Why Buy Handmade?
I'll tell you. In the course of the average week, I do a LOT of alterations and repairs. I would not be exaggerating to say that almost every day people come to me with clothes to be fixed that fell apart within the first couple of times they were worn. Invariably these were made in a factory in some other country. Sometimes, people paid a lot of money for them only to have them need repair; that's a shame. Usually, people got them pretty cheap but now they have to pay more to have them repaired; that's also a shame.
The hem fell out. Buttons/flowers/other decorations fell off. Stitching came apart at the seams...or was already apart when it came from the store.
Some people might be gun-shy about buying handmade
stuff, especially clothes. Let me just explain a few
things about construction.
I have a serger. If you don't know what that is, it does
this. You'll recognize that from all the store-bought
clothes. It's a handy thing to have, but I don't always use
it. It gives a nice finished look to seam edges, and helps
prevent fraying. It does not necessarily mean higher-
quality construction in all cases. I use it when the fabric
has a loose weave, or if I'm using fleece or attaching a ruffle, because it keeps the bulkiness in check. Sometimes if I'm sewing with cotton I finish the seams with pinking shears:
once one end of the thread comes loose, it will get caught on something and pull out the entire row of stitching. That doesn't happen with hand stitching.
Speaking of hand stitching, I sometimes sew by hand. In fact
I sew a lot by hand. Little stitches, not visible from the outside.
I usually do it when sewing a lining, or armhole or neck facing.
Places where machine stitching would show and look bad.
I do this because I love to do it. When I'm sewing these clothes
I'm not watching the clock, or working on auto-pilot because I'm
thinking about having to work long hours for low wages or just have no reason to take pride in my work. I'm having a good time, and I'm paying attention to what I'm doing. My goal is to make something that will last, and I hope it will be passed on to someone else when it's outgrown. I use good-quality materials. I try to keep my prices as low as possible, but yes, you're going to pay more than you would at Wal-Mart. You're also probably never going to see anyone else wearing the same thing!
This too prevents fraying, but only on certain fabrics. I like this look because you can tell it's a handmade thing. But it's on the inside anyway, from the outside it makes no difference how the seams are finished.
All my buttons, bows, decorations, etc. are attached by hand. They look better, and the stitching will hold. If your hems are falling out or buttons fell off, it's because the machine stitch that was used is a chain stitch; that means that
