Why Me-Made?
When Katie texted me and told me she was sewing her own jeans, my very first thought was “why in the &*%$ would you do that???????” I was mentally counting up all the hours and dollars she must be spending on that project, and comparing them to the minutes and $35.00 I spent on my favorite Old Navy Rockstar jeans. Not that I didn’t think that sewing your own jeans was totally cool-I definitely did. But my second thought was “I could never do that.” I do have some sewing experience, but I am mostly self-taught, and have off and on over the past 20 years done a fair amount of sewing for my house-curtains and pillow covers. I have almost no experience garment sewing. Well, ok, I did sew these shorts in 1989:
My brother and I in matching home made shorts at Disneyland. His have pockets, mine do not.
Haha, I made them when I learned to sew in 4-H. But soon after that I decided that sewing was not cool, so I didn’t really think about it for several years.
After I was married in 2000, my great grandmother gifted me this fabulous 1964 Singer sewing machine. (Best gift ever!)
My 1964 Singer
And when I discovered HGTV, it didn’t take me long to wish I had learned A LOT more about sewing when I had the chance back in 4-H. But I borrowed some books from my mom and bought a couple of patterns and was basically able to re-teach myself well enough to fumble through several projects.
But Jeans?????? That definitely seemed out of my league. However, a few weeks later, I got this pic from Katie:
Katie in her Ginger Jeans
I mean, look at that face! Look at that stance!!! She is proud of herself. She feels great in her jeans and they fit amazingly well!!!! Right then, I understood WHY! And I wanted that feeling for myself.
Around the same time Katie told me about her jeans, I had made the decision to stop buying so many clothes-for many reasons. And then started to notice that when I don’t buy as much, my clothes wear out faster because I wear them more often. And I noticed that even when I tried to buy from the supposedly higher-quality stores in my area, they didn’t last any longer.
I also read a few articles about fast fashion and how the fashion industry has a huge carbon footprint. And everyone knows that much of what we buy is manufactured in sweat shops under horrible conditions. I don’t want to contribute to that with my dollars.
So what’s fashion-minded girl to do? That’s right-start making her own clothes.
A year ago the idea of making my own leggings or jeans or t-shirt sounded not only ridiculous, but unattainable to me. But now-I’m going to do it!!! I’m going to put on my confident pants and start making my own clothes. This way I control the quality, I control the fit, and I get the satisfaction! I get to learn new things, I get to start a new journey!!! I want to have that look of complete and utter satisfaction that I see on Katie’s face in those pics. As I browse sewing blogs and follow sewing hashtags, I see that same look on so many sewists faces!!!! I can’t wait to have that look on my face!!!! Follow us to watch our journey through our me-made year. We are so excited to share it with you!!!!!
