Make or Buy? Your preference?

[ShooShooBaby]

Well, the fun of authentic vintage is finding something $5 or less (sometimes free). I love knowing that other people pay $100 for things on e-bay that I get for a few cents then fix up.
Then again, making my own I can cheat a little by serging the seams and such though. We've made great improvements in tailor-made clothing since those days as far as fragility and fraying.

yup, me too sally! i will buy pretty much anything if it's under $5. those usually end up being my favorite items. i tend to get a little embarrassed of the few things i've spent over $50 on.

as for the make vs. buy question... i'm lazy/busy so i don't get much sewing done. in theory, i love it! i work in a thrift store AND am part of a collectively-run vintage store though, so i buy more than i make. but if i was paying standard vintage prices eek, that would tip me preference back to sewing, for sure!

 

[KittyT]

collectively-run vintage store though, so i buy more than i make. but if i was paying standard vintage prices eek, that would tip me preference back to sewing, for sure!

See, whenever I make something I'm usually surprised at how much it costs compared to what I could've paid for the same thing. Once you pay for your fabric and notions, and consider the amount of time, you're really not saving that much money.

 

[ShooShooBaby]

See, whenever I make something I'm usually surprised at how much it costs compared to what I could've paid for the same thing. Once you pay for your fabric and notions, and consider the amount of time, you're really not saving that much money.

if you enjoy sewing as an act of creating though, the time doesn't really factor in. the fabric for my last vintage dress cost me about $19 (vintage repro, got it on sale). i'll be using vintage notions i got for cheap ages ago. the dress will fit me perfectly, which would rarely happen for a late-30's dress. plus, my klutzy, spilling, ripping self will actually get to wear it without worry.

so for me, it's worth it. everyone else's mileage may vary

 

[Honey Doll]

I am very delicate with my vintage clothing and find that I wear those items less and less in order to preserve them. I wear mostly vintage inspired these days as its a look I can streamline into my career wear. I've been picking up alot of vintage jewlery and can wear that without too much fret.

I really do enjoy working with vintage patterns and making my own things. It is time consuming, but I get real enjoyment out of smoothing those old tissue patterns over fabric for the first time in 70 odd years and seeing what develops from them.

Honey Doll

 

[Nashoba]

See, whenever I make something I'm usually surprised at how much it costs compared to what I could've paid for the same thing. Once you pay for your fabric and notions, and consider the amount of time, you're really not saving that much money.

For me, I wait until the fabric goes on sale for very cheap (JoAnn's is having a great sale right now btw) and buy up then and add to my stash. I just got a great white ebroidered linen that will make an adorable dress for $3 a yard, the fabric was originially $13/yd. Plus like Shoo Shoo said, alot of it I do for the love of sewing. My sewing for my actual work is pretty boring most of the time so I get to be creative when I sew my clothes. There are some things though that yes, I've spent way too much on the materials alone. I made a black velvet cloak about 5 years ago that the velvet alone cost me almost $150 and the lining brought the total closer to over $200 but I wear it to fancy occassions every year, and I adore it. I couldn't have found exactly what I wanted on the rack anywhere. There are days thought that i wish I had completely unlimited funds....then I'd probably buy everything!

 

[Lady Day]

I just got this lovely 50s rayon dress from a vintage store. It fits nice, but a bit too tight in the bust. SO, being that it has a whopping ONE INCH seam allowance I decided to let it out. Well, I have just spent an hour ripping seams alone! :eusa_doh:

While I was working on it, this thread came to mind. Its these situations, when I find a garment, thats nice BUT needs an alteration, so I do it but I worry stressing the fabric, then I realize I prolly could of MADE a dress in the time it took me to carefully alter this one.

Pros and cons, pros and cons.

LD

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's the thing with alterations -- you always think it's going to be a simple, easy fix and once you dig into it you notice something else, some point where the seam is coming loose or a moth hole that you could've sworn wasnt there before, etc. etc. etc. And before you know it a half hour job stretches into a week...

But I always do try to leave a nice big seam allowance on things I make -- that way, when somebody comes across my stuff in a moldy thrift store forty years from now, they'll be able to make a nice, easy job of it...

 

[Lauren]

Yeah, I know what you mean. We came across a lot of that at the Opera. What you think will be an hour project turns into a three day one. :eusa_doh: It's notorious! You could have a brand new one that has no issues in that time or less!

 

[timorous me]

I buy primarily inexpensive vintage and I've never had anything bust on me.

That's why I like vintage - somebody's been wearing it for 50+ years and hardly any amount of abuse I can give it will make it fall apart. This is considering that every pair of modern pants I buy fall apart within a month. This is also why I would almost always buy a vintage piece over a repro - things were just made better back then. Most clothing today is cheap.

Now, I am rather handy with a sewing machine, I learned to sew much longer ago than I can remember, but frankly, I'm lazy. There are a few things that I would love to make if I had the energy, but I think it takes a lot of the fun out of it.

For me, it's not necessarily the end result (i.e. the look itself) that I am after - the thrill of the hunt is at least as important, sometimes even more so. I'm not in the business of replicating the look of an era (which, for those of you here that do, is noble and lovely). I wear vintage because I like to collect it, not the other way 'round. That's why my wardrobe doesn't stick to any one era.

I like thinking about how a piece has traveled, the lady or ladies whom have owned it before me, the stories they had (did they wear it to a wedding? to their prom? when they met the man they married?), how my stories of where and when I found it or wore it adds to this history (I found it wadded up at the box of a $1 box lot, wore it to the first concert I organized where I met my first heartbreak), and maybe how it may effect some other gal's life when she finds it in the future.

So for me, making or buying repros just isn't the same.

 

[Miss Sis]

I always do try to leave a nice big seam allowance on things I make -- that way, when somebody comes across my stuff in a moldy thrift store forty years from now, they'll be able to make a nice, easy job of it...

Lizzie, I always end up with things with large seams by default. I cut the size I'm meant to be according to the measurements and end up taking it in loads! Sometimes I have to trim an inch and a half to two inches off each side, move the bust darts etc. I'd rather that than it turns out to be too small somewhere, I guess. [huh]

 

[Joie DeVive]

Like many other gals here, I am really tough on my clothes. As a kid I never outgrew shoes; I wore them to tatters. I'm still the same way.

I tend to prefer vintage inspired pieces, reproductions (like stockings) and sewing my own dresses from vintage patterns and reprints. That way when I rip a hole in something it isn't an irreplacable piece of history. I do own and use some vintage hats, bags, gloves, and jewelery because they tend to get a little less wear. My everyday bag is modern though since I also tear those up.

And while sewing can be an expensive hobby, it doesn't have to be. If you buy your patterns and notions on sale, you can get really good deals. I also find it possible to get really good deals on fabrics. This is especially true if you buy off season; for example buying flannel in the summer and linen in the fall and winter. I've bought really nice linen blends for $1-2 a yard. Now, if you don't like to sew, or don't have the time, it obviously isn't for you, but cost wise, you can make things for what you would buy them for or less. I made an A-line skirt out of the linen blend for a total of about $8-10. As an additional bonus, what you make can be fit perfectly to your figure!

I also figure, the less vintage I buy, the more there is for those of you who will love it, wear it and take proper care of it! So we all win!

 

[Trixie]

Hmm...so who are all these gals outbidding me on all the dresses I want on Ebay? lol

I prefer real vintage to reproductions. There is just something about the clothes... the fabric, the seams, the buttons, the fit, everything that just makes me so happy. I had a closet full of stop staring dresses that I never wore because of the cheap stretchy fabric and the fact that they're so common. I recently spent $50 on fabric to make a 40s dress and it was really awful despite the fact that I had a professional seamstress helping me out! Of course maybe if I could sew like retrokitten and lauren I'd prefer repros!

 

[Vix]

With all of the vintage pattern reproductions Vogue, Butterick and others are putting out today it really isn't too difficult to make your own things. I started with base patterns a few years ago and then took to altering them into what appears to be a completely different suit. I hadn't bought anything true vintage until this year when I fell in love with a fifties prom dress I saw while in NYC (the shop-owner called it a "cinderella dress" saying dozens of people had tried it on but no one fit! Thanks to sewing-skills I managed to let out the darts to the perfect size). There's no getting over the feeling of a real piece, but there's no getting over the price either! I can make a repro suit for less than thirty dollars and two days work. You can't knock that!

 

[Rosie]

I prefer to buy clothes for no other reason than I'm just lazy. [huh]

Sewing, resizing, finishing edges, just too much work for me.

I just want to put something on and look cute.

On the other hand, it really is a great feeling to wear something you've made yourself or get something in just the right fit, color, style because you've made it yourself.

 

[Lady Day]

*shoo-wop a bump*

LD

 

[SayCici]

Before I learned to sew my only option was to buy vintage. I still do, but I also enjoy sewing from vintage patterns, ESPECIALLY summer clothing because there is no way to avoid sweating during a Virginia summer and I don't want to worry about that in my vintage dresses.

As I'm still a sewing beginner, sometimes I buy things that I couldn't make myself at this point, or are special in some way. I never buy anything I don't absolutely love.

I love wearing something that I made myself, but I also love the feeling of wearing something with history that had a story before it found its way to me.

 

[Paisley]

See, whenever I make something I'm usually surprised at how much it costs compared to what I could've paid for the same thing. Once you pay for your fabric and notions, and consider the amount of time, you're really not saving that much money.

Same here. I know you can buy sewing supplies on sale, but you can buy clothes on sale, too.

I buy new instead of vintage. Vintage clothes usually don't fit me, and some of the vintage clothes I've bought have pretty quickly sprung holes and tears. So it's new classic or VI for me.

 

[Viola]

I don't know how to sew or knit, though I want to learn both.

I buy clothes largely used but not necessarily vintage.

I mostly wear seperates, so I like to have a wealth of mix-match options. I can pick up VI shirts for 2-5 dollars at the thrift store or even off the clearance rack new at un-classy stores, and I don't know that I could beat that sewing my own? (I honestly don't know) and pants and skirts I usually pay somewhere around 5-10 dollars.

I would like to be at least able to learn to sew buttons; then I could customize things and swap things around and save the good bits of bad shirts or, conversely, take hideous plastic buttons off cute shirts. Yes, learning to sew buttons is my one real goal of crafting for this year. I make all the seamstresses on FL sad.

I would especially like to be able to knit myself a wealth of cardigans and little short-sleeve sweaters and sweater vests, the true backbone of a mix-and-match where people don't realize you've only got a couple pairs of pants.

 

[Inky]

good bump, Lady Day, thanks!

I prefer to sew my own using vintage or repro patterns. Just spent today cutting out new denim trousers and a 50's style shirt for the hubby. It's a lot of work to make your own, and nowadays not less expensive, but it gives me more satisfaction when I have the time to do it.

That being said, I do buy vintage but I have a wish list and I try to be particular about it. I really love that there are so many vintage repro options now for those who don't sew or don't have time or the inclination to sew.

I also knit but I'm dreadfully slow at it - someday I will finish my vintage cardi, lol.

 

[kamikat]

I sew all my own for the simple reason that I'm hard to fit. Right now, I'm bigger than I want to be so finding plus-sized vintage is harder than regular sizes. Even when I was thinner, I didn't fit RTW clothes, modern or vintage. I'm very short with a high waist. Not even "petite" clothes fit me right. When I buy petite or short jeans and trousers, I still have to shorten the leg, same with sleeve length. I'd rather just start fresh with fabric and patterns.