I'm tired of clothes that don't fit well or don't quite appeal to me. I think it would be a worthwhile investment of time and effort to learn how to make my own clothes. How does a guy go about this? What resources are there online that you guys know about and recommend? I googled a bit and got frustrated, much of it is about making flowery embroideries (no use for a guy), stuff for women, or pillow cases and whatever.
All I want is to learn how to make well-fitting basic stuff, t-shirts, shirts, trousers, perhaps fleece jackets, perhaps jeans, corduroy and so on.
Oh there's plenty out there for guys!! But you are going to have to go out in the real world for some of it, or order stuff online. No freebie sites that I know of, sorry.
First off, do you know your way around a sewing machine at all?? If not, then you want to find basic sewing lessons first. For that, and a sewing machine if you don't have one, try a local sewing machine dealer. We have a whole faq about that if you search through the google archives for alt.sewing you will find that. (search for FAQ and buying a sewing machine)
Ok. Now, I'm assuming you have no sewing experience at all. You want to see if you can find a copy of a good book that will help you when you need it. There are several good beginner through advanced books out. My favorite happens to be the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing. That will help you through techniques and define terms for you. There are others. If you have a Hancock Fabrics or JoAnn's Fabrics locally, they should have a fair selection of sewing books. Also try Barnes & Noble if you have one of those.
Another great book for men, written by a man in fact, is Shirtmaking by David Page Coffin. Takes you all the way through designing, pattern drafting, and making the shirt. Lots of wonderful advice through the whole thing.
Look at
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carry a fairly large selection of menswear patterns. Way more thanmost pattern catalogs, and Kwik Sew patterns are easy to follow and welldesigned. While you are there, cruise through the Kwik Start section.There are a few patterns in there that would work for guys. Those are theirlearn to sew patterns. Would be an easy way to get started. HTH
See if there is a sewing shop or extension service in your area that offers classes! The best thing IMHO is hands on! This will also help you lean about sewing machines, fabrics, how to cut patterns, etc.!
=3DIrene
-------------- You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.=20
Added to what Sharon has said, if you are new at sewing, once you get accustomed to using your machine, a good place to start is make a couple pillows for your sofa, or maybe a pair of simple curtains. This is to practice skills without just sewing on scraps. And always remember, return with the results and any questions you have about what you are sewing. Emily
Or check if your local high schools offer sewing classes as special interest courses in the evening. You'll have to negotiate with the instructor to make a shirt instead of a blouse or pants instead of a skirt, but the basics are the same.
You might also check at your local library for sewing videos to help you learn the basics. Maybe you can check at the local fabric store to see if anyone offers to teach private sewing lessons. The store may have a bulletin board with business cards. Do you have a co-worker who sews and might teach you the basics? Good beginner sewing projects, after you make a pair of pillowcases, would be to start with the casual clothes , jogging or lounging pants and pull over shirt, until you think you've got the sewing machine skills to tackle something more complicated. Barbara in SC
Anywhere that teaches sewing can teach a bloke to sew as well as a woman. Once you have the basics under your belt, you might like to try tailoring for jackets. Tailoring *is* a little different, using a lot of hand crafting techniques as well as basic sewing. It's really no more difficult, but it takes more time and patience - a bit like couture finishing! :)
For starters, you could do a lot worse that stroll round my website. In the Learning Zone there are basic tutorials on seams and seam finishes, hemming, and reading patterns. There's also a section on measuring: measuring points for men are the same as for women, so just use the same chart. I use it all the time for male and female customers.
Others have recommended some good books, but here are a few I use: Reader's Digest Complete Book of Sewing: Look for an older copy with the tailoring bit still in it. The newer one replaced this useful section with a rather brief one on using serger/overlockers, and there are MUCH better books for that! Sewing for Dummies: takes you through the basics and removes the scare factor. Aimed at women, but fitting is the only bit you need to worry about, as all the sewing techniques are the same for both sexes. Shirtmaking by David Page Coffin: excellent! he started as a novice and now teaches. His methods are drawn from his own experiences, and the book is an easy read as well as really useful.
If you don't already have a machine, my advice is to start with a nice pre-loved one rather than a cheap new one. Very few new machines under £300 are worth bothering with, but a good used one can be had for under £100. Look for one that does a decent straight stitch and a nice range of household stitches such as 3 step zig-zag, blind hem, and good buttonholes. Something like this one on my web site sewing machine gallery would be a good starting point:
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The kids like this one when I take it into school for their lessons. I picked it up a few years ago for £70.For T shirts and fleece, nothing beats a serger! I don't bother making t shirts, but I like making fleece jackets: I've made about 20 so far! Again, a nice pre-loved serger like my Toyota will see you through a lot. It will also make finishing seams for pants/trousers and seaming shirts and shorts a lot quicker and easier. They can all be done on a decent ordinary machine, and I'd advise starting with one of those and progressing to a serger later, when you know more about what you are doing. A bit of encouragement: for many years my father in law, now 86, has made trousers, both for himself and for his wife (now sadly gone). He was very tall with loooong legs (upper back has shrunk now), and she was petite (5 foot tall and size 2 and a half shoe, and light as a feather!). He made tailored suits and skirts for her (both the suit she got married to him in, and the one she wore to my own wedding), and most of his own casual trousers, as well as many other things over the years. he never had a sewing lesson in his life, and used nothing but an old black straight stitch hand cranked sewing machine! And a needle and thread! He learned by reading the sewing machine manual, an old pre-war sewing book, and dismembering old clothes. :) Lovely man - wish he wasn't 300 miles away!
To see my site (I don't sell anything through it, it's quite safe!), just hit the URL below and have fun! :)
You can start there. And there is a lot to learn about how clothing is put together by studying already made clothing. But No. Alterations are not easier than sewing from scratch. (and remember this is from someone who does both custom sewing and alterations professionally.) With alterations you first have to take the garment apart. Then you have to make the changes. Then put it back together so that it doesn't look like anything was done to it. The only change you want to see is that the fit is vastly improved; you don't want to see that the garment has obviously been altered. It's a whole lot easier, in many cases, to start from scratch.
Yeah. To get really good looking results without your hands falling off, you will need a sewing machine. If you want to do t-shirts as mentioned before, you will not only need a sewing machine, you will need a serger too. You will need to learn a lot of handsewing details too. There's buttons to sew on dress shirts, etc. And a lot of tailoring is/can be done by hand. But for the projects you are talking about, yes you want a machine.
I have to endorse this most heartily. But I'm prejudiced - I loathe alterations! And I'd rather make a new dresss than iron one I already own! :D
Portable rather than built into a table of its own, I should think. If granny has an old treadle she isn't using, that would do perfectly! :) But again I'll admit my prejudice! I love my 1936 treadle, and my older hand cranks ('portable' is a bit of a misnomer... ) as well as my newer electric machines and my super-whizzy electronic Lily with the 240 stitches and the memory! :)
Sharon is right: a sewing machine DOES have the edge on making seams look professional, unless you have a LOT of time and patience to get the couture hand crafted professional seam right, with every stitch even, the same length, and as beautiful as a rose! Without that patience, use a machine! :) Oh, and machined seams are usually stronger!
Opinions differ. I have been making my own tee shirts for more than two decades and I have never owned a serger. Nor have I owned a computerized machine, just a couple of purely mechanical workhorses.
Find some sewing clases somewhere, anywhere. You won't regret it.
Olwyn Mary n New Orleans.
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Why not start with a man who sews clothing for himself and who also contributes here. I'm sure he could answer a lot of your questions and get you started in the right direction. Check his web page and his fiber arts.HE starts at the very beginning, making his own fabric and progresses on to making clothing. It's a fascinating site. BTW I'm not suggesting that you raise the sheep and spin and weave the yarn.
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I'm willing to bet that Jack can give you lots of good pointers for starting. Come back to us as often as needed.Juno
I agree about making tee-shirts. I made tee shirts for my family of 4 for years without a serger. Just a straight and zig-zag machine. Also made dresses and skirts for myself of knits, both heavy- and light-weight.
First of all, I don't recommend Coffin's shirt book unless it has been updated. Some of his techniques are way out of date, and there are much better techniques available.
One book that will help you to draft your own patterns is the Jack Handford book, Professional Patternmaking for Designers--Womens Wear, Casual Mens Wear. Menswear is formed from two patterns called blocks--one for jackets and shirts, one for pants. Once you have these pieces to fit, you can make anything from T-shirts to formal shirts, tailored jackets or casual jackets, coats, and any kind of pants.
You also need a book on tailoring, so that you learn techniques for jackets and pants. I would check the library before you purchase any books, to make sure you're comfortable with the instructions.
And, as others have suggested, visit local schools to see if you can take classes. I always tailored male clothing for my male students--they didn't have to make girly things.
Coffin's book is always mentioned here w.r.t. shirtmaking and I use it myself. What techniques in particular do you find to be "out of date"? For eg.: in pattern drafting or in the sewing techniques themselves: order of fabrication, seam construction techniques, etc. Patternmaking isn't a problem since I use a well-fitting shirt as a model, but I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve sewing techniques. Thanks, JPBill
Yes, there is all kinds of hope! I started by sewing curtins for our new apartments. I rented the machine for a month. The curtins took much less than that, so I started looking around for something else to make. I went to the Singer store (The store that was available where I was) and bought a pattern and material for a shorts outfit with a top for my wife. I also bought a book of sewing instructions, long since out of print. After making a few of these easy shorts outfits, I had to return the sewing machine I rented. I had to buy a machine to use. Along with the machine came about eight lessons in how to use it. Yes, the instructions were for women's wear and the other students were all ladies, but the priniples are the same for men's clothes. I wound up making my wife's square dancing dresses and my vests and pants for the dances.
Most of my sewing has been for my wife over the years, but I have made some clothes for me. I made my own slacks for quite a while. I gathered up my courage and made a three piece suit. This one turned out so well that I made another one.
Over the past 33 years my sewing time has been rather limited, but one daughter's wedding dress, all of the bride's maids dresses and the flower girl dresses and ring bearer's vests for the other daughter's wedding. It has been fun and as long as it stays that way, I continue to sew from time to time.
The best way to learn to sew is to do it. Read this newsgroup and listen to these folks and you will do well. Ask questions as they arise. There is more collected experience than you can hope to find anywhere else. They are always ready to help. John in South Carolina
By tabletop models I mean the regular sewing machine that rests on a table as opposed to perhaps a handheld one. I don't know if there are any handheld ones but I'd much prefer something small.
There are some handheld gadgets, but I don't think even their most optimistic propaganda claims they are suitable for making garments. They are intended more for small repairs, such as ripped seams, and apparently don't do a very good job of that, even. The people I know who have bought them all felt they'd wasted their money.
The very last thing you'd choose is to have only one hand to maneuver your fabric, with the other hand occupied with holding the sewing machine. Many times while sewing I've wished for a third hand!
If you are serious about sewing, then yes it does require a *real* sewing machine, either cabinet mounted or a portable which can be set up on a table. The "toys" which are marketed as "super light weight" and/or "hand-held" are *not* tools for serious sewing. You would quickly become discouraged and probably stop sewing. Get good equipment. A used late 50s or early 60s well maintained machine will be a good start. Although I now have a new serger and an embroidery machine, *all* of my serious garment sewing is still done on my 1960 Singer 401A (bought brand new in 1960).
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