Wife got into some amateur tailoring and stitching. She’s spent a total of $300 and two extended weekends futzing around with fabrics and modifications. The end result was one very cute concert costume she’ll probably never wear again and three more mangled outfits she wasn’t attached to before the work started.
It’s an interesting hobby. But not what I’d call a trivial pursuit. Lots of time. Lots of craftsmanship. Lots of asking your husband why the electric sowing machine isn’t working properly. Lots of putting things on and saying “Is this too tight around my hips?” and then deciding its not what you were going for so it goes in the trash now.
No sane person should be taking this up as a cost saving measure. You can find a dry cleaner that does tailoring who will add extra large pockets to an outfit for a few bucks, no problem. You don’t need to DIY just to get these things done.
No sane person should be taking this up as a cost saving measure.
Oh absolutely! With the over-abundance of fast fashion and shopping addiction, the cost conscious route is always to buy second hand. Love platforms like Vinted for that.
Sewing is a hobby like any other, I’m just saying that if you want to make something uniquely yours, the barrier of entry is lower than one might assume. And in the end, making one cute outfit you only wear once is worlds better than getting a cute outfit of Shein and only wearing that once.
My own sewing machine was like 50€ off Aliexpress and I use second hand bed sheets and free patterns. So it actually has worked out for me cost-wise so far, surprisingly 😆 Even got some free extra screws when I took it apart and put it back together once!
don’t get me wrong, i like doing things myself not unlike you do, except with electronics and stuff. i’m also into tooling up to make and maintain my own stuff because beyond needing to do it, i also like it.
the point is why waste time and resources manufacturing stuff we know is bad and centering the entire economy around selling this stuff to the point we are damaging the ecosystem, when in the end we have to make it all work ourselves anyway
Fair question, I personally believe that capitalism runs on money, so stopping things like the rapid decline of manufacturing quality can only be achieved by not playing their game and not giving them money. In this case you could either do it by making things yourself, or by buying things second hand so that the original manufacturer doesn’t profit from it. The second option is definitely more practical, but making things from scratch is also pretty fun
There is of course a heavy dose of privilege involved, as there definitely are paradoxical situations where you can’t afford to not support shitty practices. Doesn’t mean that it’s all pointless for all of us and no one should ever try.
we are in agreement on that, just that it isn’t always easy to escape. sometimes you do need new parts and they will sadly make the whole worse for using them.
i think of a more definitive solution to capitalism, but that’s seemingly so far away still… still trying where i can though.
Wife got into some amateur tailoring and stitching. She’s spent a total of $300 and two extended weekends futzing around with fabrics and modifications. The end result was one very cute concert costume she’ll probably never wear again and three more mangled outfits she wasn’t attached to before the work started.
It’s an interesting hobby. But not what I’d call a trivial pursuit. Lots of time. Lots of craftsmanship. Lots of asking your husband why the electric sowing machine isn’t working properly. Lots of putting things on and saying “Is this too tight around my hips?” and then deciding its not what you were going for so it goes in the trash now.
No sane person should be taking this up as a cost saving measure. You can find a dry cleaner that does tailoring who will add extra large pockets to an outfit for a few bucks, no problem. You don’t need to DIY just to get these things done.
Oh absolutely! With the over-abundance of fast fashion and shopping addiction, the cost conscious route is always to buy second hand. Love platforms like Vinted for that.
Sewing is a hobby like any other, I’m just saying that if you want to make something uniquely yours, the barrier of entry is lower than one might assume. And in the end, making one cute outfit you only wear once is worlds better than getting a cute outfit of Shein and only wearing that once.
My own sewing machine was like 50€ off Aliexpress and I use second hand bed sheets and free patterns. So it actually has worked out for me cost-wise so far, surprisingly 😆 Even got some free extra screws when I took it apart and put it back together once!
don’t get me wrong, i like doing things myself not unlike you do, except with electronics and stuff. i’m also into tooling up to make and maintain my own stuff because beyond needing to do it, i also like it.
the point is why waste time and resources manufacturing stuff we know is bad and centering the entire economy around selling this stuff to the point we are damaging the ecosystem, when in the end we have to make it all work ourselves anyway
Fair question, I personally believe that capitalism runs on money, so stopping things like the rapid decline of manufacturing quality can only be achieved by not playing their game and not giving them money. In this case you could either do it by making things yourself, or by buying things second hand so that the original manufacturer doesn’t profit from it. The second option is definitely more practical, but making things from scratch is also pretty fun
There is of course a heavy dose of privilege involved, as there definitely are paradoxical situations where you can’t afford to not support shitty practices. Doesn’t mean that it’s all pointless for all of us and no one should ever try.
we are in agreement on that, just that it isn’t always easy to escape. sometimes you do need new parts and they will sadly make the whole worse for using them.
i think of a more definitive solution to capitalism, but that’s seemingly so far away still… still trying where i can though.