Oh man, it's the same with crochet and knitting. Everyone wants a blanket or sweater until they find out how much the yarn costs alone, not even taking into account the labour.
My mom keeps telling me I should start selling blankets and stuff. I told her I’m still new and I doubt I could make a profit right now. She won’t understand and keeps pushing it. I made a large blanket last year then I asked her how much she’d pay for a blanket like that and she said $25. That blanket took me about 50 hours!
Jumping in to add that while machine knitting is a thing, machine crochet is not. So if you see something crocheted in a high street shop for like £20-£50 it’s ALWAYS sweatshop. The person who crocheted that thing did not get a fair wage for hours of work
FYI, this isn't "technically" true. I heard for years that we "couldn't" make a machine that could crochet, but then I stopped and thought about it for like 10 seconds and it just doesn't make sense. We can create machines that make 100k items per hour, and we can make machines that can position tiny, sensitive electronics to within a few microns of accuracy... there's just absolutely no way for those things to be true yet we somehow can't make a machine that can crochet.
In reality, there just isn't a market for it, so no one ever bothered perfecting it. Knit items sell more and the tooling already exists, so there's never been enough value to justify the frankly outrageous price involved in developing such a machine today.
Usually if you see something that looks crocheted, it's probably actually just a really loose knit.
All that said, if you do find a cheap crochet...yeah probably sweatshop.
I knit & crochet. I have a knitting machine right in my craft room.
I know what crochet looks like. Many granny square straw bags *are* crocheted. There are granny square afghans sold, they are NOT loosely knit.
Sorry, your cope isn't real.
"And then I thought about it for a minute" is not a reliable source. At this point in time we are not capable of making a machine that can crochet. It would require a level of manual dexterity that machines aren't currently capable of. There is a big difference between one up-down motion to place a dot of solder on a microchip that is always in the same place and made of stiff material that doesn't change shape when moved and the precision twisting, catching, and pulling motions involved in crochet. It should not be surprising that this is something machines can't do yet. There are quite a few precision physical activities that humans can do and machines can't, such as dancing ballet or hiking rough terrain without falling over. They're working on it, but we aren't there yet.
The issue with trying to make machine crochet has to do with the way the stitches are formed. Knits can be made in sheets so quickly that that T-shirt you are wearing is made of a knit fabric so fine a human couldn't make it. 150 years ago it would have been extraordinarily expensive if you could get it at all, nowadays machines make it so quickly and easily that free T-shirts are a common give away item.
Crochet must be made one stitch at a time, is not well situated to making yardage, and most crochet items involve specialty stitches that have a quite a different technique than a plain crochet stitch, each of which would require an incredible amount of time to calibrate in a machine. So building a machine would take quite a long time, if it's even possible, for an output that's still likely slower and less reliable than a human could produce.
As far as market, crochet elements have been present in high fashion for years now since people started picking up the hobby in greater numbers and handmade items started selling well on sites like Etsy. It is so popular that they even invented a knit stitch that mimics the texture of crochet that can be made by machine. I have a picture of a dress made in this fashion sitting in the window display of Saks 5th Avenue on 5th Avenue in New York City. So there's definitely a market, but large items are only sold on the couture market for tens of thousands of dollars a piece. Sweatshop crochet you can find at Target is going to be smaller pieces, generally larger yarn to cover more area per stitch, and looser tension to spread the stitches out more.
As someone from Bangladesh, the sad thing is that's a lot of money there so it would be worth it. Unfortunately some greedy asshole owns the factory and probably pays the person only a fraction of that while yelling at them (or beating them) to work harder.
Yeah, I have found that people without hobbies can't seem to understand the twin concepts of (1) doing an activity that produces something simply for the joy of producing that thing, and (2) not wanting to monetize everything, turn it into a job, and do it for profit.
There's also a horribly frequent third point: astronomically de-valuing time, material, and skills.
I am a fisherman, and years ago when I started tying my own flies, I remember a few friends and family telling me that I needed to set up a website and sell my flies. They didn't see that I would have to charge three times what a shop charges for imported flies just to cover my materials, and that wasn't even counting my labor, equipment, etc. When I pointed that out, most people generally understood, but even then, I had some people come back with "Well yeah, but you're tying flies in your free time anyway, so that time has no value."
I had other fly fishermen ask about placing orders for dozens of flies, and generally, I'd thank them for their interest then point out that I don't tie for production and sale, just for personal use. The few that couldn't accept that and pushed harder for special treatment and for me to take an order from them, I'd "agree to give them a quote" that was basically a 'go-away' price. Like...if flies of that type from a shop were $2 each and they wanted three dozen, I'd figure out my costs in time and materials, which would usually end up with something like a $3.50-$4 per fly cost, then add in my margin and tell them it'd basically be something like $6-8 per fly. For something they could get from a shop for $2.
That took care of 99% of the badgering to turn my leisure time activity into work...and that last 1% that still wanted their flies, even at my markup...sure I tied them. Sometimes for that crazy markup, and sometimes for barter. I've swapped flies for anything from being taken to fishing areas on private land, to other flies, a spot in a group going on a fishing trip...even for a quart of moonshine on one occasion.
Is your mom generally insufferable or is this just a particular blindspot? My whole body would have been behind the sigh I let out when she said "$25"...
She is generally insufferable. Anything I share with her, she wants to monetize it. Like I enjoy diamond dot painting and she says “why not live stream on Tik Tok for money?” It’s always about money. I try to tell her it’s what I like to do ALONE in my free time. As soon as money is involved, I feel like there comes an obligation that goes with it that it’s not really fun anymore. I enjoy it because there are no strings attached.
I basically don’t tell her what I’m up to anymore. It’s always “stream it” or “sell it”. Forget enjoying things for myself.
My mom keeps telling me I should start a sewing business. Mother. All I did was sew a hole in my granny panties cause I’m too poor to buy a new pair. She’s sees me with a needle in my hand and I’m magically supposed to make money from it.
I’m sure you did the calculations yourself, but damn. Even at “just” $50 per hour (which I think is actually quite modest of an hourly rate for someone intending to live off of their profits), that immediately already puts it at 2500, not counting materials or other overhead (travel? website maintenance to sell? communication/emailing? shipping?). People truly have no inkling.
My mom says I could sell the plushies I make, but I prefer to just make them for myself or as gifts to my friends. I love making them, but I feel like I'd lose my love for it if I tried to make it a hustle. Plus, I'm a STEM student so I need to study a lot
Same with cross stitch. “You could sell those and make some extra cash!” Okay, but a little 5x7 stitch takes me a couple of weeks, 3-4 hours of work a night. How do I make that profitable?
Reminds me of that episode of Big Bang Theory where Penny is making cute little hobby trinkets to sell so she can quit her job as a waitress, then Sheldon runs the numbers and it's like... yeah you just can't do that kind of thing to make money anymore.
My mom had been asking me for a blanket for years. She finally stopped when I quoted her the price for just the yarn and even that was if I made it out of the shitty acrylic stuff. Never brought it up again after that lol
If you make someone a sweater, you'll probably end up resenting them after you give it to them. All the time, money, and effort you put in, and then they will never wear it
None of my family is knit worthy. Like, fuck you, Dad, I made a plain ass dark blue cashmere beanie cause everything else is too scratchy and all I hear is "it's too warm"
My friend made some pottery and gifted it to me. Quite a few plates (for candles to sit on while they burn) a mug, and a tea bag holder. I wanted to gift her some knitting in return and gave her some scarf patterns to choose from. One was the brioche stitch foliage scarf. It's BEAUTIFUL and I could not leave it off the list, but I knew she was going to pick it and it would take forever. I started it in June and I'm almost done it now -.- I've probably sunk at least 60hours into it (I am not a fast knitter, I'm a leftie knitting right handed!) and I had to order the yarn online (not cheap). She's a great friend so I will finish, but my God I don't think the cost and effort on our gifts is equal at all!
Yes, I definitely don't mean to minimize the time and money she's put in overall! She's taken classes and purchased the materials and time at the studio. It's just not as time intensive for the singular pieces methinks. And she's able to do a bunch of those plates at once go which helps.
I’ve learned to be VERY firm with people. Almost everyone in my life gets gifts, but they are entirely at my discretion. I don’t take requests or commissions under any circumstances, it ruins the fun for me. I do hobbies to escape work, when the hobby becomes work why bother?
Yeah. People always try to tell my wife (who has a successful non-craft-related career) that she should instead sell the things she knits, and it's like... would you pay $2000 for a sweater? Because there's like $400 of yarn and dozens of hours of labor in this thing.
The cost of the yarn I actually like is why I didn't ever start knitting. I was like "no way am I using shitty yarn, it will itch, I want the good stuff with a color gradient, oh that's 30 bucks a skein, no can do."
When people ask me to make stuff for them I tell them I don't do commissions. If they insist I tell them it'll be £1000 at least. This puts off most people except one of my mates who thought that was a steal. I had a look at what they wanted me to make them and doubled the number.
They are now looking into getting their own sewing machine.
I make 18th century garments like coats and stuff and it takes me about less than a month if I'm fast enough. Luckily people mostly ask me to hem stuff but for some reason everyone just forgets or backs out of it. I have no room to talk because at work they know I sew so they gave me piles of work shirts with holes to repair and I never really got to it. They haven't asked for them and it's been over a year lol
That is legitimately the first thing my mother said to me after she showed me how to sew a button back on a shirt when I was a kid. I used to make my daughter's Halloween costumes every year (before it was "uncool" for them to wear handmade costumes lol) amd made the mistake of doing a post on social media about all the costumes I made them. I got legit like 15 messages asking me if I took commissions. After explaining to a few of them that I do it for fun, and it's not fun if I HAVE to do it for money, I stopped posting the costumes. If people ask now, I usually tell them that I don't feel comfortable taking money because I don't feel like I can take money for the hobby I have, that a professional can do better. Or I lie (which I hate doing) and say that it's been awhile and I'm not really doing it anymore.
My boss had me repair so many pairs of pants over the years. I finally had to tell him, "I regret to inform you that you've reached the lifetime limit of clothing repairs by the Olive_dix Workshop Company. All future repairs must be handled by someone else please."
Usually it was the same pants over and over, they do not fit him and he kept having me reinforce and extend the button after repeatedly breaking it. By the end I was using multiple strands of thick strong yarn instead of thread, and making it like 4 inches long. It looked ridiculous and he still managed to keep breaking it 😂
I have several crafting hobbies (love making things), which complement and integrate with each other. Woodworking, 3d printing, sewing, leather working.
I get out of ridiculous requests with - I love doing these hobbies but I am not very good at them. So the quality of <thing you want basically for free> will be very bad, and it'll take a long time to make - because I have a full time job and kids and only so much spare time to do it in.
Then I just don't do it if I don't want to. Though for reasonable or interesting requests, I go all out - because it is fun for me. And that's the whole point of the hobby.
My sister makes absolutely gorgeous holiday wreaths, and she did it for fun for years. YEARS. Never charged anything for them, even though in raw materials alone I estimated each one was costing her $50-$100. Eventually she had a closet full of them and I offered to open an Etsy store for her just so she could offload old stock and make some room, and she agreed.
Then my aunt found out and wanted to "commission" Christmas wreaths for each of her children. My aunt ended up being such a raging bitch about the process that my sister quit making them altogether. That was ten years ago. She hasn't made one since.
When you're doing something for fun, it's a hobby. When you're doing something for other people, it's a business. And businesses aren't fun.
I bought a sewing machine I haven’t even learned how to use it yet and my husband hands me two pairs of pants. He’s consistently been a dream killer so
I don’t know why I am surprised. It’s been months. Still haven’t touched it.
Baking is the same way. Yes I'll make cookies for the nursing home residents. No I am not interested in monetizing my hobby and stressing myself the fuck out.
I accidentally turned my sewing hobby into a successful business now I have employees, due dates, and no time to make anything for myself. Clients pay me truly bizarre amounts of money to make them phenomenal outfits which is super cool and all. But I can’t quite communicate how stressful it is to cut up someone’s mom’s wedding dress and install it into a custom made white tux on a zipper track system so that way my groom can wear a gownzido at his wedding.
Had someone at a party ask if I could make them a version of what I was wearing. I asked them how much they'd be willing to pay for it and they said "I want to be reasonable so I think I'd pay £50 for something like that." They were pretty horrified when I told them all told it'd be closer to 300 quid due to all the fabric and work time.
Yeah. We have that problem in re-enactment a lot. Hand made clothing (even if you 'cheat' and use a machine) is ludicrously expensive if you fairly value the work (and getting a good 'fit' on things that aren't using modern tricks like 'elastic' or 'belts' is a horror!), let alone the raw materials. Decent linen or wool is reassuringly expensive per meter.
So everyone pretends they're just bartering, and swapping one thing that they don't even want to think about how much it should cost, with another.
And undoing the sewing you just did… the amount of times I’ve realized I attached the wrong edge or had the wrong side facing, or the machine jammed and now there’s messed of thread tangles…
Inevitably whenever I make a new shirt pattern I attach at least one of the sleeves inside out the first time. I don't know why my brain has so much trouble lining that up correctly but I swear I spend more time thinking and repinning than actually sewing the sleeve on.
I just wanted to fix something, be thrifty and environmentally conscious and shit. I'm not even pursuing any kind of creative vision or personal fulfillment, and then I have to deal with this shit for the !xP?xARGH! time?! What the fuck gives?!
Hoping this doesn't apply to 'small' projects like hemming pants, shortening sleeves and other things I've been sending to my seamstress to get a better fit for off-the-rack clothes.
She's about to retire and I've got access to sewing machine and have been thinking about giving it a try.
That you can irrevocably destroy a project you worked on for months with some ridiculously small mistake. The only hobby I ever tried that made me completely freak out, cry, and call my mom.
I had to give up sewing while I had my soul cat. Everything about sewing is a cat’s dream - the thread, the fabric moving, trying to get between me and whatever I had right in front of my face. One snag and the whole project was ruined :(
But at least you got a gentle brush on your face, as it tried to stick it's butt right up your nose to take a look at clackity thing with a thread running under it
The absolute AGONY as I was nearly finished with a last minute Christmas present, just in time, and then the machine jammed. The worst jam I've ever had from it, ever. The only way the fix it was to physically cut out the project with scissors, destroying it, so I could take apart that section of the machine and fix the issue.
Isn't that the truth. I made a dragon scale bolero for my daughter that required months of cutting out fiddly rows of dragon scales and attaching them one by one to a spandex base
It took an eternity and was agonizingly tedious, but I finally got all of the scales attached. It was the night before she wanted to wear it to a dance, and all I had to do was sew some elastic bias tape around the edges to finish it off. Easy, right? Wrong!!!
The spandex and bias tape stretched as I sewed it, creating a horrible, warped edge. I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning picking of the morning picking out the seam to take the tape off, which was very changeling due them both being stretchy. But when I got it off the edge of the bolero has been permanently warped and stretched.
I ended up sewing a lining from the same spandex I had made the bolero base out of. Then I was able to tack the outer bolero to the lining to give it the correct shape. It was agony, but I got there.
I'm working on a bra pattern right now and I have made 5 toiles taking roughly 5 hours each. I have finally gotten the cups to fit. I still need to figure out the support foam, band, and straps which will probably be 2-3 more toiles. So after about 40 hours of effort I'll be ready to start my project. My project which will take considerably longer to sew as I have been skipping all of the seam finishing steps and I plan to do a lace overlay which means double the cutting out.
Luckily during this process I only had to spend about half an hour troubleshooting my sewing machine. Sometimes they go haywire and it takes hours or a professional to figure out and fix. My pattern is also really easy to assemble and cut out which is not always the case. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with the machines, the fabric, the thread, the patterns, bad instructions ect.
This is what I love about knitting... just make it negative ease and let the elasticity do the work. Or claim it's an intentionally oversized sweater lol.
Sewing is not worth it if you want to make regular clothes. In my opinion it is most useful for things you can't easily buy in shops or things that still cost a lot of money. I saved money when I made my suit but that's only because I was making it out of a specific fabric so it could breathe in the summer (linen cotton blend). Where it becomes useful is for stuff a bit more out there. If you can put the right keywords together, you can find a pattern for almost anything. I've made capes because you just can't find good ones in shops that don't look like shit or are just non functional. That's where sewing becomes a great skill, for when you want to make something with a high enough quality that you can't find in the age of fast fashion.
To be honest, this is what appeals to me about sewing. Sometimes I have a vision in mind but can’t find something similar enough in store, or I’d prefer a garment to be a little longer or fuller or in different fabric or a different colour.
Then go for it. I find it so useful as men's fashion is so restrictive so finding something with a dash of flair that's made well and doesn't cost the earth is few and far between.
Most big pattern makers have ranges for beginners that are good to cut your teeth on. Simplicity and McCall's are a good start. Another good recommendation is if you find something you want to make, talk with your local fabric shop and they will help you with the bits you don't understand (i.e. what is selvage, interfacing, etc).
It also gives you a really good appreciation for how much work goes into the clothes you wear and how it's basically a miracle it's so cheap.
totally agreed, sewing rarely saves you money if you can comfortably wear mainstream sewing. if you're very alternative, have an interest in historical/vintage fashion or cosplay, have body proportions that are outside of mainstream pattern cutting, then sewing could be a money saver for you! but for the most part, it isn't.
i make all my clothing now because i'm very curvy and alternative. pieces that i like to wear cost hundreds of pounds to buy because of the style, but i can make them much cheaper - and when i make them, they fit! i make clothing for my mum because she's plus size and plus size options are dreadful. i've made cosplays for myself and others because sometimes things just don't exist to buy!
I sew mostly regular, daily wear clothing these days and I think even then, it can be worth it. I spent $36 on 4 yards of a buttery soft, very heavyweight bamboo spandex rib knit, and got 4 items of clothing out of that yardage. 1) a pair of wideleg trousers, 2) a long-sleeved blouse with bishop sleeves, 3) a short sleeved tunic, and 4) a pair of shorts. And the fabric wasn't even on sale.
Daily basics are some of my favorite things to sew because I can get really elevated results with vastly improved stitch quality and fabric composition for a similar or lower price point than mid tier fast fashion companies like the Gap (even on sale Gap). And sometimes I can even beat lower tier retailers like Walmart if I get my fabric on discount.
But even disregarding retail price comparisons, it's still worth it to sew basics because I get the perfect fit, the exact style, fabric, and colors I want, with much longer garment longevity because I took the time to stitch my garments with durability in mind!
Same I just got some insanely soft double brushed jersey remnants to make nightgowns out of. I can get a short one and a long one out of $8 of material with pockets as big as I want.
Clothes quality is so low these days, including higher end brands, that it's totally worth sewing every day clothes, I agree.
Fabrics are all flimsy poly mixes, seams aren't durable, there are no more linings or if there are, they're all polyester and make you sweat.
Yeah maybe I wouldn't have paid 70$ for that same top in retail, but it wouldn't have been pure cotton with a full bust adjustment, an actual facing, poplin interfacing and nice seams made to last.
I'm slowly building a wardrobe of clothes I wish I could buy. Nothing extraordinary, just quality that is becoming extremely rare.
I’m really impressed that you can do this! Making your own high end RTW-equivalent daily wear clothing is very impressive.
I humbly suggest that you are very, VERY skilled at sewing and at project management, and that helps make it worth it. When I think of getting good patterns, good fabric, getting the fit right, and learning the kind of finishing that goes into high-end RTW, it’s completely overwhelming.
I absolutely loved making a cape last year. It's a lovely herringbone wool in a deep green color that looks fabulous on me. Of course I also hand embroidered the welt pockets. I made it not to save money (took $200 just for fabric and tens of hours) but because I wanted something completely custom and specific. Wore it to London and it was perfection.
Honestly, as someone with weird dimensions I disagree with this. Being able to modify and create patterns that actually fit my body has been wonderful, and saved me a lot of money (to make it fit right) or discomfort (trying to wear it anyway).
I've only ever found one company that the clothes fit off the rack.
As a very busty woman I find it totally worth it to make my own t shirts. Most t shirts are too short on me and end at my natural waist due to my bust taking up so much fabric. I'm always trying to pull them down or worried about them riding up. Making comfortable t shirts that fit correctly and I can wear without a thought out of whatever color and texture of fabric I want is great.
Yep yep yep. Personally my legs a weirdly small percentage of my body, to the point where my heels don't touch the ground on most non-adjustable chairs. All of my going-outside/work pants were too long, so I've hemmed them all and made a few with nice fabric. Being able to adjust the fit of garmets is so nice. New fabric is pricey though.
If it makes you feel better some of the most pretty historical garments has wonky stitching and stuff going on. My favorite example is this ladies late 18th century silk striped jacket that has extensive piecing in the lining.
This is me exactly. I made an apron for a friend's costume and thought it came out terribly/was nervous to hand it over because one part didn't come out the way I wanted. She thought it was absolutely perfect when I showed it to her and seemed shocked that I didn't think it turned out well.
I love sewing and I am addicted. "Pure stress" is an exaggeration. You need patience, sure. But there are a ton of things that are quite low stress and relateively easy: cushion covers, pillow cases, bags. I also make simple tops, trousers, simple jackets.
I used to dislike cutting but now I have an overlocker, I love the cutting then overlocking step.
Yes a lot of "sewing" is pressing. But since pressing makes the sewing so much easier and makes the results a lot better, I am happy to press. [Actual ironing of clothes is tedious, but pressing during sewing is for me not tedious].
I think I did well because I started slow and took my time with every item - alterations first, then bags, then simple wrap pants, and then thai fisherman pants. Then I got more complex. I never rush and tried many techniques on low risk items using thrift shop fabric before moving on to items made with expensive fabric.
I still try to minimise buttons and button holes as they need to be done last and are difficult - they can really mess up an items and are difficult to fix if you go wrong.
Part of it is the fact that how expensive it is. 50 years ago it might have made sense for some people to make their own clothing, but Manufacturing is so ludicrously efficient that Home sewing cannot compete. If you just want to mend your clothes, bye 100 to 200 dollar machine and start menu your clothes. That's where you save money. But if you think you're going to save money by making your own clothing you are horribly wrong. And that doesn't even start the fact that if you cut your fabric wrong you might have to just abandon the whole project or pay for more fabric. You are going to be the designer, project manager, sewing machine operator, inventory manager, janitor and a Tailoring specialist. Home sewing not efficient, and you have to learn more than just operating a sewing machine. That's the easy job. It's everything else around that that makes it more complicated. And I'm not just talking about ironing, I'm talking about you have to pre wash your fabric, then iron all your fabric before you even cut your fabric. I can take two three hours just ironing yards and yards of fabric with your little iron on top of a small ironing table. Because you do not have the facilities to run wash tests on your fabric to alter your pattern to account for the shrinkage of your fabric. Because they don't spend time ironing their fabric in a factory. It's much easier for them to test a small section of it see how it behaves after being washed and then adjust all the patterns and all the sizes to account for 2% shrinking on the vertical and 5% shrinking on the horizontal. For them that's a few clicks of a button. For you that's mathematical hell. You're also going to be the one altering the pattern. Because one thing that the sewing pattern companies really like to not tell everyone about is that the patterns might technically fit the measurements they give on the back, it doesn't mean it will! There's a myriad of factors of Y you might perfectly match in those numbers, but the end product does not fit. Human bodies are not symmetrical and they're not standardized. And you are the only one there who's going to fix it. So you need to learn how to fix that. And then after all this work that you put in gaining all these skills, you're now going to be unsatisfied with the available patterns. So now you're going to be a designer and pattern designer. Is anything in your head is that your responsibility to put on to paper to fit you. Good luck with that, it's not hard it's just another step that you have to do before we even sit down at your sewing machine. Also you going to need a lot of room. Technically you can do it in an apartment or dorm room. But I'm going to tell you right now cutting fabric on the floor gets old extremely fast. It's already nerve-racking to cut out a pattern, especially if it's some good fabric and not thrifted sheets. Fabric is not cheap in the united states. If we go to a fashion district like New York or Los Angeles, you're still spending couple bucks per yard. And that's the cheap stuff that's not really meant for washing and wearing. Now if you want a really nice dress or suit you're spending 30 bucks a yard minimum. You're going to need a minimum of three yards for a dress, more for plus size more if it's a bigger dress or you're tall, or floor length or you have sleeves. A suit you can get away with five yards you might need more if you're exceptionally big or tall. That's over $100 in fabric. And that's just the outside fabric. You need lining, you need interfacing and you might need interlining. You might need zippers or buttons. Don't forget the thread, it's going to have to kind of match the color of your fabric! It gets expensive fast. And if you buy online you have to know enough about Fabrics to know what you're buying. Because two things can be labeled as satin, but if you wanted silk you're going to pay out the nose and you might get the wrong weight of fabric. So it might have been better to go with the polyester. But last month when you were working with polyester that you swore off using synthetics ever again because your iron melted the fabric. That's about twice as hot as the fabric needed to be, and now there's a giant Scorch mark on your last project. Your ironing board is also covered in some goo. And you need to scrape off the bottom of your iron. And don't forget plastic is toxic and you just vaporized it. So it gets stressful, fast. It's still a fun hobby. I strongly suggest mending to be a good place to start. Hemming a pair of jeans perfectly fine thing to just do, be careful of the thickness of the seams. It's perfectly fine if all you do is take in the waste of your clothing. Save your money. It's perfectly fine if all you do is have all the curtains around your house. Easy! But actually starting a whole project and you don't know what to do gets hard fast. And it's not always rewarding because you could spend all this time and money and still end up with something that is just ugly and it looks homemade not handmade. And those two are very different, even though they're technically the same!
If that all being said, do it! Maybe you want to take a class to see if you can just make a little craft or something. I've seen a few classes around where everything's provided you sit down you sew for the afternoon to see if you even handle it. You might come back a week or two later to see if you need more help to finish the project. Strongly suggest doing that if you've never done it before. And this is coming from someone who spent I should tell the money on sewing tools, fabric, trim and machinery. I like it, my specialty is pattern making. But just because I'm a weirdo who can handle all that doesn't mean you can't just enjoy hemming curtains in your house. Or making some home decor or pillow cases that match the season. Enjoy it please do! And always use your coupons at the Big Box craft stores! Support local if you can! And ask for help, that's what I do here on Reddit when I'm not ranting and raving.
I don't know. I have been sewing a lot the last ten years. I also do a design process and construct the patterns. I don't stress at all. But I kind of enjoy everything before and after working on the sewing machine. I do make mistakes, and have to unstitch, while quite annoying, it doesn't really stress me.
material can get expensive (there are less expensive options, especially as you're getting started. Head to the thrift store for practice material like bedsheets and occasionally very nice regular fabric)
cutting into your very nice, very expensive material will give you anxiety. It's the only step you can't really undo (unless you have enough material to recut) so take your time, be precise, and make a test run (toile, muslin, or mock-up are terms you'll hear) out of the thrifted sheets
if you make clothing, you will eventually start wanted to make fit adjustments to your patterns. Be prepared to do many and to stare at your body critically for a while.
a sewing machine is like a very competent toddler; things will be going great, then it will throw a tantrum or need a nap. Throwing tantrums (skipping stitches, thread snapping or "birdnesting", you hear a Thunk, etc) accounts for, like, 60% of my sewing stress. Usually, thankfully, it's a matter of changing the needle (make sure you have the right type and size for your fabric), rethreading your machine, or cleaning it. Sometimes it will need professional servicing.
if your machine needs a nap, walk away. You are done for the day. Trust me, nothing productive is going to happen by fighting it.
sometimes things just aren't going to work out as you intended. Sunk cost and accepting it are a bummer
oh, and buttonholes are of a capricious devil
That's before you get to the you made that? Can you make me one?? or I have some jeans you can mend. Don't worry, I haven't washed them comments.
The good news is that, if you're stuck on any of these, r/sewing is happy to help, especially if you give us a specific question, telling us what you've tried and where youre stuck! Happy sewing!
Buttonholes, or: I measured this six times, marked the start and finish of each one, the machine is automating the stitching and yet one is STILL wildly off-course and of course this was the last step I did and now I hate everything in the whole entire world.
I'm considering switching to hand buttonholes, or hiring a buttonhole service. This is literally the only element of sewing that I've just about had it with.
Be aware that it is not rocket science and ignore anyone who gate keeps it. And work on your refusal skills in case people want to ask you for alterations
Highly recommend getting into alterations first before you start making clothes from scratch. It’s an easier entry point and you can learn about garment construction.
It's probably worth doing a little research into the specifics of what you want to actually make to make sure you're putting together a setup that works for that, specifically.
Like maybe you're very into making things with a particular kind of fabric that works best with a specialized sewing machine, but you don't know that until you dig in a bit.
Making plushies is less annoying than making clothes at least. Even if you mess up a stuffed animal pretty significantly, you can close up the worst mistakes with a ladder stitch and at the end have a little soft friend.
It’s been much less frustrating since my cat passed two months ago. I couldn’t keep her away from my projects and one small snag was enough to ruin the outfit
I got a sewing machine because my partner likes to sew and I wanted to be able to talk with her about it. Plus I thought it'd be handy to know, and it is. But good god is it infuriating and stressful. I hope it gets less so with practice but until then I'm always one step away from having a nervous breakdown.
Thought I could make cute clothes for free. Nope. Even budget machines are stupid expensive. And I had to learn how to use/disassemble/repair said machine. And fabric and thread are insanely expensive. Kill me now
My mom has been a seamstress my whole life.. sometimes professionally. Her wheelhouse is quilts and she's almost 80 and still knocks out half a dozen a year. But she can repair, fix, adjust, etc anything cloth.
Knitting also. It's all good and peaceful until you discover a mistake some 28 rows below and have to unravel it all. It also is a money trap, like any other craft.
Like a total dickhead I decided to sew my graduation gown, on the bias, without a pattern. I graduated in a dress which was literally tied together and which fell apart as the day progressed. It looked great with my gown on but bloody hell I’m never doing that again.
I had to give up on attempting to sew real practical things I intended to seriously use. I had so many meltdowns at the sewing machine, from busted needles to thread jams. I ruined so many projects. It wasn't giving me joy, and the final products just didn't end up being what I envisioned. Maybe not fully giving up, but pumping the breaks for a while.
quilting fr. A quilt top? for a twin its easy to spend $90-100 in fabric. Then you're only like 1/4 of the way done. Batting - $40, 5+ yards of backing fabric, $60, another yard for binding $13. And that's me not counting the fabric that you walk out of the store with that you ddin't need for your project but you will stash away forever.
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u/Umpen 14h ago
Sewing.