I was going to make this a meme, but image uploads are broken.
So after spending way too much money and buying All The Things on Amazon, I’ve noticed a pattern.
- Browse clothes
- “Oooh, that’s pretty!”
- Check size
- Shucks, too small
- Buy it anyway
I added another step: time to learn sewing.
Turns out i’m quite good at it, and now i design my own clothes and i sell them :3
You just blew my mind. I mean, I realize it must take a lot of knowledge and practice to get a good result, but…
Wow, if I could get whatever design in exactly my size…
Sewing is an excellent skill to learn! Start small, learn to read patterns, don’t be afraid to call something practice and just rip the threads back out to give it a second try.
if you know how to sew, one excellent resource is Freesewing. It’s a community, a tool, and a collection of parametric patterns that are produced for your measurements. And free! It’s also an excellent help if you want to learn it
Clothes is one thing, shoes another. I wear a size 13 men’s/size 14.5-15 women’s. Finding shoes is either impossible (picking gender-neutral men’s) or ridiculously expensive.
Shoes are a pain already and I’m still a bit egg-y. I do not look forward to trying to find mens 6E width size 11 equivalents. It’s taken me years to find what I’m wearing already (Dunham boots, come in a surprisingly nice array of sizes and styles)
Any resources you found helpful for moving from basics of stitches to actually making a piece of clothing? I can hand-sew and I have used a sewing machine doing very basic stitches to make handkerchiefs. Was interested in learning to make & modify my clothes, but I feel a bit stuck and not sure where to start. (For example, a common beginner knitting project is making a scarf, then moving on to a cap, etc.)
i’d say a pretty common starter project would be a circle skirt. It’s basically a circle (or half circle, for less drape, but who want less spin, right?). Inner diameter matches your waist, and length is what you want. You can cut 2 half-circles (don’t forget seam allowance! And add like 4cm seam allowance at the bottom), and a waistband of 6cm * your waist (+ seam allowance also). You’ll need an invisible zip (and know how to sew it), and you can find instructions basically everywhere, like on Freesewing (you can ignore some things, like everything related to lining, here)
wow, you are amazing - thank you!
OK, so I am not familiar with some of the terminology, but I looked up “seam” and I am wondering if you would suggest a “plain seam” for a beginner project like this?
Is the invisible zip like sewing on a little zipper on the inside of the band? I have some leftover elastic band from a project, maybe that could be used.
you have the choice, when making a circle skirt, between having an elastic waist (in that case, the inner diameter, and the waistband length, would need to be larger, like a little bit larger than your seat, aka the largest diameter around your butt). It would need more fabric, the circles being bigger.
The other solution is the zip one. It would specifically need an invisible zip, because those are made to “finish” a seam line, by allowing to open it (without it, you wouldn’t be able to put the garment on).
And yes, by “seam”, i mean the stitch line between two pieces of fabric to attach them together. A plain/straight stitch is the way to go, it’s what you need 90% of the time, 9% of the rest would be some kind of zigzag stitch needed for example in stretch fabrics.
I started sewing for cosplay a couple years ago and was surprised at how much fun it is. Haven’t tried sewing everyday clothes yet, but that would be a good idea!
“That’s a useful skirt, with pockets!”
“It’s too small :c”
*Buys anyway*
“Damn it’s really too small :c”Yeah. Gets expensive. I’ve been buying a lot of second hand which for base items like tops and tees works pretty well. If it doesn’t fit, I just return it. I buy the very cheapest ones for just wearing around the house or for working in the garden or the car and stuff like that.
Depending on where you are, online second hand may not be an option, but if it is, it can save you some money.
I haven’t found my look yet so there is a lot of experimenting and to keep the cost manageable, second hand is a great choice. Although I may love an item I’ve bought, I may never wear it again, because I’m over 50 and not a 16 year old punk girl. I’m still in denial about that.
I too do the “maybe it’ll work despite being two sizes too small” thing. It never does so back it goes. I’ve learned from my ex wife to ruthlessly send back things that doesn’t fit or doesn’t look good on you when you try them on. She easily sends back 70% of what she orders. As a baby trans, I have no idea what I’m doing so I don’t feel bad about sending a lot of stuff back. That said, I do keep a lot of clothes that I most likely never will wear again.
I’m sorta large and I find Torrid has things in my sizes (esp. helpful for shoes!!), but they’re more expensive than some places. I’ve also heard good things about https://www.thredup.com/
As someone who shops at both, Torrid is a godsend for shoes. They have sales and clearance pretty often with a great selection. Also having the shoes come in wide by default is very helpful.
As for ThredUp it’s a great way to get good clothes for cheap. It’s basically online thrifting. I’ve gotten some really high end dresses there for cheap. I’ve only had a couple issues, mainly with an order going missing (which sucks because it was the first time I’ve splurged on designer jeans) and issues with store credit being issued through a third party gift card service which was kind of weird. While the selection is good sometimes the styles can be a bit “dated” so definitely don’t use it to chase style trends.
Over all though both are pretty great and have a good selection!
I agree about the styles on ThredUp, I had a hard time finding stuff I loved in my size. I need to go back to it, but I have some cognitive dissonance about shopping, so when I finally feel like doing it, I’m usually overdo and I end up shopping places like pact and Torrid.
You’re right about the shoes, btw - I don’t really know anywhere else to get shoes 😅
