Do you sew and mend your clothes? Do you knit? What kind of fabric do you use? How many objects have you made by means of sewing or knitting? Do you buy clothes or make your own clothes? Do you embroider? Do you use a sewing machine to make clothes, or do you sew by hand by stitching together fabrics? Do you make your own fabrics, or do you buy them? Have you ever used a spinning wheel to make yarns of wool for knitting? What about cotton? Do you have any ancestors who spun natural fibers or made clothes for a living? Did they teach the skills to you? 
I can sew just well enough to fix a hem or replace a button–and maybe take in the waistline of a skirt. But anything more than that, it’s off to the tailor.
No skills or interest in doing more than replacing a button.
I mend my clothes if it can be done with duct tape or wire.
My wife will sew up a small hole in a place where it doesn’t show much, e.g. a pants pocket. For other pants/shirt repairs, we take it to a tailor or throw them away if it’s too far gone. For torn socks, underwear, etc. we just throw them away.
I used to sew a lot of my own clothes when it was economically advantageous to do so. I’ve made dozens of garments for myself, including my own wedding dress. These days, patterns and fabric are so expensive that I only sew something when I have a vision in mind and I know I’ll never find what I want in the stores. Right now, I have some gorgeous batik fabric that someone brought me from Ghanna, and I will sew something for myself with it. Just haven’t found the right pattern yet.
I have a spinning wheel, and I used to have a loom, so I actually own one garment that I wove the fabric for and then stitched together. I didn’t spin the fiber for it, though.
Most of my fiber arts skills (felting, embroidery, knitting, etc.) are employed in the creation of jewelry or accessories, not clothing. My mom taught me a lot. I have a quilt that she and I pieced together by hand.
I replace buttons, and I sometimes patch holes in jeans with gaffer’s tape (once through the dryer on high heat, and it’s melted on). That’s about the limit.
Do you sew and mend your clothes?
Garment sewing for myself has never worked for me, but I alter a lot of clothes. My pants always need to have the waists taken in. My husband’s shirts usually need the body taken in (he has big shoulders and long arms).
Do you knit?
Yes
How many objects have you made by means of sewing or knitting?
Dozens and dozens and dozens. Uncountable hand-knit socks, four sweaters, sundry hats and mittens and scarves. My garment sewing forte is baby clothes. I’ve made about a dozen outfits for my daughter.
Do you buy clothes or make your own clothes?
Buy mostly.
Do you embroider?
Not really.
Do you use a sewing machine to make clothes, or do you sew by hand by stitching together fabrics?
Sewing machine and serger.
Do you make your own fabrics, or do you buy them?
Buy them. No mental space to spin/weave.
Have you ever used a spinning wheel to make yarns of wool for knitting?
No.
What about cotton?
What about it?
Do you have any ancestors who spun natural fibers or made clothes for a living?
Not to my knowledge.
Did they teach the skills to you?
They taught me to do these things, but they did not do these things “for a living”.
I have always owned one or two simple sewing machines. They have saved me a ton of grief and money. I can repair or alter stuff to my satisfaction. I have made new items including gloves, which are very difficult to sew. Then all the kid stuff that I could make along the way was priceless.
I crochet, including clothing. I can sew some basics and follow a pattern. I can embroider a bit as well. (I can knit too but not well enough to make anything but scarves). I’ve never done spinning but I would like to try a drop spindle because it is such an anicent technology. It’s on my “someday” list.
Making clothing by at home either by knit/crochet or by sewing on a machine is NOT by any stretch of the imagination an economical way to aquire clothes. Quality fabric and yarn are both expensive. You could buy a brand name sweater for $20 lots of places but if you made a sweater or a dress from $20 worth of materials it would be made from the cheapest possible materials. And that is also saying your time is free, which we all know, it is not. If you don’t enjoy it, it is CRAZY to make your own clothes.
I crochet because I enjoy it, not because it saves money. In fact it can be a fairly expensive hobby if you enjoy using fine quality materials (I recently spent about $120 on alpaca yarn for a sweater and considered it a rather good deal). The advantage of handmade items is getting the colors you want, the joy of creation, and sometimes, good fit. However fit takes skill, knowledge, and practice, not to mention careful measurements and accurate math. It is by no means a foregone conclusion that handmade items fitt better than storebought ones.
My great grandma knew how to crochet – she made rugs – but she didn’t teach me, or my mother or my grandmother – I taught myself (books/internet). My mother knows how to sew but she didn’t teach me - I took a class. Actually, even though my grandmother is a fairly expert sewer, she didn’t teach my mother either - my mother learned in school; sewing was required back then.
Since I have been Mr Mom, I’ve sewn up several torn softball pants and sliding shorts. I’ve probably sewn on a couple dozen buttons too. They all turned out pretty good too, concidering I had no previous experience.
I sew, knit, crochet, embroider, tat, and do needlepoint. Not all at once. I use appropriate fabric. This might be lightweight unbleached muslin for a half slip, or heavy wool like fabric for a poncho. I don’t know how many items I’ve made…are we going to count the embroidery pieces that I’ve made? What about the little sachets, which I’ve embroidered or put tatting on? Those things don’t take much time at all.
I have made my own clothes, but as others said, the cost of materials and patterns is outrageous. Now, there’s some cheap fabric available, but for the most part it’s cheap because it’s of very low quality. If I make my own clothes, it’s because I want a style or fabric that’s not available in ready-to-wear. I’ve hand sewn a couple of items, and I don’t plan on doing it again as long as I have access to a sewing machine. Back when I wore slacks on a regular basis, I used to have to shorten them, which I did by sewing hem tape on the cut off bottoms (this made a secure seam) and then handstitching the hem with a blind stitch, which makes for a more attractive look.
I’ve never made fabric, nor spun fiber. I do sort of want to try spinning with a drop spindle, but I have so many unfinished craft objects around the house NOW that I try not to get involved in another craft.
I’m sure that some of my ancestors were involved in fiber crafts, but nobody within three or so generations of me. My grandmothers both taught me various needle crafts. My paternal grandmother taught me to do spool knitting at a very young age, before I was five or so. She also taught me how to make my own spool knitter. Later, both grandmothers taught me various crochet lessons and sewing lessons, though I also taught myself out of books. I taught myself knitting completely out of books. I first taught myself tatting from a book, but later on an aunt (who I rarely saw) showed me how to hold the thread and shuttle in a better way.
Do you sew and mend your clothes? Yes I do, often.
Do you knit? Yes, but not well or often.
What kind of fabric do you use? Many diverse fabrics, I’ve made lots of different things, from ice boat covers to parachute material van covers for a tv ad.
How many objects have you made by means of sewing or knitting? Far too many to count. Often as gifts which I entirely forget about till I lay eyes upon it again by chance, and think, “Oh yeah, I made that!”
Do you buy clothes or make your own clothes? Both
Do you embroider? Yes, but not big projects usually.
Do you use a sewing machine to make clothes, or do you sew by hand by stitching together fabrics? I have done both but mostly by machine.
Do you make your own fabrics, or do you buy them? I have never made my own fabrics. But I often repurpose fabrics I come across.
Have you ever used a spinning wheel to make yarns of wool for knitting? No, but I would if I had a chance.
What about cotton? What about it?
Do you have any ancestors who spun natural fibers or made clothes for a living? Not that I’m aware of.
Did they teach the skills to you? Which skills are you referring to here? I learned to sew at my mother’s side. Mostly because I was so small I had to get clothes from the kids department, and back in the day, kids clothes weren’t like they are today. I was a tween so it was learn to make you own or dress like a child!
I can sew buttons on and do simple mending, but anything more complicated goes to my mom. She’s been doing alterations for almost 40 years now, there’s not much she can’t fix. Mom’s tried to teach me a few things but I’ve never quite been able to grasp it.
I crochet, I’ve made myself a scarf. I tried to make a sweater once but it was a disaster. Usually I stick to afghans and stuffed animals.
If something like a pair of pants gets torn I do patch it and it gets relegated to the weekend/SCA pile.
I knit, some say obsessively. Dozens of pairs of socks for myself and others. Scarves. Sweaters. Baby clothes. Afghans. I am trying to learn to spin with a spindle but doing this in a house with two cats is not conducive to learning this skill. I sew a little; making curtains is about the extent of it. I mend things and sew on buttons. Darn my socks. I love to knit and I love wearing hand knit socks as they fit better than machine made socks, and wool socks in winter keep me warmer than anything else.
My mother was a very talented seamstress. She also crocheted. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I took up knitting instead. I taught myself to knit with a little help from my college roommate. In recent years the internet has been a boon to knitters, giving me a source for videos of techniques and of course Ravelry. Also for buying exotic (and expensive!) yarns on line.
I’m curious about your questions. Is there something in particular that made you ask?
Minimum bachelor-level stuff: darn holes in socks (darn holes in socks!) mend minor rips or tears, sew buttons on, etc.
(Are those needle-threader thingies – look a little like a sprung clothes-hanger) any good? My eyesight is at the point where threading a needle is a challenge…)
Yes, the needle threader works, except that you have to thread it through the needle. It’s easier than thread because it’s stiff but if you’re as blind as I am it’s still a bit of a challenge. Magnifying glasses are a help.
I can mend.
I sew a little, but generally I sew things like costumes when I sew - I generally stay away from real clothes.
I can’t knit, I can crochet, but not well enough to do anything that isn’t a scarf or a hat. I can embroider and cross stitch, but really don’t. I can quilt, but don’t.
I can do most things by machine or by hand. I learned to hand quilt, for instance. Some things - like hems - are usually easier by hand than bothering to set up the machine.
I have also weaved, my daughter is actually pretty good at it and has made stuff (purses, scarfs). I have spun - again, she is better at it than I am. Those skills were picked up from the Weaver’s Guild in the Twin Cities. Not my ancestors…
My first boyfriends mother spun her dogs hair into yarn and knitted a sweater. She was a old hippie.
You have a lot of questions! 
Well, I used to sew a lot, would like to buy material and a pattern and do so again. Mostly I mend and alter clothes, if it’s not too complicated. I can’t knit but would like to learn. I buy material from the one remaining fabric store around here, usually a cotton/polyester mix, sometimes rayon, gingham, denim, tapestry…I’ve made tote bags, skirts, a big quilt from cotton squares and cut up t-shirts entirely by eyeballing and measuring each section, a black and red silk kimono that needed every. single. seam. bound with tape so it didn’t unravel. Nightgowns, belts, a lined denim jacket, pajamas, dresses, curtains, swags, simple chair covers, pillows, a made-to-order cotton sateen shower curtain, a prom gown, a round tablecloth (using a now-forgotten formula for measurements, sewn in three pieces) for an odd-sized round table, and have hemmed more pant legs and too-long shirt sleeves than I can count. I especially enjoy buying interesting garments from the thrift store and fixing them up. I used to embroider, but my eyesight isn’t so good any more, I should finish two pieces started years ago before its too late. Oh, and I made Halloween costumes throughout the years from patterns, a kitty, a bunny, a gypsy. And the queen of hearts from white satin and red velvet, and a yellow felt packet of peanut M&Ms, both very professional looking. I’ve never spun wool or anything like that. My grandmother was a seamstress and made dresses for a rich collector of French fashion dolls, they ordered crates of old vintage clothing and lace from Europe to make the doll clothing (I still have a couple of early 1900’s white gauze and lace ‘shirtwaists’ ladies wore tucked into those long hobble skirts). In the 1960’s I sewed elaborate blouses with lace inserts and big puffed sleeves, Betsey Johnson knit dresses,countless sleeveless semi-fitted cotton shifts, silky ‘tent dresses’ - I guess I’ve sewn a lot of things over the years. I have a 30 year old sewing machine that has a straight and a zigzag stitch, and that’s it! Sometimes I sew simple loose things together by hand, I baste things together by hand. Not good at buttonholes and try to avoid them! …Now I definitely want to sew something, Imma heading for the fabric store for sure tomorrow! (I do love to look through the pattern books there and can spend literally hours doing so, and then looking for material, too.)