I’m finishing up a pair of burgundy pants.\u00a0 Since I already have a pair of black dress pants that fit well and go well with the new wardrobe I made, these pants will be the end of Stage One of my Sewing with a Plan experiment.<\/p>\n
I was talking to someone who said that sewing isn’t cheaper than going to Wal-mart.<\/p>\n
Now, I do shop at stores like that often, and sometimes do find deals there!\u00a0 But the money-saving wardrobe aspects really depends on a lot of factors.\u00a0 Because I’m a reasonably experienced seamstress (hem! hem!<\/em>), it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever<\/em> be able to get something off the rack that will fit nearly as well as something I’ve made myself.\u00a0 I can’t<\/em> buy something in Wal-mart with a custom fit.\u00a0 It’s simply not available.\u00a0 But even throwing fit aside, can I find clothes at Wal-mart “just as cheap”?<\/p>\n Eh, sometimes I can. And when I do, I buy them.\u00a0 I’d be highly unlikely to make myself sweat pants, a sports bra, or a t-shirt I was intending to work out in.\u00a0 While I learned to sew to save money, it was more for historical costuming (which is gut-wrenchingly expensive if you cannot sew) than it was for a personal wardrobe.<\/p>\n I wouldn’t recommend sewing as a money-saving technique, necessarily, unless you really like <\/em>it.\u00a0 I do, which is what makes it worthwhile.\u00a0 Yes, I get a garment whose material price is cheaper than what I’m likely to pay in a store,\u00a0 I get the hours of pleasure making it, and the additional kick out of wearing something I made myself.\u00a0 I don’t think I’ll ever get over that!\u00a0 Opening my closet and seeing the garments I made for myself hanging all neatly organized gives me a wonderful sense of satisfaction.\u00a0 But even the process of sewing, the smell of the fabric when I’m pressing down a seam, the sense of wonder of turning a 2D piece of fabric into a 3D creation, the puzzle-solving satisfaction of putting together a pair of pants with pockets, the way that the machine loops the thread to make a stitch in a way that seems like magic, all of that is all just fun<\/em> to me.<\/p>\n But if I didn’t enjoy<\/em> sewing, I don’t think it would be worthwhile at all.\u00a0\u00a0 All those hours of aggravation would not be worth the money I’d saved doing it, even if I did force myself to develop the skill necessary to sew well enough to be saving money.\u00a0 I think that’d be too much like work<\/em> and I could earn more money in other, more pleasant ways.\u00a0 Ultimately, sewing is just a hobby I have that pays for itself, that’s all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m finishing up a pair of burgundy pants.\u00a0 Since I already have a pair of black dress pants that fit well and go well with the new wardrobe I made, these pants will be the end of Stage One of my Sewing with a Plan experiment. I was talking to someone who said that sewing … <\/p>\n