Making your own stuff (1 Viewer)

[tres bien]

Hey all,
(I didn't do a search)

What kind of stuff do you make? I have a sewing machine and I'm going to start making clothes and bags soon, but I don't know what kind of stuff to make or what materials to use! I'm going to start off with what I see is the easiest and make a bag, and I have a fair idea of what materials and stuff to use for that, but I don't know about clothes.

I also don't know where to get really good patterns (whatever you call them... stenciling stuff?) at a cheap price. Spotlight have pretty average or crap clothing patterns (I stood in their shop for a while just looking at the clothes in their books, and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a lot of the stuff those books had in them). I don't know where else to look.

 

[sukiyaki]

mm you should venture to cabramatta coz they got sooo many fabrics stores there. Just a suggestion. I make my own earrings sometimes well i only just started making them =)

 

[Grissom]

I wouldnt mind printing my own cheaps but there doesnt seem to be an cheap effective way of doing so

 

[luscious-llama]

Hey all,
(I didn't do a search)

What kind of stuff do you make? I have a sewing machine and I'm going to start making clothes and bags soon, but I don't know what kind of stuff to make or what materials to use! I'm going to start off with what I see is the easiest and make a bag, and I have a fair idea of what materials and stuff to use for that, but I don't know about clothes.

I also don't know where to get really good patterns (whatever you call them... stenciling stuff?) at a cheap price. Spotlight have pretty average or crap clothing patterns (I stood in their shop for a while just looking at the clothes in their books, and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a lot of the stuff those books had in them). I don't know where else to look.

Lincraft is grand.
I dunno, i'd just pick apart an old vintage garment (say a dress or something gorgeous) and make a pattern from there.
Its easily done.

 

[Skeeta]

yeah either pull apart a pattern you love, OR scour the internet, lincraft/spotlight for patterns

I agree cabramatta/fairfield do have some GREAT fabric stores - definitely go there to have a look, although if you are looking to start making a bag, be warned, theyre not as easy as they look! If you're not experienced in sewing, you might have some problems getting the lining and zippers/handles on properly

my best bet is to start with something EASY like pajama pants.. and go from there!

all the best!

 

[vern]

If you're keen you can do the full on tagging on jeans, in proper sense. I did it to some old jeans for my mate, I'll get a picture up in a sec.

 

[melimoo]

LINCRAFT IS SHIT

ahem
i also have dilemmas with patterns. i can't make my own. and i get frustrated easy. i'm in the middle of making an electric blue pinafore-type dress
we'll see how that works out.....
i like to make my own clothes even though i suck

 

[glitterfairy]

Hahaha, sewing...

I did Textiles for my HSC, but aside from that I've also been making my own dance costumes (this includes a performance-quality tutu and a belly dance costume, both with serious embellishment), formal dresses (something like 7, 2 of those were commissioned by other people though). I also used to do alterations on the side... but I found that really boring so when I got my current job I stopped doing it

In regards to patterns, one should always find a CURRENT pattern book (not something from 1977 or something) and if you're looking for something trendy, look in Vogue/Butterick/Mcall's or something (see http://www.voguepatterns.com/). Please also look for the DIFFICULTY level!!!

Both Lincraft and Spotlight are quite homewares/craft orientated these days so both would be fine places to shop for bags.


In regards to fabric, I find that you can get some really cool and/or cheap stuff at Cabramatta (places like My Hung seem to almost be wholesalers). Mum and I normally go there to buy costume fabric, whether we're looking for something fancy (we always see brides-to-be there, lol), or something cheap enough to buy 50m of!!! (true story. One hell of a heavy bolt of fabric.) Cabramatta is also 'the place' to buy generic fabrics like satin/chiffon/tulle (please note these are NOT furnishing fabrics)- they have ALL the colours. They usually have some cool trims on sale at very good prices, but these plus buttons/zips/thread is about the extent of their crafts section.

Spotlight is a bit more commercial but also has a reputation for stocking many decent-quality generic fabrics in a wide and CONSISTENT range of colours. Unlike the Cabramatta stores the overall quality of the fabrics is somewhat better, and the fabrics will be more 'trendy' if you know what I mean. They do have some very nice/unusual fabrics too - I went there recently and their velvets ROCK! Also, they have a very very good crafts section. If you need something like a set of bag handles/zip in a particular colour or length/trim in a particular colour or style, then Spotlight is basically the place that will have it. And if they don't, probably no-one else will.

Lincraft is one more commercial/upmarket level up. Whilst a bit more expensive, their fabrics are of a consistent high quality and the designs and colours are never drab and are noticably a bit more 'trendy'. They usually stock most generic fabrics (like satin and chiffon) but don't be guarenteed that you'd find everything in every colour. However they also stock a number of really cool fabrics/trims that Spotlight and Cabramatta stores do not. So in conclusion, this is a really good place to go if you want to find something really 'nice' that is also of good quality.


But enough of my spiel. I think Spotlight is a good place to go for people wanting to dabble in sewing - it'll have everything you need, in addition to lots of friendly people to help you out (spotlight frequently hosts sewing classes).

 

[glitterfairy]

LINCRAFT IS SHIT

ahem
i also have dilemmas with patterns. i can't make my own. and i get frustrated easy. i'm in the middle of making an electric blue pinafore-type dress
we'll see how that works out.....
i like to make my own clothes even though i suck

Drafting your own patterns is hard :S

My mum used to be able to draft them "on flat" (ie just her, tracing paper, and a pencil) but not anymore... but OH MY GOD MY MUM USED TO BE ABLE TO DRAFT PATTERNS WITH ONLY AN IDEA TO GUIDE HER!! :S

^ Yeah. I've tried this before. I found it practically impossible. Much awe in my mum's direction right now.


There are two ways of drafting patterns:

The first is to use a "toile" (cheap fabric like calico) and actually pin it onto a mannequin (Vivianne Westwood drafts her patterns like this). Drape/shape as you like, pin in place and mark out where darts/pleats etc have to be, then cut off excess fabric. Use "toile" as your pattern piece, and voila Alternatively if you are drafting a garment for someone else, you can use *them* as the mannequin... but please be careful with the pins!

The second way is "adapting" patterns. All this takes is a bit of familiarity with patterns... argh, how to explain this? Will post up now, think, then edit again.

a) To make something flare out or go in
Rather than just letting in or out at the sideseams (which is what most people do) you can actually make a better fit/more even adjustment by evenly adding or subtracting away from the pattern. To make something smaller, just pop in a dart or something. To make something flare out more (eg skirt or dress):

Cut out a rectangle of tracing paper that is as wide as you want your skirt to be plus 3cm of seam allowance (1.5cm either side) and make sure it is the right length you want it to be.

Next, decide where you want the flare to start. Mark up from the bottom hem of your pattern.

Next, cut the pattern piece into vertical strips finishing where you want the flare to start. If you are making something fully-flared or double-flared (or somewhere in between) DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TO THE END.

Next, you will need to separate the strips from each other... the best way I can describe this to make it look like the rays of a sun. (why are we doing it like this? So that the front/back parts aren't flat with a major pleat thing on the sides ). Place this "adapted" pattern piece onto a new (bigger) piece of tracing paper (baking paper works fine, just stickytape lengths of it together) and voila.. a new pattern piece!

To use existing pattern pieces to make new pattern pieces that are DIFFERENT from the original
I do this when I want to move seam lines around. Sometimes it looks tricky because they cut it, and then they tell you in the instructions that "this is the way this works". Well, I was taught to basically never look at the instructions and work it out for myself

There are two ways of doing this. The first is to sew up a toile version and literally cut where you want to pattern pieces to start/end (particularly with vintage clothes/patterns that weren't cut nicely, their seams can be... weird. And well-placed seamlines can be the difference between a garment, and something that looks really nice). The second is to sort of 'take away' from one pattern piece and to add it to the one next to it.

This can get tricky if the original garment heavily relied on darts, or if it's just being stupid and not working the way you want it to. Often it can help to have a similar pattern on hand to get a guide for where you should move the seamlines to.



* You can sometimes also 'merge' two existing patterns together if they're somewhat similar to begin with (eg I want THAT neckline with THAT cut with THAT skirt and THAT waist belt), but whatever you do make sure the measurements work out!

 

[vern]

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j125/vernski88/Photo-0083.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j125/vernski88/Photo-0082.jpg

That was my first shit attempt, some $10 jeans picked up at sportscraft. It was good because he told me alot of people asked him where to pick up those jeans. I spent a fortune getting proper pens to stay on jeans, then got some paint and gradient the tagging and you can faintly see some leak marks.

Here's what I plan to put on next time
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j125/vernski88/Photo-0061.jpg

I can't sew for crap, but I can modify

 

[AlleyCat]

over my years of op-shopping i have become an expert at altering clothes to fit me better, i don't even need a sewing machine, i can do it all by hand. its a necessity, not all the quality clothes are your size at first.

but generally i wouldnt bother making patterns etc, because chances are the final product wouldnt be as good as you could buy in a store, unless you are a talented sewer or you have very odd/ecclectic tastes.