Handmade or homemade?
Does the homemade look of the clothes you make ever get you down? Sometimes, even on the rare occasions when I do pretty much everything right, I find it difficult to love a garment I’ve made for the sole reason that the finished product doesn’t look as “good” as what I might buy in a shop. I realize that much of this is down to my own skill and diligence, or lack thereof. Going the extra mile in construction and finishing does a lot to get rid of the homemade look, and there’s certainly no shortage of resources to help the home sewer progress from “Did you make that?” to “Where did you get that?”
But even with a superb skill level, I would never be able to replicate all the features of RTW (ready-to-wear) clothing, because the tools and methods used are so different. I took a London College of Fashion course on Professional Sewing Techniques last summer, and the biggest take-away lesson I absorbed was that most professional results are the result of professional equipment — laser cutting, vacuum presses, industrial steamers — and professional techniques, such as specialization and piecework.
The problem is that my eye is so accustomed to the mechanical perfection of mass-produced clothing — perfectly spaced buttonholes, perfectly even tucks, perfectly parallel rows of topstitching — that anything else, even a meticulously handstitched hem, looks somehow shabby. This is interesting, because RTW clothing is often not particularly well designed or made, which is what drives many people turn to home sewing in the first place. And at the highest level, of course, couture garments involve a huge amount of handstitching.
But still. Handwork so often looks… less nice. A beautifully handknitted sweater can’t have the cobweb-fine texture of a machine-knitted one. Hand-embroidered satin stitches are never quite as neat and even as machine embroidery. And handcrafts distilling centuries of skill and tradition, like Amish quilts or the wall embroideries I saw in Romania, no matter how beautiful and remarkable, don’t look slick or sophisticated. They look imperfect, irregular. Homemade.
I once read a book on the Great Exhibition of 1851 which postulated an interesting theory about why Victorian taste in decorative arts was sometimes so OTT — overornamented, fussy, fiddly and overdone. The author contended that those tastes had been formed in a world where most decorative effects were achieved by hand. Having developed technologies that allowed the same effects to be mass-produced rapidly and in great number, the Victorians went gung ho (“If one carved rose is good, 1000 carved roses are better!”), with often grotesque results. Their tastes had not yet caught up with the times. They didn’t understand that a different mode of production required a different aesthetic.
Now, with the handmade revolution in full swing, I wonder whether a different aesthetic is again in order. Can we train our eyes to appreciate handmade clothing for its own virtues, rather than for how closely it resembles machine-made? Even the craft community’s preference for the term “handmade” over “homemade” implies that homemade = inferior. It’s good to have high standards for the quality of handmade items (see Regretsy and Craftastrophe for a thousand reasons why), but I’m not sure the mass-produced look is the best standard for home sewers to aspire to. For example, I’m fairly sure the universality of stretch fabrics, which make sizing so convenient for mass-producers of clothing, has contributed to a loss of understanding of what constitutes good fit — even among home sewers, who tend on the whole to be keenly aware of actual body size and fitting issues. Nobody expects RTW clothes to fit perfectly. We do expect them to be stitched perfectly. So anyone looking at a garment will tend to notice imperfections in stitching more readily than bad fit.
When you look at a garment you’ve made, do you see handmade or homemade? How do you feel about the fact that your garments don’t resemble RTW?
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Rather late to this one, but just wanted to comment – firstly, I agree so strongly with your post! Secondly, I wore a blouse on Saturday night that I made on Friday. It’s all hand-sewn because I couldn’t be bothered setting up the machine, and the seams are a bit wonky, and there are threads sticking out of the wonky shoulder seams because I couldn’t quite convince them to stay inside the facing. But I got tons of compliments, everyone was incredibly impressed that I made it (I had posted a picture on Facebook when I finished it) and I felt great! Nobody noticed the dodgy bits, everyone just loved the style, the fabric (gorgeous printed silk) and the fact that I had done it all by hand in an afternoon!
As a dressmaker, I appreciate the beauty and perfect subtle irregularity/imperfection of handmade items. I don’t have a problem with the word “homemade” either, since many of my favorite things are! Some clients come to me with an expectation of factory-level precision, but i do inform them (gently) that that is not what I do. Every person is entitled to her/his own opinion, but frankly, it is very much like customizing anything else – a home, a meal, whatever. If you want predictability, you know where to get it… if you want something very unique and specific for you alone, you know where to go. What others think of it matters to most of us, of course, but you can’t really focus too much on that. There is more than enough room in the world for all of it. And yes, unless you are using your bare hands and a needle only, investing in good equipment is vital to achieving quality results. Trust me.
I really appreciate your comment. It’s so helpful.
Thank you for this thought-provoking post, I have been pondering something like this recently.
I think its safe to say we are all our own worst critics, especially when it comes to assessing the quality and finish of our own home sewn items. What we deem a bad job might well seem a marvel to some with little or no sewing experience. Recently I realised that when I critique my work, I always compare it to that of a higher standard (an advanced/trained professional or industrially produced RTW items). This is obviously because I aspire to reach these standards myself, nowt-wrong with that. But what I should also be doing is comparing my work to that of less experienced/none sewers to truly assess the merit of my work (and make myself feel better!).
I tend to think of “hand-made” from the perspective of couture/professional/advanced maker producing beautifully crafted garments (hand or machine sewn) worthy of a price-tag that reflects the skill and work that goes into them. “Homemade” to me suggests non-professional/for pleasure, regardless of the skill level involved. It invokes warm, fluffy feelings of lovingly, enthusiastically made items, whether they be immaculately finished or rather rough.
The reason many of us sew our own clothing is because we are inspired by RTW or vintage/retro fashions but want bespoke clothing to fit our figure quirks or colour/fabric/detailing choice or to replicate something we’d love to own but can’t afford. That in itself to me deems homemade as wonderful thing. When assessing the satisfaction level of the finished garment we need to balance in our minds the professional finish/look vs something that fits well, is truly unique and expresses who we are.
There is no reason why we can’t strive to achieve near perfect finishing in homemade items. I hate the cutting and marking process because I make it so tedious and long-winded for myself but I know it will make a vital difference to the garment if done right (trying to reach that handmade tradesperson quality). I have also recently really started to focus on accurate grading and adjustments rather than winging it which makes me happier.
Other sewers aren’t so particular/obsessive. My friend sews by the “3 foot rule”, as long as any mistakes aren’t visible from this distance, it doesn’t matter! I love that, I wish I could be more relaxed but I want everything to perfect. I’ll even undo a seam and sew it again if I wobble partway through. My friend has a wardrobe full of stuff she has made and takes great pleasure in wearing it, she really doesn’t mind if it looks “homemade” in the rougher sense, its her design and handiwork.
A couple of asides prompted by comments:
1. I wish that commercial pattern clothing sizes would move away from the B cup. I would imagine the most common pattern adjustment is the FBA. I’d like to see more C/D cup patterns or a switch to this size as at B very few people will be grading down and a lot are grading up and going up will even this out. I did a quick bit of research, in the US the average cup size is now a C (36C) and in the UK its D (36D).
2. A better range of patterns and fabrics and at cheaper prices would be lovely in the UK. I agree with others that fabric shops are geared towards quilters and here weddings/evening wear and prices are at least a third more expensive than in the States (the punishment for deporting our fabric industry to China?). I really struggle to find decent priced every day and children’s fabrics. Patterns I buy second hand and usually vintage for better styling. I also check out each pattern on Pattern Review etc to see what the finished item looks like because it rarely seems to match the envelope or fit correctly without adjustments. We need to improve our haberdashery ranges in the UK too, every so often I see a fab tool mentioned in the States which we don’t have over here
Let’s face it, the UK just isn’t geared towards a homemade market 
3. The cheap import UK high-street store is fueling the demise of home sewing. There are certain items I won’t even bother to make now because I can buy them for less than the cost of the fabric alone from stores like Primark/J C Penny and Matalan. How sad is that?
Lots of great comments here! (sorry to come in late, I’m catching up on my favorite blogs after being on the road for a while.) I agree that most of the “homemade” look is just caused by cheap/shoddy materials. And I think sometimes that’s caused by people inadvertantly applying what they’ve learned as consumers to their sewing — bringing that Forever 21 mindset to their craft and pumping out loads of inexpensive items, rather than making small numbers of good pieces. Poor fit is another problem, although I notice poor fit and construction on RTW all the time.
It’s a debate that’s been going on a long time though — I have a Singer book from the 50s that has a whole discussion of “homemade” vs “handmade” and how to avoid the homemade look (iirc, it was mainly about taking time and paying attention to fit and finish – which makes sense to me).
I find your distinction between “homemade” and “handmade” interesting… I’m fairly new to the online sewing world (though I’ve been dabbling at sewing since I was a kid). My first instinct would be to call the clothes I make at home “homemade,” reserving “handmade” for projects made without the use of a machine at all (some costume sewing or the extreme end of historical sewing). I have to say, my feelings about my homemade clothes have softened quite a bit since reading up on couture techniques, which use a lot of hand stitching. Now when I hand-finish a hem or catchstitch a lining, I tell myself I’m “adding couture,” not copping out because my sewing-machine skillz are limited. I agree with everyone else about using quality fabrics (appropriate for the look you’re going for)… they are few and far between at my local fabric store, and not cheap when you find them (which is hard for me, as a student).
Thanks Kitty, for the lining and seaming tips!
Since I have put the whole skirt together and am pretty much delighted with it, I decided to make the same skirt essentially, again, (in lining fabric) and stitch it onto the interfacing. I will slip stitch the edges of all my tweed seams AS WELL; I know this shall be time-consuming, but how pleasing to know they are all secured and that the skirt will thus hopefully last for years. For ease of movement, I shall not secure the lining to the skirt, but bias-bind the tweed and leave the lining free. This will assist me in my mannish deportment and lack of ladylike gait when I am running for buses or stamping around the hills of Oxfordshire.
Also, somewhere in my last post I put TYW; I have no idea what that stands for as it was meant to read RTW. I’m guessing you all guessed that anyway, though…
Sounds like a good plan to me.
Don’t worry about mannish gait when tromping the hills or running for busses, esp tromping hills. Only those who are have a keeper to aid them over a fist sized stone can remain ladylike on a rocky slope. LOL
Somewhere along the way most of us decided a bit of independence was worth the loss of a bit of delicacy.
Thanks for this post, Susannah! I won’t repeat anything anyone else has said here, but this conversation really speaks to me…I have a lot of anxiety because I worry that the things I make look “homemade,” although I’ve learned that the best way to combat that is to go slowly and pay attention to the details.
Felix,
Thanks for a very interesting post. I thought I’d suggest a couple things for you. first, I’ve gone back in with my zigzag and finished seams after completing a garment. you can do this by starting off the fabric and feeding each edge in under the foot as you sew as close to the end of the seam and you can get and sew to the other end. you can finish both sides of the seam together or each piece of fabric alone as you wish and as it works for you. it does help stop raveling.
Second to line your wool, and lining wool skirts at least in the sit down area is a big help in making the garment last longer otherwise wool will stretch in the areas of stress and leave you looking baggy. To do this, just cut all the pieces out a second time out of your lining material. either make the lining skirt up seperately and put them together before adding your zipper and waistband or just put the pieces together, baste the lining piece to the outer piece before making the skirt then sew all the pieces as one. this will look not as finished on the inside but will do the job of supporting the wool in the stress areas. pants are often made this last way.
In skirts or pants, or even in jackets it is possible to just partially line the garment at the points of stress. line pants to below the knee, line skirts to below the butt, line a shirt or jacket in the shoulder area and possibly in the sleeve to below the elbow. it isn’t as nice, but sometimes a lining is to hot and we don’t want to line more than we have to. this is all personal choice.
Hope this helps someone. Kitty
What an interesting post!
I am a novice with the sewing, and am just completing my first skirt. It is made from donegal tweed that I found in a charity shop years ago in Ireland, with pockets made from Martha Negley Rowan print fabric. It is unlined (couldn’t figure out how to line it) and the edges inside the seams are fraying a little as I have no overlocker and didn’t think to zig-zag stitch all the woollen pieces at the edges before assembling them; I shall have to slipstitch all the inside seams to prevent threads from coming loose! Then there are also some lighter areas on the tweed where it has been sun-bleached from lying, rolled-up, on a shelf near a window.
So it is not ‘tidy’ or ‘finished’ as a RTW version might be and it even involves some fairly major errors.
Similarly, with the shrug I am knitting I am a little unhappy with how I chose to integrate my increases when I was knitting the back, and there is a tiny mistake which is going to be on an inside seam which nobody but me will ever know about.
But although these elements make my handmade clothes a little less formally pleasing than their TYW counterparts, I actually love their little details. I especially enjoy the sense of learning which attends every mistake I make (I will ALWAYS stitch the edge of tweed pieces in the future, I will ALWAYS chart out a lace pattern with increases in the future etc.)
I don’t mind that these garments are not precision cut, that my cut-out pieces are ironed with a £9.99 steam iron rather than steamed on an industrial press, and that there are places where even my machine stitching is somehow failing to be ruler-straight. What I really love, is the process of making these items, and the entire creative experience involved in dreaming up my ensembles, acquiring the materials to make them, and then fiddling about at my sewing table with all the notions. I much prefer this to the experience of buying RTW clothes which is stressful and horrific and involves unflattering mirrors and crowded shops.
I like the story-ness of my clothes, the little details which only I know about, and the way my handmade items connect to my imaginative life and to the acquisition of skills and experience. I do not mind so much that they look maybe a little less finessed than RTW garments.
I guess I prefer content over form when it comes to my clothes, and what I like best is buying materials with history and provenance (I am a massive fan of historic textiles like Harris Tweed, and sheep-breed-specific yarns for my knitting) and then creating simple garments which I can finish well within my limited capabilities, with those things. I only buy the VERY EASY patterns and I embrace the idea of the slow wardrobe!
I live in hope that these design principles will at some stage eventually comprise my own distinctive look, and I accept that this may take a decade to fully accomplish!
I, too, got heavily into home sewing when I observed how poorly made may RTW items are, how cheap the fabric is, the unfinished, seams, the ridiculous prices they charge for the crappy quality, etc. The people that ask if I’ve made something are people that know I sew. When I say yes, I still get the amazed “Really?!?” reply. This should tell me that my homemade clothes don’t stand out in a bad way or look obviously homemade. Which makes me proud. And yet, now that I”ve started my own blog, I’m hesitant to post my handmade clothes because I feel that they aren’t “good enough”. I gotta get over that attitude!
Where is your blog Jill
The only people who ask me if I made something are the people who know I make things, and then I find little correlation between the question and the item actually being handmade – I don’t think people notice the things we do, having spent so many hours slaving over the details.
My main issue with having things look differently than my peers is the ability to get quality materials. Local = chain store polyester in horrible prints, national mail order/online = speciality (outdoor, sports) fabrics, international = could buy another garment with the shipping. Much easier for me to get nice yarn, but there’s more of a handknitting culture here than sewing!
But mostly people are just agog that someone could put together a dress shirt, let alone how straight the stitching is
. So wear with pride! And haunt Etsy and upscale “couture/handmade” online shops – I think I’m already at your “new aesthetic” just because of the company I keep. Not sure if the rest of the world is ready to be there with me, but it’s an awesomely fit, individual paradise over here!
What a great post! I completely agree – the industry has specialized equipment with professional results that us homesewers will never achieve. With a little know-how and patience, we can certainly get close though!
I’ve found that I now baste a lot more, well, more strategically than I used to. In the fashion environment I’m in (at school) it seems like machines are preferred for most things, but: Lets take waistbands as an example. In industrial sewing, the waistband has been pressed to shape with special equipment before the sewing step, making the edges line up to exactly where they are supposed to go. In home sewing, waistbands are fiddly, and I’ll baste the inside in place before sewing stitching in the ditch, making sure the inside seam will get chaught, and that the edge is neat and tidy. Sure, it’s a step that doesn’t happen in professional sewing, but to me, it makes for a much better result.
And I agree with everyones comments on finishing garments nicely – it makes a world of difference!
What an interesting post and comments! I like the idea of an aesthetic revolution; a changing of the way we see homemade/handmade garments. I think it’s high time and would do us all a lot of good. Why should we consider cheap mass produced as better than lovingly made?
The problem is, as has already been mentioned, that the fabrics and patterns available to the home sewer are pathetic. I’m always mortified by what the models are wearing in pattern books and then when I find the strength to look beyond the tacky fabrics and poor styling, I find that the pattern itself is dated, and not in a cute vintage way either.
Of course, ‘nobody sews anymore.’ Or so I’m told every time I enter a fabric store, which really should be called a quilting store, since that’s all the stuff they really carry. (At least here in the US)
Maybe nobody sews because there’s nothing worth sewing? Or is this one of those chicken/egg questions? And what about those of us who sew, or would like to? I hope the current trend of making things at home continues and we see an improvement in quality, not just on the home sewing front, but in RTW too.
this is a great conversation. Sorry I commented on everyone else’s comments. i just couldn’t wait till i got to the end of the line!
I think this has always been a big debate on the home sewing front. A lot of home sewing books with have tips and tricks on how not to make something look homemade. Susannah, I think you are right about acquiring a different aesthetic taste. But at the same time I don’t think anyone has ever pointed out a homemade piece of clothing that I was wearing and said ” you made that”. Mostly people are surprised and astonished when I tell them that I made something followed by them wishing they could sew or that they should get back to sewing. When I first started making clothes for myself they probably looked homemade now they look better because I sew better and I have taken some college classes. My goal is always, ALWAYS to make the inside look just as good as the outside. Because that is the part that is missing form RTW. The fall floral blouse I made has all the seams bound in pink bias tape and I smile every time I put it on or take it off. It has its flaws but its mine and it looks damn good.
I also make everything. I find it hard to buy or even go shopping anymore. So the clothes I make always look better. My mom used to sew for me as a kid too. She wasn’t a master seamstress but growing up with that I think has helped me look beyond homemade and always see handmade.
What a great post! I agree with you wholeheartedly. In fact the points you’ve raised are the reasons why I have piles of fabric next to me wanting to become clothes. I’ve lost momentum because they’ll look homemade…you’ve inspired me to pick the momentum back up off the ground and get sewing!
Glad I’ve found your blog.
Some things I’ve made I would say are handmade, other things are just homemade. I haven’t sewn much modern clothes, I come from a background of sewing medieval clothes (more historical than live role-playing). Skirts I can make look handmade, but I have yet to finish a fitted blouse/dress with sleeves. My plan is to read a lot about fitting and constructing, and to take a sewing class in the fall.
Back to your original question; yes, sometimes I worry too much about my clothes looking homemade, which I know I shouldn’t do. First, beacause they don’t look it, and second, because it’s ok if they do. For so many reasons I very much prefer my clothes to look homemade than to look like they’re from a cheap store and were made in a sweatshop in Asia. I’ll settle for homemade until I’m good eunough to make it look handmade. And I’ll never get there unless I practice, right? =)
On a sidenote: That handmade equals uneven is just because our skill-levels have fallen so deeply. If one looks at older, historical clothing, the stiches are actually smaller and MORE even than sewingmachines manages today. Same goes for weaving, a machine can’t weave a 100% pure single-strand wool (machines just tears the yarn). I do know some people who can handsew like that, some who can weave, and some who can knit the finest yarns so that it looks designer-made. Of course, for most of us that skill-level is just a dream =)
On the skills front, it helps to have a needle put in your hand before you can even read! I have a vintage “Needlework for Schoolteachers” book from the early 20th century that describes sewing drills for very young children. Imagine if we’d been sewing since the age of six — handstitching would come as easily as handwriting!
I can attest to the truth in this. I asked my mom to teach me to sew when I was about 5 or sew. I didn’t do sewing drills but I have been interested in sewing and clothes since. handsewing is my all time favorite. A college sewing professor has complimented me on my handsewing. My favorite part of sewing is the hem.
Yes/no is my answer… In terms of quality and details, I think you get more or less what you pay for in stores – but no matter how much I pay, I’m not going to find an off-the-rack blouse that fits me because I’m tall and busty. I’m getting better at making them myself but I think I need more practice and I need to get better at letting my impatience get the better of me. I often feel like it’s hard to find the same variation of appealing blouse-weight wovens in fabric stores as it is in shops, though. (Or they cost the farm.)
I am, however, making a dress at the moment out of cotton/silk and the preciousness of the fabric has me in awe – as a result I’m actually going slowly and being very careful. There are pintucks and other details that ordinarily look wonky when I do them, but this time they are gorgeous (if I say so myself), and this is without question one of the best things I’ve ever sewn. So I have to acknowledge that I am a part of the problem!
You’re right about the difficulty of finding great fabrics — that and absolutely matching (custom-dyed) trims and embellishments are hard to achieve in home sewing. Good fabric is important — I wonder how many people are put off by starting to sew on nasty, cheap fabrics that will inevitably look homemade.
I got into sewing my clothes because I like designing the color and texture. I haven’t made anything that needs to be fitted very well, just skirts. I’m working up my nerve to do a dress this summer. But I love tailored, structured clothes, so I think as I get courage and keep sewing, I will be very pleased with results.
Since I started learning about fit I have noticed that no one’s clothing fits them correctly – not unless they are a very specific build and height and wearing stretch knit, and sometimes not even then. It makes me kind of sad, because the problem is the shirt, not the person! And yet so many people with square shoulders or short waists or whathaveyou seem convinced that the problem is that their bodies need taking in, not that the clothes need adjusting.
One of the reasons that sewing is a challenge for me is that I’m not detail-oriented by nature – sewing forces me to slow down and concentrate on the little bits – but I’ve noticed that I get compliments on a dress that hits me at exactly the right waistline and is actually the right height, even though the hem is a wreck and a knowledgeable eye would see that the back zipper puckers.
This is interesting and heartening — I have what my friends call “project dysmorphia”, which means I tend to see only the flaws in my finished projects and assume everyone else does the same. But you’re right about fit — bad fit is so universal and so taken for granted that when you show up wearing something you’ve made to fit you, people admire it without knowing why. And finding a good fit in RTW is something akin to a miracle.
Sorry, I am seriously late to this party (MMM took up way too much of my blog reading time). I’m really sad to hear you have such a bad case of project dysmorphia, Susannah. I totally can relate, I felt the same way for ages and ages but I begun to realise it was just because we are so used to seeing other women in Topshop et al. Sensory adaptation is what I’m talking about I guess. Imagine life in the 1940′s when a far higher percentage of women were wearing homemade/handmade/whatever threads. If life was like that now, we’d be far more accustomed to the sight of handstitching and also better quality fabric, no doubt.
Personally, I found that the pride I feel when wearing a homemade garment and the fact that I’m staying true to my personal values has erroded the impulse to compare my self-stitched clothes with RTW. It took a long time but it came naturally. I feel a bit sick looking at Primark stuff now, even if some aspects of it’s manufacture might appear ‘better’ than mine.
But when it comes to improving the finish of sewers’ handmade things, I believe pressing your seams, hems etc. as you go along can have a giant impact towards a cleaner finish.
Thanks for starting up this debate, your blog is always so thought provoking and great at getting at the nitty gritty of sewing and style related issues. xxx
When I look at the clothes I’ve made, I’m happy. I remember when I first started sewing for myself again last year; I’d taken a long hiatus and my hands were stupid. I KNEW how to do things, but I couldn’t convince my hands. Eventually it comes, your mind works with your hands, and you can turn out basically anything.
I see my clothes as something as an extension of myself, because I put so much of myself into the construction. I’d never compare my own clothes to RTW because for design, fabrics, embellishments (well-placed piping is another feature that can kick your sewing up a notch), details, personalization and quality, nothing I can afford in RTW would come close.
I can understand what you mean. When I was a kid, a friend’s mom was widely applauded for her skill at making kid’s clothes. I never saw anything especially great about the clothes, I was rather un-impressed on the whole. Looking back, I can see it is because she was a “home-sewing” type of sewist. You might find the addition of some great tools (which you learn how to use well) kicks up the quality/finish factor… A tailor’s ham/seam roll… A clapper.. Pinking shears for trimming enclosed seams… Fancy feet for your machine that do rolled hems or hong kong seam finishes, an overlocker? Perhaps learning a few tailoring methods? Maybe not a whole coat, but for instance the tailor’s way of turning a collar is fantastic and I use it on everything. Those are just a few ideas, I don’t know your life.
I tend to look rather closely at garnments I find interesting. This stretches from OMG this is fitting so badly to I want something just like this. As I tend to see a lot of people at work I also wondered about what you describe as handmade aesthetic.
In knitting the downfall is handknits in worsted acrylic yarn. This almost always looks so dated, cheap and “homemade”. Many other items I just notice as handmade, because I knit myself and know the difference (opposed to the unschooled eye). Example: today I saw a nice handmade sweater, and than noticed that it was from Lacoste. I have to say I was impressed. (Also by the estimated price.) For bought sweaters a no go in my opinion is cotton yarn for winter sweaters or acrylic again (this time immitating mohair or chunky wool) with a nice “plastic sheen”.
In sewing most people don’t notice which clothes are homemade. There are so many cheap pieces that don’t have a straight seam (or darts at the same height) and who is going to look inside your chlothes and care??? You use a sewing mashine and this is basicly the same technology as the sewers in southeast asia are using. Ok, knit tops are a problem if you like to achieve the usual double seam without a coverlock. But everything else? And I really have to say that I don’t wear them a lot since I sew and am able to do a FBA.
Do you ever see a friend or acquaintance in something that fits so badly that you want to ask them if they’d let you alter it to fit them better? LOL so far I’ve managed to bite my tongue but someday it might just come out. our song director at church for instance.
I agree. The homemade look comes from the cheap materials. I taught a knitting class last year and I refused to buy them acrylic yarn even though they probably wouldn’t actually knit anything other than swatches. I wanted to keep them knitting so I bought them, and paid and charged a bit more for, decent and soft wool. I think the same goes for sewing.
I see handmade, handspun and handknit with a lot of my items. Stuff I make usually looks better, fits better and definitely lasts better than the mass produced bought stuff. It sometimes doesn’t cost less to do, but I get more enjoyment out of it so it’s worth it to me.
I see what you mean about handmade looking somehow shabbier than RTW. I’m still a beginner at sewing so I’m happy enough when I manage to finish something, but even with my low skill level I’ve started seeing the flaws in RTW clothing. I feel kind off stuck in between : unsatisfied with 98% of the dreck I see in stores, but not yet good enough to make clothes that look exactly like I would want them too.
The only middle ground I found so far is buying really good quality expensive clothes in shops, but beeing a student it means I only get to do that two or three times a year…
The last dress I made, I payed extra attention to the inside, I french seamed the straight seams on bound the curved ones with bias tape, and now the inside of the dress almost looks nicer than the outside. When I finished it, I saw exactly what I was missing in RTW clothing.
I also agree with Kitty, that sometimes topstitching, shirring and adding all kinds of finishing touches helps the overall look off a garnment. I’m a bit wary off adding to much, though, so sometimes it’s a tricky balance to find.
Ooh, luxury on the inside! I’ll have to try that — I’m so impatient the inside of my garments are usually a fright. And I totally agree with you about the skills gap — it’s frustrating to be able to identify good vs. poor quality but not to be able to create to your own standards.
Sinc
Oops sorry about that! Finger slipped!
Since starting to make my own clothes I’ve started to notice flaws in the construction of my shop bought clothes, so although I’m still a beginner at clothes making and the clothes I make are certainly flawed, I’m also aware the clothes I buy aren’t perfect either, just in different ways.
As for things like satin stitch (I’m an embroiderer first, clothes maker second), I much prefer hand stitched satin stitch over machine stitched, I think it’s handmade look just looks nicer.
Overall though I think things are changing and clothes in shops are changing (at least in some stores) to meet that handmade aesthetic, notably stores like White Stuff (which has some gorgeous hand embroidered pieces and what look like hand appliqued pieces). As handmade expands I don’t think we’ll notice the difference so much
When I compare my “homemade” clothing to RTW my takeaway lesson is that I tend to not include enough detail. MY tendency is to NOT add a non functioning pocket as in a cargo skirt I copied without the cargo pocket because I never used the cargo pocket in the original, or the topstitching which seems to serve no purpose.
My no frills sewing doesn’t please me as much as it does when I go the extra mile and add those missing details. I LOVE my cargo skirt with the added top stitching and pocket. I love how put together those added details seem to make me feel. Even when I’m making a doll dress, the added lace or the combination of two fabrics in an unexpected way makes me feel that I’ve taken it up a notch and that extra oomph is what moves my “homemade” to “handmade” in my book.