Hello! I have always been someone who bought store-bought clothes out of convenience ( aside from my childhood clothes that my mom used to make that were really hardy but I grew out of.) I’ve been considering exploring local tailors and dressmakers because I am sick of buying crappy clothes and higher quality imports are a bit expensive (I’m not based in US).

Has anyone here made the jump to tailored or even handmade from home clothes? What are thoughts in terms of the quality of fit and materials from a tailor versus store bought (either cheap store bought or higher quality)? What has it looked like when considering the cost of tailoring versus buying from a store?

Very interested to hear your thoughts! Many thanks :)

EDIT: thanks so much to all of you, this has been very informative for me and helped a lot. Many thanks!

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Illustrious_Mixture8 t1_j87uhvv wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:52 AM

On one hand, I highly support handmade wardrobes, for aesthetic, fun, and ethica reasons. However, fabric worth sewing is expensive, and you will quickly discover why average working-class humans have been getting along with only two or three outfits for the last thousand years

Pointy_End_ t1_j89ebqt wrote on February 12, 2023 at 5:15 PM

> However, fabric worth sewing is expensive, and you will quickly discover why average working-class humans have been getting along with only two or three outfits for the last thousand years

Very well said! I was flabbergasted at the cost of fabric locally. It is in many cases cheaper to buy a pre-made item than it is just to buy the fabric. As a result, my pandemic “make your own clothes” project fizzled quite quickly.

The upside is that now I have a nice sewing machine. It’s surprisingly easy to fix common issues with cheap clothing and keep them in use longer.

Illustrious_Mixture8 t1_j89fb53 wrote on February 12, 2023 at 5:21 PM

It's definitely fun to buy things and tweak them yourself, it's fun to be able to tailor, but uh. Good suiting fabrics go for upwards of 120/yd and lining silk upwards of 80/yd I will Not be making my own clothes for work when 200 is more than enough to get a decent suit jacket off the rack. Midtier cotton and jersey are usually affordable, but that's about it.

ol-gormsby t1_j87rzbv wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:20 AM

Home-made clothes are fantastic, but you'll need some practice. And a decent sewing machine - don't buy a cheap one. And space. And patience. You can hunt down cheap patterns at second-hand stores. Once you've made a few items, you'll get faster at it. I'd make more clothes if I had the patience. It can be frustrating, but it's also incredibly rewarding. Head over to r/sewing for some inspiration.

Dressmaker/tailor-made will be best, but it will also be costly. On the other hand, high-quality clothes will last a long time, and you won't need to be buying replacements every 1 - 2 years.

workin_woman_blues t1_j89jyf4 wrote on February 12, 2023 at 5:53 PM

Yes when I sew my own clothes they do NOT last as long because I'm terrible at sewing the hems 🤣 sweaters have been slightly better. :)

throwaway_u_knowaway t1_j88hm73 wrote on February 12, 2023 at 1:01 PM

just in my personal opinion, I don't think you can beat buying the highest quality clothes you can find thrifting if you want the most for the least money, of course if you don't have a thrift shop culture in your area that would be difficult though

I found a beautiful Trenery shirt the other week for $7 that looks great, great condition and will probably last me years, there's no way I could beat that kind of value outside of inheriting something or like mugging a rich dude for his clothes

not to brag haha

shinomory t1_j89j802 wrote on February 12, 2023 at 5:48 PM

Your results are going to be varied. Store-bought clothes are consistent, for better or worse. Tailored (store-bought then altered), made-to-measure (make the measurements yourself), or handmade clothing is going to vary based on where you are, who does the work, and the materials involved.

If you find someone who does work you like (fit, price, quality) you'll enjoy it. If you don't, you'll waste time and money.

In general, at least here in the USA, I expect to pay about 0.1-0.5x the average store cost of an item to get it altered, 1.5-2x the cost of an item to get it made to measure, and 2-4x to get it fitted and made (with multiple fittings). Labor is expensive here. I don't make my own clothes because I don't have the time.

Fit varies. Tailors can make mistakes when they're measuring you. Sometimes two similar items can be altered the same way and fit differently. A good tailor helps a lot for alterations but that can only go so far, even with made-to-measure clothes. Full handmade/bespoke clothes with multiple fittings fit the best but are the most expensive.

One thing to note is some of how well an item fits is subjective or based on style. Most of my family can't tell if my clothes fit because their fashion sense stopped developing in the mid-90s. A lot of my friends can't tell if my clothes fit because they just don't care. You should figure out what parts of fit matter the most and prioritize those.

Quality/durability/materials varies a lot. A t-shirt can only get so durable, but a jacket can have many different features that make it last longer and look better. You can get away with lower quality fabric with better construction and stitching, but the fabric is the most visible component.

I try to get decent quality basic store-bought items altered (or just wear them as-is), and then get high quality handmade or made-to-measure items for clothes I don't wear as often.

I'd recommend starting with getting some of your existing clothing altered so you can figure out what you want from your clothing and your price range and then going from there.

LogicalTimber t1_j89v5dx wrote on February 12, 2023 at 7:08 PM

Anyone who tells you that making your own clothes is a way to save money doesn't actually sew. There's a reason that tailoring has been its own profession for thousands of years. I've been a professional costumer for a few years now and my skill set is still really narrow - I can make really good ballet costumes, but ask me to make jeans or a coat and the fit and finish quality will be lower than what you find in stores. There's just a massive amount of skill and experience that goes into producing high quality clothes.

IMO, the best quality-to-money-and-time ratio is getting good quality clothing - second hand if you can - and take it to a tailor to have it adjusted to fit you. Having things made for you from scratch gets the best results, but don't be surprised if you're spending 4x as much or more.

If you want to take up sewing, have at it! It will stretch your brain and your fingers and the satisfaction of making your own stuff is one of the best parts of being human. But if your goal is just good quality clothes and you don't want a new hobby, there's better approaches.

ShitPostGuy t1_j8ap5p9 wrote on February 12, 2023 at 10:36 PM

All of my suits are made to measure and it is absolutely worth it. For $400-$500 you have a garment that fits PERFECTLY, and that’s what makes it look good. A $100 jacket with $100 of tailoring will always look better than a $1000 off the rack.

It is however a skill and a profession so I would not recommend trying to make your own clothes unless you’re doing as a hobby rather than to have nice things.

theropeiscut OP t1_j8f3kiz wrote on February 13, 2023 at 9:07 PM

An excellent point, thanks for that!

Gerryislandgirl t1_j8h6bhe wrote on February 14, 2023 at 7:19 AM

I like to buy clothes that are on sale but returnable. I leave the price tag & take them to a tailor and then ask if how much to get it fitted to me. If the price is too high I take them back but usually it ends up costing about what I would have paid full price.

[deleted] t1_j87kwzt wrote on February 12, 2023 at 5:57 AM

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rozina076 t1_j8afnze wrote on February 12, 2023 at 9:28 PM

US based here, so this may not be an option for you. I have a ordered a few dresses made to my measurements online from a place in India. For the price, it was only worth it for dresses for non-casual wear, but the fit and quality were amazing. I assume there is more than one place online that does this. They had a catalog of clothes online and you could customize things like sleeve length, collar, hem length.

theropeiscut OP t1_j8f3g3e wrote on February 13, 2023 at 9:06 PM

Thanks :) What were the company called?

rozina076 t1_j8f9qak wrote on February 13, 2023 at 9:46 PM

The one I used was eshakti, but if you search custom made dresses you will see others who do the same thing.

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