I made my first thing. A dress to be exact. And it turned pretty good.

I have been wanting to try my hand at making my own clothes for a while. I’ve owned a sewing machine for about a decade and the only person who had ever used it was my mom. When she was here visiting last summer, we went out and picked up some material and I thought it would be a good idea to have her teach me how to use the machine by making my own clothes. We decided on a pair of pants. Well, I didn’t order a pattern, I just assumed that it would be easy enough to self draft a pair of pants, something my mom had never done and something I definitely had never done. I honestly got frustrated with the process early on…I definitely think I liked the idea of doing it more than the actual doing of it. But my mom continued on with the project and made the pants. She did a great job, especially given that she didn’t have a pattern to go off of.

But I don’t think she’ll do it again!

The process of making my own clothes

Fast forward almost a year and I decided that I was finally going to have a go at making my own clothes. I ordered some fabric and 2 patterns. I got comfortable threading my machine and learning how to sew by hemming a few things (a dress and a pair of pants). Then I hesitated. My perfectionism got in the way. I self doubted that I would be able to successfully make my own clothes. And why did I choose the item and material that I did?

If you read about my Cozy Capsule Spring Wardrobe, you know that I had reserved 2 spots for 2 items that I planned to make, a Wilder Gown and Arenite Pants, both in raw silk.

I had originally bought the pdf version of the dress pattern, I cut it out and then I taped it together. I read the instructions (note to self: do this at the beginning from now on) and I was unsure if I had printed it correctly. Since I was already nervous about messing it up, I decided to eliminate the guess work and I ordered the printed pattern instead.

Finally, on April 20, I decided to make the dress. After some careful measuring, I cut the pattern pieces out for a size small. Then I pinned these pieces to the material, one at a time, until all of the pieces were cut. I did shorten the middle tier a little so that it would fall where I wanted it to (just below my knees) on my 5″3″ frame. Then in the late afternoon, I pulled my machine out, added thread to the bobbin and threaded the machine. I put my first 2 pieces together and got started. That first seam came out well but in hindsight, I would have finished the seam allowance differently. Oh well, live and learn. I continued on with the rest of the dress until I finished the entire bodice. Then I sewed the pieces for each of the tiers together and put it away for the night.

The next morning, as my kids did some school work at the table, I got to work on the bottom tiers, first gathering each at the top and then pinning them into place. This was the most time consuming part of the project by far. And instead of even gathering all the way around, I decided to add pleats all the way around. This wasn’t a conscious decision. I hadn’t looked at the photo of the dress closely enough and I thought that pleating it this way was what I was supposed to do. It probably would have been quicker to do it like the one in the picture but live and learn (my new motto, apparently).

After I had my first tier sewed on, I started working on the bottom tier, the biggest tier. Once it was pinned in place, I realized that I had pinned the wrong side to the right side instead of doing the two right sides together. Ugghhh. I was able to reposition the pins without too much extra work involved but it was frustrating. Finally, I sewed the the bottom tier on, hemmed the dress and it was done!

The result of making my own clothes

On April 22, also known as Earth Day, I wore my first #memade item. After years of dreaming about making my own clothes, I had finally done it! And it felt fitting to wear a garment whose production was not at the expense of unfairly treated workers and that will not be taxing to the earth on that special day.

After going through the process, I have a new appreciation for garment makers. There is a lot of time and talent that goes into every piece of clothing and people that have this skill should not be exploited by fast fashion companies that pay them a pittance while they make billions in profit each year. If you’re interested in breaking up with fast fashion, check out the tips in this post.

The material that I used, silk noil, aka “raw silk” is a natural fabric. When I wash it, it will not release micro plastics into the water system which would eventually make their way into the waterways to be eaten by aquatic and avian life. Some day in the very distant future when the dress is no longer wearable, it can be composted and returned to the earth to enrich the soil. I know that this dress was made with determination and love and that it is something that I will wear for a very long time, long past it’s 30 wear mark. And some day, it may even be worn by my daughter, who over the day that it took for me to make it, watched me from time to time with interest. Some day I hope to pass along this dress, plus a love of sewing.

Because this may have been the first time that I’ve really sewn something, but I can feel a love of it taking anchor in my soul and I know that there will be many more times that I will lovingly make my own clothes in my future.

And at the time of finishing this post, I have actually made my second and third items. But if you follow me on Instagram, you already knew that, didn’t you? 😉 And, spoiler alert…I’ve already ordered some new patterns and fabric as a Mother’s Day gift to myself, even though I don’t think I’ll have any of it in time.

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Have you ever made your own clothes? If not, is it something you want to try in the future?

Until next time,

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