Why I sew clothes

I love sewing my own clothes, there is a lot of creativity involved. But there is more to it than that. Clothes shopping sucks. From time to time I’ll go to Marshalls, or Nordstrom Rack and I’ll find a t-shirt or pants. Yes, I can sew pants, but I don’t. That is fine, but this weekend, when everyone was watching the Superbowl, I wanted to treat myself to shopping at a real Store, Macy’s to be exact.One doesn’t see displays like this at the discount stores. Cute dress, so I took a closer look. $90 before tax, which is quite high here in LA. I looked inside, the fabric is Polyester and spandex – not high quality at all. I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but it was like my sewing on my home serger. The industry has better machines than I do, I expect industry style finishing.Most of the store looked like this.Or this, an orphan jacket thown onto any old rack. Over fifty percent of the store is sales items – I might as well be at Ross.This looks like something I might wear, well no, I would have worn it twenty years ago. Once again, very cheap fabric.This is about $20, but really?? Ok, I admit it, I’m old, I don’t need to be on the cutting edge of fashion, especially, when cutting edge really means cuts.Or how about the inside out look? Ugh!Sleeves actually have more fabric than the front or the back. But that the sleeve has as much as both together? No thank you.I couldn’t even find a simple long sleeve t-shirt. You see how see through this fabric is? Most shirts were like this. Once upon a time, this was called – sleazy. It’s an industry term that describes a very cheap see-through fabric. For the last 10 years, it has been used in the fashion industry. I guess if you have to compete with H&M, you need to make sure that the cost of the garment is close to nil.

Sure, there were some clothes for Mature women, but they were soooo boring.  I bought nothing, but it just reinforces my sewing for myself. I will spend good money on good quality fabric and will make clothes that are unique to me.  And that is a real blessing.

Leah

One thought on “Why I sew clothes”

  1. I’ve had similar experiences with Macy’s shopping—poor quality and poor customer service. I now do most of my shopping at small boutiques, many of which are locally owned. I feel the quality is better and I like the personalized service.

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