Hey Makers!
When I saw the ask go out with this prompt, my immediate response was, “The question of how much me-made is enough?!! I think about this ALL THE DAMN TIME.” Which is embarrassingly true. But first – let me introduce myself: I’m Madeline, @hart_anders on Instagram and hartande on Ravelry. You may have read my contribution to the community post on queer sewists! My insta bio, “Queer woman, seminarian, knitter, sewist, dog owner, Minnesotexan” covers the basics, although I guess I’m Minnesotexuckian these days. My journey with handmade clothes started early, though I only began to make my own in 2014.
My siblings and me in Granmom-made Easter clothes, San Francisco, mid-90s. I’m on the left.
I come from a family with a strong tradition of creativity, of make-do and mend, of hand-me-downs and second-hand shops, of over-dying and changing buttons. When shopping, my mom’s refrain was always, “I know you want it, but do you need it?”
That question plagues me. My initial response to the question, “Do you aim for a 100% me-made wardrobe?” is YES! Of course! I’d love to have a wardrobe made entirely by me. Jeans that fit perfectly. Tops that are long enough; that fit just how I want. Sweaters in colors I want; cardigans that button without straining across the chest or hips. Dresses that work for my style. I daydream about this me-made wardrobe. I plot out how to convert my RTW into me-mades – make that body longer, lengthen the hem, shorten that sleeve, take in the waist, add pockets. . . I imagine a smaller closet, with just what I need. I dream a sort of me-made capsule wardrobe, filled with all the things I love and that all work together in a cohesive palette.
And then I think about my beloved second-hand sweaters, sweaters I’ve carefully darned and patched. Or my RTW jeans that have had the crotch repaired because everything else is still good fabric. Dresses I’ve overdyed to give a new life. The two sweaters I inherited from my grandma. My flannel shirt that is so ubiquitous in my wardrobe that I based the colors of my imaginary me-made wardrobe entirely on it. I think about the sweatshirt, missing sleeves and collar, that first entered my life when I was 8 as a hand-me-down, which I still wear. RTW dresses I bought on a whim and loved. All the clothes I’ve taken care of – that cardigan for at least 8 years, those blouses for 6, those jeans for at least 4 years. All the socks I’ve carefully darned, all the tights with the feet cut out since I wear them with boots anyway. The bras that fit, after years of searching.
So, clearly, a 100% me-made wardrobe is not going to work. I’ve got too much RTW I love, and I certainly don’t have the time or money to replace it all with me-mades. Maybe 100% me-made is a goal I head in the general direction of, instead of a finite destination. Here’s where the second part of the question really gets at me – how much me-made is enough? My honest and most immediate answer is “I’ll tell you when I get there.” How much me-made is enough is a delicate balance of time, energy, money, and the current contents of my closet.
Me at my brother’s wedding in Minneapolis, summer 2017, in a me-made self-drafted skirt and one of the above mentioned cherished blouses, purchased in 2012. (Fabric: Stellar Slub in Dark Lemongrass, by Andover, from The Cloth Pocket, in Austin TX).
That 100% me-made wardrobe. When I was thinking about my #2018makenine, these questions plagued me. How much is enough? Do I need it or do I want it? Do I want it because people in the sewing community I think are cool and interesting have made it? New patterns come out and I want to follow the “in-crowd” and make them, regardless of need/utility/function.
When does my me-made become more about who I aspire to be rather than what I’m wearing? The struggle of creating identity in the midst of social media is real, as is the struggle to differentiate myself. Making has helped me feel at home in my body and my identity, so ensuring that my makes help center me in myself, and don’t become my crutch is key. Am I replacing my RTW purchasing with me-made purchasing? I already own plenty of sweaters; no matter how much I love the knitting process, I don’t need any more. Similarly, see the five pairs of jeans in my dresser. No matter how much I think a pair of mustard yellow jeans would be an awesome addition, the truth is that I really don’t need more jeans.
What about cost? The fibers I love – whether for knitting or sewing – they’re not cheap, and I’m a grad student on a very limited budget. And as much as I love thrifting, I have complicated feelings about thrifting to remake, when you don’t need to shop in a thrift store in the first place. Sustainability? My yarn and fabric: I haven’t the foggiest how sustainably sourced most of these are, because the sustainably sourced and trackable yarns and fabrics are out of reach for me financially. And is making all my own clothes sustainable for me, personally? I have a suspicion that it would begin to suck out the joy of making, if I truly had to make everything I wanted to wear.
How much me made is enough? I think that’s a question each of us has to answer ourselves, based on why we’re doing this and where we’re coming from. I can’t tell you when is enough. Maybe you prefer to sew fun items, not basics, or clothes that aren’t practical. Maybe your sewing practice is all about learning new skills, or working with new fabrics, or you love to knit accessories, and not clothes. Your definition of enough is your own. And mine, for now, is “I’ll let you know when I reach it, but I haven’t yet.”
My #MMMay18 Pledge this year is: I, Madeline (@hart_anders), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’18. I endeavour to wear at least one item of me-made each day during May 2018. I will take good notes of holes in my wardrobe. I will also spend some time each week of MMMay18 documenting my wardrobe and thinking/writing about how much handmade is enough, in a public forum of some-sort.
OOh good question – not sure anyone can aim for 100% – I love giving something a second home
I do too! Just as there are some days where I look down and realize I’m accidentally in entirely me-made, there are some days where I look down and I’m entirely in thrifted/hand-me-downs. Upping my mending skills has been a key feature in feeling like my clothes belong to me and not the other way round.
This is indeed a great question! For me, the standard of “do I need really need this”, is setting the standard too high. Let’s face it, if you live in the developed world and are able to access this blog, you probably don’t NEED a lot of things in your wardrobe. After all, for so many of us, sewing is a creative, not needs-based pursuit. My own personal struggle is to try to stop my sewing habits from echoing the kind of consumer must-have-it-all attitude that turns me off from fast fashion. But I don’t always succeed! This week I decided I needed some more stripes in my wardrobe so bought 5 stripes fabrics. Ummm, one would have done. Guess I’m just still a work in progress…
Fair! That question definitely started as a grocery store admonition to small kiddos, but as we grew older it took on a broader tone to encompass that “must have it all” attitude. And I think there is an interesting conversation to be had on the topic of necessity and the first world, but that conversation would have been way beyond the scope of what I could do here :)!
And I think we’re all works in progress, so you’re certainly not alone there!
I’m with Beck on this one. Its a question I have been asking for months in the quest for sustainable sewing, everything I write about on my blog and also the foundation of the #makeyourstash Instagram challenge I have been co-hosting. I don’t “need” anything and I don’t want my sewing to become DIY fast fashion – obviously this can be in conflict with the enjoyment of making things.
100% me made as a goal seems to be pretty common and I always thought I was the weird one who didn’t have that despite having been a fairly prolific sewer in the past – for me I think its better to be trying to consume less rather than trying to make all my clothes for the sake of it. Recently I’ve been getting more ok with the notion of having an already substantial wardrobe (if I wear all the items in it), letting go of the fact that I have a large fabric stash (not added to it for several months). But ultimately I think its a personal choice as to what you feel works best for you and what factors you want to consider.
I just realized studying my stash that I buy A LOT of fabrics that are just plain pretty. Not fabrics I would wear. I had thought I’d use much of it on my teen daughters. Turns out they were done with dresses, (which they used to love) at age 10.
What to do!
Well first off STOP buying those really cute fabrics! So far so good, only 1 slip!
How much me made do the kids need? Unfortunately I should have never let them know I could sew! LOL! They refuse to stop growing no matter how much hem allowance I leave to pull down later! The 4 teens are so into up-cycling their favorite handmedowns there’s no need for new patterns or large fabric purchases or even stash busting! :o)
For me, I truly need a lot of me-mades right now. I’m hard on my clothes day in and day out. And I finally found my style. So I’m trying to squeeze in 8 -9 (I don’t have any) skirts for me while everyone else (11 at home kids) is waiting for their next garment! agh! LOL!
Loved your post, you look amazing. And your me-mades are great! Thank You for food for thought!
p.s. we live in Central MN, we love TX, we adopted from TX 5x, I’d live there if it wasn’t so hot!
Thanks! Glad I gave you some food for thought! Moving around has made it hard to really curate a wardrobe – the clothes I need in TX are not the clothes I need in MN are not the clothes I need in KY (though KY is a good bridge between the two).
My stash problem is with yarn, not fabric (I’ve been sewing for just over a year; I’ve been knitting for a decade). I’m working hard on letting go of guilt around my yarn stash, some of which has been with me for about many years. Sometimes we buy beautiful things for the sake of having the beautiful thing, and I think we can forgive ourselves that impulse. (Hello variegated silk yarn I’ve had for 6 years, I’m looking right at you). It’s a work in progress, for sure. And I think the best thing we can do is to do what feels right for us – I definitely can’t prescribe a solution that will work perfectly for everyone!
Love the post, and a really great question to ask!
I know the quest for 100% me-made is very pervasive in the sewing community, but I an not on board with that. Strictly from an environmental perspective, wear what you already have is the way forward, be it me-made or RTW. So if you have RTW that you love and wear, keep doing that instead of replacing them with me-mades, just for the sake of a 100% handmade wardrobe.
I stopped acquiring clothes (new or thrifted or hand me downs) in 2015. Recently, I am sewing with much more purpose, as I feel I have honed in my style, I am very clear on what I like and I have identified the gaps in my wardrobe. I also make efforts to slow my sewing down, and through a combination of very little time to sew and some tricky makes, I am again succeeding. But I can’t imagine stopping completely, even though I surely have clothes to last me for the next 20 years (assuming I keep the same weight).
In the end, as you said, it’s a personal choice and we should all live in line with our values and priorities!
Wait! Go back! “And as much as I love thrifting, I have complicated feelings about thrifting to remake, when you don’t need to shop in a thrift store in the first place.” Tell me more! What do you mean by that? Because thrift stores should be left for the people who will wear the garment as is? I always assume that buying from the thrift-store is saving that cloth from the landfill…. I love the way you think! so I would love for you to clarify that sentence, if you’re willing. many thanks, Kimbersew
Yeah! So this was basically the one place where my train of thought jumped, but the sentence made grammatical sense and I didn’t catch it in editing. Because obviously thrifting helps keep fabric from the landfill, which is a really good thing. And thrift stores are a great source of both clothing and fabric! I imagine some of it has to do with the thrift stores near me as well – when I find “fabric” (aka clothes) that I want to sew with, I generally also have found a well made garment that really could be worn as is. And so do I use the fabric, potentially saving it from the landfill, or leave the garment for someone who might wear it? If I can afford the fabric, should I buy a garment that could be worn to use instead? What are the sustainability trade offs? And then also it raises questions for me about cost of living vs what people are being paid, and my responsibilities/obligations in that area. As I said, complicated feelings. And I land in different places on different days, so I was trying I think to capture my ambivalence.
(They go in the reverse, too – what happens to my me-mades at the thrift store? Does anyone even want them?)
SUCH good questions! I go around and around on them, but I usually come back to the fact that using thrifted clothing or curtains or anything is Not supporting the commercial industry that farms out the dangerous, toxic, polluting, and wasteful stages of fabric dying and garment manufacturing to other countries. Any steps of a garment that I can do myself without buying new feels better to me. And if someday there is not enough waste to provide me with used material, hallelujah. I am evermore grateful to my local clothing swap scene that for the most part keeps me clothed without cost or effort. Thanks again for your thoughts and writing and sharing!
Thank you for this. I’ve been struggling with so many of these same conflicts. Is it really better to make five dresses than buy just one at Target? Is it wrong to buy thrift store plus-size clothing just to take it apart, when I know from experience that plus-size clothing is hard to find in my area? Lots of people ask #whomademyclothes, but how about who made (and grew the fiber for) your yarn or fabric?
I don’t have great answers for any of these questions. I try to buy secondhand fabric when possible and actually follow through on plans to use my stash, but it’s a challenge. I’m not sure what the solution is.
I feel like the question of whether or not to aspire to a 100% handmade wardrobe comes up a lot, with the underlying presupposition being that people are just tossing out their perfectly functional RTW items & replacing with them with self-sewn replicas. This assumption is so bizarre to me. I aspire to a 100% handmade wardrobe…in part because it’s always been such a challenge for me to find RTW (bought new or thrifted) that captures my personal style, is made from textiles that don’t bother me, is comfortable, & fits me well. I have gradually phased out most of my RTW items in favor of self-sewn over the last five years…because the RTW items wore out & were replaced with me-mades, &/or because it was a relief to replace RTW that was uncomfortable to me for some reason with similar self-sewn garments that worked better for my body & lifestyle. It wasn’t an overnight process…& I’m still not at 100% RTW. I still buy RTW shoes & socks, I still have a RTW hoodie that ticks all the boxes & gets worn a lot. I do hope to start making my own shoes & socks (& this isn’t just a vanity thing–I broke my foot last year & my feet are now two quite different sizes; if I can make my own shoes to accommodate this issue, it’ll be the same kind of accomplishment as, say, making my own shirtwaist dresses with buttons that don’t gape), & I’ll replace the hoodie with self-sewn when the time comes.
Buy hey, if I had come into sewing with a whole closet full of RTW garments that suited my style, were in good condition, fit me well, etc etc, I wouldn’t have replaced them just on principle. & I apply the same ruthlessness to my me-mades as I do to RTW. I’ve certainly made myself garments that wound up being duds–because the fabric irritated my skin, or the fit sucked, or the design wasn’t actually practical for my lifestyle, or whatever. & those garments have been donated. My primary goal is to have a wardrobe that I 100% love–& if it happens to be all or mostly self-sewn, great!
Lovely post. I can so commiserate on all of your points!
I wanted to start sewing because I thought it would be a good challenge and to make clothes in the style and colors that I like. In addition, I wanted to know how to fix and alter clothes. But now I want to start making shoes. I am having a hard time trying to find last.
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