I’m sort of torn between wanting to know how to sew and seeing it as too little womanish. I sort of admire those who know how to sew and sort of think of it as a quaint and faintly old fashioned skill like churning your own butter or making lace.
I can sew, and used to sew all my own clothes. The last few times I got out my machine was to make curtains (lined), pillows, and cat toys. I hand embroider tea towels with old anthropomorphic singing kittens and dancing dishes. You can find a lot of those old patterns at Hoop Love Vintage group on flickr. Oh, and I USE those towels to dry my dishes. I also embroider handkerchiefs which I also use.
I’ve seen a lot more people interested in sewing since shows like Project Runway started. A few of my friends have dusted off their old machines and one woman I know has gone from unable to name parts to making quilts, skirts, handbags, and guinea pig caves. Pretty much self-taught in about a year. I think I don’t like her so much anymore….
I don’t like buying fabric on line because I want to feel it first. The local JoAnn’s near me stocks mainly quilting fabric, wedding/prom fabric, upholstery fabric, and fleece. Yards and yards and yards of fleece. We’re in Texas, fercryinoutloud. Do you know that there are only about 15 minutes in February each year when you can wear fleece without roasting to a fine crisp. Fleece!
My sister and I moved in with my dad and my stepmonster when I was about 11 or 12. She refused to buy us clothes. I don’t understand why, but she wasn’t having it. I guess because our mom took us clothes shopping every year right before school started and we asked our evil stepmonster when that shopping trip was going to happen and she flat out shut us down. “You can wear my girls’ stuff that’s stored upstairs in the closet.” Her girls were ten years older than us, so everything was 1970s: short little dresses, low rise bellbottom pants – this was the era of designer jeans and Polo shirts. So first thing, I took those old bellbottoms and learned how to peg the legs down so at least they’d look like cheap shitty jeans that were cut “right” (to the style at the time). (I wore too-big button downs to hide the low waistline.) Then there was a church dance coming up and I had nothing to wear, so again, I asked if we could go shopping so I could maybe find a new dress. She handed me a pile of fabric and pointed me to the sewing machine – no pattern, no instructions, just here, go make yourself a skirt and quit bothering me with your needy shit.
When the next summer came around, it had been a couple years since I’d had new clothes and nothing fit, and by then I’d been through at least one semester of Home Ec. So I made some shorts and sweats for gym and summer out of some terry cloth that was laying around. She wouldn’t even take me to get new fabric either; I had to make do with whatever I could find around the house. (She would not even take me out to get gym clothes for school. It’s like this bitch WANTED me to get bullied and picked on for my poorly made – because I was fucking 12 – ill-fitting clothes. And no, I don’t really understand why she hated us.)
They finally acquiesced and started buying me clothes when my dad found out that I’d skipped lunch for the entire school year to save up my lunch money to buy one stupid pair of the ever-desirable Jordache jeans. I also think my best friend claimed that a pair her mom bought her didn’t fit her so she could give them to me. Everybody ignored the fact that my parents could well afford a couple pairs of jeans each for us.
Sorry, I’m still bitter. But yes, I learned how to sew, pretty much out of necessity. If it’s a simple item, I don’t even need a pattern anymore. I’ve made several workout outfits and have also made some costumes for a friend who is a stripper. And that’s even more fun because there’s an added challenge of “how do I make this so she can rip it off with one hand while still up on the pole?” 
(The answer: I did a Jessica Rabbit dress in red sequins for her, that was attached to her bra with clear velcro.)
I can churn butter! I can make yogurt and I can make my own flatbread.
That’s funny, because, as a male, I got a lot more out of Home Ec than I did Shop. I already knew how to use a bandsaw and drill press and shit, but after Home Ec, I could fix my own clothes and bake a cake. Granted, I’ve never baked a cake outside of that class, but I’ve sewn a bunch of stuff (well, patched) over the years.
Gotta show off a little here. Someone linked to the pattern on line. I scaled it up to almost 8’ long and used the back side of some hideous wrapping paper to make the pattern. It was a gift for my daughter whose nickname in middle school was Squid. I don’t know why - it just was… It’s the last big project I sewed - a gift for Christmas 2 years ago.
OK, that makes a lot more sense than handmaking something you are going to only wipe the counter with.
I collect Victorian and early 20th century sewing manuals, and “hemming dish-towels” is often mentioned as the sort of boring drudgery that the sewing-machine has made so much easier, although not as easy as buying a three-pack at Target. ;D
When I was in, I believe, fifth grade, the boys as well as the girls took home ec. So I cooked a few things, baked gingerbread and also learned to sew a seam. I can still do it, in a pinch. Over the years, I have probably sewn on a couple dozen buttons. So I chose the third option.
Hey, it gets cold here and I still think they have too much fleece. I don’t even like fleece directly against my skin, plus it makes my hair really staticy. I don’t know why Joanne’s has to stock 478 rolls of it.
I can on a real old machine have but not on a new one.
I learned to sew because it was the only way I’d ever get something new to wear. With 12 aunts and uncles and all their offspring (I think I counted almost 40 cousins once), hand me downs were it for us. I used to make all my own clothing, then when I started working full time, there just wasn’t time. After a sabbatical of a maybe 10 years, I thought to go back to it, but by then, the damn patterns alone seems to cost more than I would have previously spent on an entire outfit. So I wear what China sends us and what Goodwill has.
A little bit. Somewhere between options 3 & 4. I’ve been known to sew up tears in some of my articles of clothing. I could maybe sew a button on. Real basic stuff.
I’ve been lucky to find nice fabric, and like I said the issue isn’t cost, it’s finding what I want.
You haven’t met my mom’s dead-simple straight skirt. Length of fabric (I used to only need a yard, sigh). Wrap around you and pin for width. Pin to the length you want. Sew into tube that fits around you. Elastic waist. Kick pleat? Nope. Lining? I use a slip that blends with the fabric and add snaps so it doesn’t move around. Unsnap slip and wash it as needed.
I wear skirts a couple of inches above my knee; this wouldn’t work too well for longer skirts.
Somewhere between 2 and 3… I have made my own clothes, but not for a while; the only recent thing I’ve done was a banner for a society I’m in.
I keep meaning to start up again, in fact I even got to the point of going and buying fabric and looking up patterns, but I just haven’t got round to it. I don’t really have a good spot for it in the house, setting up means clearing lots of housemate junk away, which is my excuse.
I can’t do much: just buttons and basic stitching. My mother taught me just before I moved out of home. She said it would be a useful skill to have. She was right.
I used to be able to use a sewing machine but it has been so many years it would take me a bit to pick it up again. Considering the amount of wood working I do though, I would probably pick it back up fairly quick.
My mom made a lot of clothes for my older sisters and even made clothing for their Barbies and then my Brother & mines GI Joes. I had a pretty cool arctic snow suits she made out some scraps from another project and some dress wear for no apparent reason.
I came close to buying a cheap sewing machine when my kids were still young, but the one I bought was a dud and I returned it and got my sister to make a few small items for my daughter instead. I never did make my son’s bed into a pirate ship.
Yes. I learned in home ec in middle school and was hooked. My mom had a sewing machine, so I would make stuff. Got my own machine when I went to college and for a while, I designed and made my own clothes. I taught myself quilting, and have made pillows, curtains, dolls, and do repairs and alterations. My favorite was a self-drafted Renaissance gown with a boned bodice, and a corset. If I had unlimited time, I would sew a lot more, probably historical costume and quilting.
When I was still in elementary school, my mom used to do alterations for various women who saw her ad in the paper. Many’s the afternoon I came home to find a strange woman in a slip in the living room. It was a good job for a SAHM and she did it for years.
At one point, she also made Barbie clothes that she sold at our church bazaar. The stuff she made was so much nicer than anything you could buy. My Barbie had a gorgeous beaded wedding gown, among other things. Mom didn’t do that after the one time - sewing those tiny little sleeves into the tiny little arm holes had to be a real challenge!
I agree completely - that was a great post among many great posts Qadgop.
My mother started teaching me to sew when I was 6; we started with sandbags which my Dad used for his IED stuff. 
Next was Halloween costumes, then actual garments. When I was in high school I would go after school and buy fabric and a pattern and make a dress that night and wear it the next day. Styles in the '60’s were really easy, at least for a while.
I did do harder stuff too - like a wool jumper with besom pockets -gah! And a linen blouse with tons of tucks and cuffed sleeves with a bunch of covered buttons. Eventually I started modifying patterns, then got a book and learned to draft my own patterns and started designing garments.
Nowadays I mostly do household stuff like a cushion for the window seat, throw pillows and curtains, Christmas stockings and dog beds. I did a pretty impressive pirate costume for my husband - including a hat - a few years back. I’m considering reupholstering a bench now.
Oh, and I use the same sewing machine that I learned on, which my mother bought refurbished in 1954. It goes forward and reverse and has an attachment to make button holes, but no overcast or fancy stuff - I have to do a lot of hand sewing to finish seams. I like using the old machine and it thrills me no end when I encounter a problem with the machine and I somehow know without consciously remembering how to fix the bobbin tension or whatever. It’s also tough enough to repair window screens and sails for a 34’ sailboat and I love it.
I voted: I can use patterns to make garments and other items, I can repair and alter by machine or by hand.
I started sewing as a small child. My mother sews beautifully and made nearly all of our school clothes when we were little. I learned from her. I haven’t done a lot of sewing over the last few years since I started knitting.
This past fall my son wanted a Dread Pirate Roberts costume. He totally impressed me when instead of asking me to sew it for him, he asked me to help him make it himself. I’m happy to pass my sewing skills on to my son.