Althouse: "I really enjoyed the online community. It is this form of self care. You’re making something specifically for yourself."

February 20, 2020

"I really enjoyed the online community. It is this form of self care. You’re making something specifically for yourself."

"It’s going to be the color you want, it’s the fit you want, I could make exactly what I wanted.... I really enjoyed putting the puzzle together. It’s problem solving. Even when you’re advanced you have to rip it out and reorder the steps."

Said Martha Moore Porter quoted in "Making your own clothes is making a comeback. These millennial women are leading the way/A backlash against fast fashion and a preference for experiences over things has boosted the popularity of sewing" (The Lily (WaPo)).

21 comments:

Mr Wibble said...: Bernadette Banner has some interesting videos on Youtube on recreating historical clothing. I gather from her videos much the same sentiment.; 2/20/20, 12:54 PM
wild chicken said...: Yeah I quit sewing after I put a sleeve in the wrong way twice. Very aggravating.

Not sure I know what I want til I see it anyway.; 2/20/20, 12:57 PM
Seeing Red said...: They’re not dating? Sewing is time-consuming. But it does allow them to detach from life.; 2/20/20, 12:59 PM
tim in vermont said...: Basically my older sisters made their own clothes as a matter of course. There was a discount fabric store that sold patterns and cloth and I remember the excitement when they might get a pattern as a gift. By the time my younger sister reached that age, that era had passed.; 2/20/20, 12:59 PM
Nonapod said...: The rise of artisanal craft culture is one of the more interesting advents of the internet. It's funny, you'd think affluence would naturally lead to people doing fewer things by hand and less bespoke creation in favor of more mass produced items. But instead it seems that more free time means and less scarcity means people have new opportunities to indulge in creative endeavours.; 2/20/20, 1:00 PM
tcrosse said...: It's one way to get clothes that are made in the USA.; 2/20/20, 1:10 PM
J. Farmer said...: “And don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.”

I’m happy to have others make my clothing for me, but grasping the notion that newer isn’t necessarily better is the first step to understanding conservatism.; 2/20/20, 1:11 PM
Kay said...: Fast fashion has had its day. I don’t know if this is the alternative, but I’m ready for something new.; 2/20/20, 1:13 PM
Eleanor said...: I've been able to make my own clothes since I was 12 years old. How much of my own wardrobe I've made has varied from time to time. Now it's about half and half. I get motivated to sew if there's a special occasion or if I'm putting a capsule wardrobe together, and I need specific pieces in a color I can't find in the store. It's a mistake to assume you can save money by sewing clothes for yourself. Quality fabrics are expensive, and if you go for cheap fabrics, you can't compete with the prices for comparable clothes made overseas. But there's nothing quite like having clothes that fit perfectly, and that makes it worth the effort.; 2/20/20, 1:24 PM
tcrosse said...: Over at the Telegraph they keep a close eye on what Kate wears. Often she'll appear in something off-the-rack, which will then sell out immediately. What they fail to mention is that she has a staff of seamstresses to make sure her off-the-rack duds fit perfectly.; 2/20/20, 1:33 PM
YoungHegelian said...: When I was out at the local fabric stores in the MD suburbs of DC, helping the Mrs pick out fabric for furniture, the clientele seemed to be mostly immigrant women.

I wonder if that's changed.; 2/20/20, 1:34 PM
gilbar said...: Making your own clothes is making a comeback. These millennial women are leading the way

What the? how'd they learn to sew? On you tube?
It's Not like they teach that stuff in school; 2/20/20, 1:38 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: It could just be one of those uncheckable factoids, but I read once that there are now more swordsmiths than there ever were in the middle ages. Of course the population is way higher too, but still..; 2/20/20, 1:47 PM
rehajm said...: Oh, she's great! All the girls love her. She makes her own clothes...

-spinning the blind date; 2/20/20, 1:57 PM
Mr Wibble said...: Making your own clothes is dangerous, however. It can lead to homebrewing, yarn spinning, and next thing you know you're dressed up and spending your Saturday driving across the state to some park where you beat some guy with a stick.; 2/20/20, 1:59 PM
ALP said...: Nonapod:

The rise of artisanal craft culture is one of the more interesting advents of the internet. It's funny, you'd think affluence would naturally lead to people doing fewer things by hand and less bespoke creation in favor of more mass produced items. But instead it seems that more free time means and less scarcity means people have new opportunities to indulge in creative endeavours.
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I have a theory that humans would be less self-absorbed and neurotic if we all did something tangible/creative with our hands. There is something about having your brain focus on a task that comes out of your hands that is very calming - as if the stress seeped right out of your fingers. Many of us do very abstract things for work...punching away at keyboards all day with no tangible evidence of our efforts. I hope libraries take up the cause of penmanship, papermaking, book binding and lettering arts in defiance of everything digital.; 2/20/20, 2:19 PM
stlcdr said...: Killing your own food is making a comeback.; 2/20/20, 2:29 PM
Heidi Staples said...: I learned how to quilt through online tutorials back when my daughters were little, and it was life changing for me. I found a new hobby that I enjoyed, a community of friends from all over the world who encouraged me, and eventually a side job writing tutorials for my blog, sewing patterns for magazines, and two published books. I even got the chance to design collections for a fabric company over three years after learning how to use Adobe Illustrator through another online class. I'm stepping away from the professional work now to focus more on my family, but I'm still sewing and blogging for the fun of it. It's amazing to me how new technology made it possible for me to connect with a beautiful old tradition like quilting, and I'm so thankful that it did.; 2/20/20, 3:21 PM
KellyM said...: gilbar said...

"Making your own clothes is making a comeback. These millennial women are leading the way

What the? how'd they learn to sew? On you tube?
It's Not like they teach that stuff in school"

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And when they did teach it in school, they did a really bad job. I was persona non grata in Home Ec because my mother was better at sewing than the teacher was.

I've been sewing for 30+ years now, starting as a kid. I prefer historical costuming versus current styles, and have spent hours on eBay scouring for patterns from the 30s through the 60s. I've had to teach myself everything I didn't learn in fashion design school, from tailoring, to draping, to pattern drafting. My last big project was for my youngest niece. She was portraying Marie Antoinette for a class project so I went over the top with amazing fabrics, laces and trims. The gown was boned, and she had to be laced into it. I also created paniers for underneath (the cages that make the skirt puff out).

YouTube does have a wealth of info on sewing, covering everything from beginner to specialized skills. I used it to make the paniers. It was great not to have to reinvent the wheel.; 2/20/20, 4:17 PM
Christy said...: Sewing is an excellent exercise of STEM skills without, you know, having to deal with all those guys on the spectrum.

The internet has allowed an explosion of small pattern companies with non-traditional foci. New sewing machines make all kinds of stiches easy. Exciting times in the community of sewists.; 2/20/20, 7:11 PM
Touhidul Islam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/21/20, 9:54 AM