarf in my hair. It's quite funny how people either think I dress like a little girl or an old lady.  

70s platforms are one of those things that I know existed, but I had never found a pair in an op shop. I'm not sure why because I find 70s dresses and homewares everywhere. Maybe people just wore them to death and then threw them away.

      

They make me so tall. And by 'so tall' I mean like average height.  

They were made in NZ and have old style leather soles. The heel is about 11 centimetres but they are surprisingly comfortable because of the platform.   

PLATFORM SHOES

For your amusement, here's a funny video I found from 1977 about the health hazards associated with wearing platform shoes. I can't get it to embed properly but if you click on the picture it will take you to the site where you can watch it.

When I was looking at the hats the lady at the op shop showed me this one.  It's made of lovely green velvet.

And when I looked inside, I saw that it was, "An Adaptation of Hubert de Givenchy Paris". I don't normally get excited about designer labels, but Givenchy designed some pretty iconic costumes for Audrey Hepburn films in the 60s. I'm assuming that 'an adaptation' means that it was made by Reggi of Wilshire under some sort of licensing agreement with Givenchy.   

Now, I'm off to read the two hundred-odd items that have managed to pile up in my google reader while I've been busy studying and sitting exams. 

The Moonrise Kingdom Dress (finally)

Yes, I'm wearing my saddle shoes because Suzy is wearing a pair in the movie trailer.

 I've been pretty busy studying for my exams next week so I haven't had much of a chance to blog lately. I finally managed to take a picture of my finished Moonrise Kingdom inspired dress. It was taken inside and it's pretty lopsided but it had snowed outside.

See?

The pattern I used for the dress was Butterick 5317 from the late 60s. I made quite a few changes. I redrafted the collar, and the sleeves, drafted some cuffs, shortened it a lot, put the zip in the back and left off the faux pockets.

In the trailer for Moonrise Kingdom Suzy looks like she's wearing a rope or something tied around her waist. I tried my dress with a belt but it went all bunchy so I decided it looked better without it.

I quite like the finished product but the fabric is a pain. If you look at it wrong it creases. For some reason it was fine when I was sewing it, but then as soon as I put it on it it started wrinkling like crazy. I ironed it just before I took the photo and you can see it's already pretty wrinkled. 

Daisy Chain

I have a confession. Since I made this dress about four months ago I haven't worn it once, until yesterday. Why? Because I accidentally made it too short. And by 'too short' I mean too short for me. I love the look of short dresses...on other people, but I haven't worn one in ages and I feel uncomfortable in it. It's not that short. I mean, it covers my arse but I can't reach my arms above my head without it riding up a bit too high.

The fabric also has all these little holes in it and I stupidly didn't line the dress because I'm too lazy. In the picture I'm wearing a white slip underneath it but I got a bit paranoid that it was going to ride up while I was walking around. I could go back and line it but I already bound the neckline, sleeves and hem with bias binding and I can't be bothered unpicking it.

The daisies are printed on the fabric but from far away they look like embroidery

I've made the pattern before. It's Burdastyle #104, a wedding dress pattern (ha!). I made this one shorter because I was going to use bias binding instead of hemming it. I accidentally cut off too much of then hem though.

The stupid pose was so you could see the bell sleeves better

I went to all the trouble of doing french seams and making the insides really neat and I like the shape so I'm just going to make myself wear it. Hopefully once I get used to wearing a shorter dress than I usually do I'll feel comfortable wearing it.