Have you ever worn something you made yourself?

I crochet. I made myself a hat

I have often found when I would buy something I thought I would really like but it had to be sexied up to suit my style. I would tailor it to my liking.

I’m 6’3”, so taking something in, or lengthening a dress, and Ive done it many times! Who would have thought learning to sew years ago would help me ‘dress’ now, I should have seen it coming!

The only things I have ever made myself have mechanical parts and/or electricity running through them....so no.

My daughter has a skirt which you can wire up with twinkling lights, so don't necessarily count yourself out.

Accessories, breast forms and hip pads when I was young. Used the cups out of my mom's bathing suit for a mold and warmed silicone and poured it in to make my first set of breast forms. I then incorporated some small pearl buttons for nipples.

My answer may be a bit disingenuous since the majority of sewing that I have done has been alterations. I made my own hot pants out of worn jeans. I've altered thongs and panties so they fit me better - like buying a size 8 for the larger front and then shortening the other parts to fit my size 6. The front coverage is better that way. The real crazy thing to me is the irregular size standards for women's things. I've bought skirts, sizes 11, 12, 13 and 14 and they all fit just about the same. The styles haven't been that different so that doesn't account for the variation. Bottom line? I make alterations to fit my bottom line.

I have sewn two dresses and started on a third. The first one was a realisation of a childhood dream of being a fairy tale princess. I had long searched for anything close to that dream gown of my fantasy without any luck. Suddenly one day I saw it in a private advertisement on a website for second hand things. Unfortunately the size was too small for me, but the description said it was home sewn. I started looking around for patterns and not long after I recognised the dress pattern in the German Burda catalogue. I bought it immediately, started looking for an appropriate fabric and finally decided for a bronze coloured satin duchesse with contrasting ribbon in golden yellow.

My wife had brought a sewing machine into our home, but before starting on that, l hand stitched a trial bodice out of cheap bed linnen fabric to be able to adjust the measurements for perfect fit as i had picked up from watching my mother sew for many hours during my upbringing. When l was finally pleased with the fit, i transferred fhe adjustments to clean pattern paper and started cutting out the pieces.

Being the first time I made sych a project, it proceeded slow but methodically. Some instructions I did not fully understand i would check up online on sewing sites for an explanation. I also modified a few details, most importantly lengthening the 3/4 sleeves of the original, widening the shoulder puffs and adjusting the neckline to cover my bra and forms. Finally after about a year it was all finished.

Later i made a red dance dress that was really simple. It only took me one full weekend to sew from scratch.

Both dresses can be seen among my public photos on the site.

That is something that I could easily rig up....but since I have never done it for myself nor am I into wearing skirts, I still have never worn anything I made for myself.

No but I've "repaired" lots of things. Stretched garter belts, "special panties", (yes those ones !!),when the rubber straps broke and "modifications" were required to make them "fit for purpose)

I would not call it "sewing" by a long chalk. Just needle and thread and "stitch away".

I would never consider myself good enough to make/repair any outerwear.

Caty

PS not sure "panty hose and bird seed" breastforms qualify here. Tho the rats in a shed I once had loved the bird seed...Made my poor"moobs" shiver just typing that....

I have made ear rings, necklaces, jewelry. Have done needle work for repairs in clothing.......Meh....nothing really exciting as dresses.

Dame Veronica

I recently wore a skirt and bolero jacket out to a CD dinner that I made, from a commercial pattern I bought at a dress store. Actually it was the fabric that I fell in love with first, a yellow, flowery printed satin, and wanted to make something out of it. If you look at my photos posted here, there is a picture of my outfit. The white top was a store bought piece.

This is how I got the skill, quite a few years ago when I was in the digital print business, I worked with a system that digitally printed images onto fabric. Then learned to sew the product for the customers, to their specs, so I through that, I developed good sewing skills, but dressmaking is quite different. Though one of the neatest things of that job, was that once I got to create, and sew a bunch of pink spandex for a Barbie event!

Amy

Hi Alison, your question made me reach into some old brain cells.  I have made some clip on earrings and necklaces, nothing really fancy though.  And like many other gals, I'm handy with a needle and thread when it comes to making small repairs.  But I've never taken on a project such as a complete new skirt successfully.  I did try to make a denim skirt once using material from some old blue jeans.  Not the greatest effort.  Cheaper to buy a nicer one in a store.  One successful project was turning an old t-shirt into a cute top that I wear when riding my exercise bike.  There are lots of easy to follow, step-by-step videos on how to do this on YouTube.  All the Best, Hugs, Krista.

Lots of stuff...an alternate way to avoid the risk of shopping in my early days...gave mom;s sewing machine a work out when she wasnt home. Got nice patterns from hobby lobby and Jo And fabrics. Made some cute dresses, blouses and accessories..

Mo