The joy of making your own clothes and seven tips to get you started

Making your own clothes is a great experience, not forgetting the pride you get when you rock in your unique designs. Today, the art of cloth-making is no longer a household practice as it were in the past. Most people depend on readymade garments from the stores. Yes, these are cheaper, but your options are limited to what they offer. You probably do not like the experience of walking into the store and cannot find what you pictured in mind. Sometimes you find something that resembles your taste but cannot fit your waist, too tight around your burst or on the shoulders or does not fit your hips.

If this is your experience or you are interested in sewing your own clothes, then it’s time to tailor your wardrobe. You can sew as a hobby that allows you to explore your creativity and focus on you and what you like. You experience that joy and pride that comes when your friends pour in their compliments, asking you where you got that fabulous dress and your answer, “I sewed it myself.” To begin garment making, here are some tips.

Learn the various tools for cloth making

The first step is to learn the basics of garment making. Sewing clothes requires several different tools for making patterns, sewing, and making patterns. A good understanding of each type of tool and how to use it is a great start. Initially, these tools will not feel comfortable, but with practice, you soon realise they are easy to use.

Get a sewing machine

For starters, you do not need an industrial type machine; a domestic one will suffice the task. The household variants have the advantage of portability and versatility in terms of the number of stitches you can do. After buying the machine, the next thing is to understand the various components of the machine. The best approach is to read the instruction manual that comes with the machine. Learn the basics such as the location of the bobbin case and the direction of spin of the bobbin. Learn about the spool holder, stitch adjustments, and other components. You can also visit your local sewing shop to see if they can offer some lessons.

Starts with the basics

As a beginner, start with the simple designs and forge to advance ones as you develop your craft. Starting with elaborate designs can cause frustrations and cause you to give up. Avoid making apparels with zippers. Pyjamas having elastic bands or aprons are great for beginners. As you master the craft of sewing, you advance and do other sorts of clothing designs.

Take your measurements to make a pattern

Whether you make your own pattern or find one elsewhere, you need to take your measures. You do not want to make clothes only to realise they do not fit once done. Consider the type of clothing and take the right measurements.

Skirts

For the skirt, the waist and hip measurements are essential. The type or design of the skirt will help define the fullness and length of the skirt.

Trousers and shorts

For trousers, take your waist, crotch depth, hip and full leg length (from waist to floor). These measurements will apply for shorts only that you will shorten the full leg length as you desire.

Shirts

For shirts, take the shoulder width, chest, neck, shirt length, arm length, and armhole measurements.

Attach customised labels for all your pieces

When designing your sewing pieces, remember to attach a custom label on each cloth. Labels are a great way of branding your apparels and make them unique. You can choose from the different types of tags such as hangtags, sew-in tags, tag removal, and custom clothing labels. Tags often hold essential information about the apparel, including the brand, size, care, name, QR code, barcode, fabric composition, or a combination of these. When you can have your labels in customised to your preferred size, material, colour and fold that functionally holds the information. An excellent place to search for labels is the internet. You will find companies that specialise in designing as well as printing custom labels. They have a team of creative designers that will help you create the ideal label for your handmade clothes.

You will need some help

A lot of work goes into the backside of clothes, and this can challenge you as you at the beginning. Sewing in the zip properly can take you some time to master. However, you do not have to worry about such challenges. Remember, there are numerous garment workers can do it for you for a minimal cost. The good thing about sewing is the more, you do something the better you become, and within no time, you will overcome the challenges of a beginner.

Unleash your creativity

Making your own clothes allows you to create your imagination. You picture a dress in your mind, and you cannot find it in the stores, go ahead, sew it to your liking. You will find joy in making different unique designs that you will love to wear.

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