Excuse me, but there are a couple of problems with your plan of making
all of your own clothes.

The plan seems impractical. Even a simple design takes skill to
excecute well. sewing skills take years to perfect. One does not start
whipping out professional looking clothes the first time.

My recommendation is to develop your sewing skills by customizing
existing garments. Change buttons, lengthen or shorten hems and
cuffs. Add details, or take away excessive fourishes. Fix small
flaws.

You will see success much more quickly by modifying existing clothes
than trying to construct an entire wardrobe all by yourself.

I've found e-bay to be a good place to find suitable clothes. Usually
in fine shape, occasionally requiring a small repair.




Kay Lancaster wrote in message ...
I want to copy are all very simple -- 1 to 3 pieces of fabric, mostly
knits, with few or no buttons and no darts. So I think I can do it.
I've requested a bunch of books on sewing from the library, and am
investigating local classes, but I'd appreciate some advice from
experienced people.

Knits can be a bit tricky to work with. Stable interlocks generally
are easier than stretch knits for beginners, imho. One of the
interesting things about patterns is that "simple" patterns with
no darts, no closures -- things that really look simple -- can be
the hardest to fit because they need to fit well. Fru-fru can be
much easier, because the fitting problems get lost in all the details.
More pattern pieces, darts, etc, are also easier, because you
have more places to improve fit.

Because you're in Seattle, and because you're specifically interested
in knits, may I suggest for your first "big project" you try something
like a vest or "sweatshirt" type top in a good grade of Polarfleece?
Though it looks a little intimidating, it's actually quite easy to work
with and small problems like slightly wonky seams get lost in the pile.
Prints and textures also help hide minor sewing issues. I'd suggest
this as a possibility after you've done some basic sewing on wovens
(perhaps something like a canvas tote bag) and a small polarfleece project
like a hat.

Should I get a sewing machine or a serger? I've heard/read that the
latter is better for making clothes quickly. Do I need both or just
one? (I might be able to borrow a sewing machine from time to time,
so right now I'm leaning towards purchasing a serger.)

Sergers are really nice to have, especially when sewing knits. But they
won't help much when you're trying to do buttonholes and zippers. So I'd
say sewing machine first, serger second. But depending on your pocketbook
and your enthusiasm, you might consider buying used machines for now,
then upgrading when you need/want to. There are a lot of excellent
machines taken in on trade... I'd sooner see you with a used midrange or
used-to-be-nearly-top-of-the-line machine than a new, cheap machine. I think
you'll be less frustrated. If you know someone experienced in sewing,
bribing them into shopping with you may be useful.

Of the various introductory sewing / clothes making books out there,
which do you think are the best for a total beginner? Will I be able
to copy my current garments, or is that too complex for a beginner?
(It seems simple... for example I have a grey knit dress that is only
three pieces of fabric sewn together, it seems like I should be able
to turn it inside out, trace it, add some fabric around the edges, and
sew it together. Is there much more to it than that?)

There's a little more to knocking off a design than that... with knits,
especially, it's best to match the amount of stretch and the drape of the
knit. You might look at Besussen's Making Patterns from Finished Clothes
and Doyle's Patterns from Finished Clothes.

You might want to look at Kwik-Sew's patterns, especially the
"Learn to sew" series:
http://www.kwiksew.com/Cold_Fusion/c...me.htm?H=North
and their sewing books, especially "easy sewing" -- this actually includes
the basic patterns for knits, which you can customize to suit.
http://www.kwiksew.com/Cold_Fusion/c...okFrameset.cfm
Kwik-sew patterns are nicely drafted, and work quite well, even if the
illustrations are a bit... um... dorky. When they're made up, they're
great. (I'm not a particular fan of Butterick/McCalls/Simplicity/Vogue,
fwiw.)

Stretch and Sew is another company whose patterns I like; again, well-drafted,
and often quite suitable for further design extensions.
https://www.gmidesign.com/stretch/home.html -- take a look at #150 and #160,
for instance.

Burda is another pattern company I like.

Can anyone in Seattle give specific recommendations about local
stores, classes, sewing groups, etc.?

I believe North Seattle Community College offers beginning adult sewing.
Other than that (I'm down in the Portland area), the three education venues
I've heard about are advanced classes at Nancy's Sewing Basket, Judy Barlup,
and the fashion program at Seattle Central. You might want to look into
ASG: American Sewing Guild: http://www.asg.org/html/chapters.html#washington
I think you'll definitely want to come to the Puyallup Sew Expo: it's
the biggest in the US, and one of the most inexpensive sewing events. Put
your name on the list now for the class catalog that comes out at the first
of the year. http://www.sewexpo.com/

What else should I know?

Fitting is often the biggest challenge; some of the basic techniques
you should work with when you start fitting (imho) are learning to read
wrinkles on clothing, and flat pattern manipulation. For my $0.02,
the best fitting book is rather expensive, but worth every cent:
Leichty, Pottberg and Rasband's Fitting and Pattern Alteration:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...l/-/0870057758
It's not a beginners book, but it's much more complete, and it teaches
a lot of "wrinkle reading". If you can borrow it from your library,
it's definitely worth a read-through when you start fitting, perhaps in
conjunction with one of the more lavishly illustrated but more limited
books like Betzina's Fast Fit or Hazen's Fantastic Fit for Every Body.

There are a couple of magazines that you may want to subscribe to, or
at least browse at the library: Sew News is aimed at beginners, and often
has excellent basic information on such things as various ways to put
in a zipper, or different waistband constructions. Threads is more
advanced, but I think it's a good one for beginners to at least know about
and look through occasionally. I regret I was too cheap to take out
a subscription years earlier than I did... it's one of the few magazines
I save and use articles from again and again.

The other thing that I think is tough for beginners is judging fabric.
If you're used to wearing middle to high end ready to wear (Liz Claiborne
and up), you may have partially educated your fingers on what good fabrics
feel like. There are a lot of crummy fabrics in the world, some of which
can be made to feel pretty good by a variety of finishes that disappear with
cleaning and wear. Or they're made of blends that are likely to pill or
fuzz or... IMHO, these are fine when you can get them cheap and
are using them for muslins (mockups of finished garments), but if you're
going to spend the time to make your clothes, buy very good fabrics -- they're
easier to work with, they last longer, and they look good. There are a
series of books from Julie Parker: All about Cotton, All about wool,
All about Silk that might be useful and interesting to you; there are
also some more generalized fabric guides with emphasis on how to handle
particular fabrics from Sandra Betzina and Claire Shaeffer. FWIW, I prefer
Shaeffer's Fabric Sewing Guide, the earlier, larger, not very sexy looking
book. Another book you might find interesting in your early career,
but get even more out of later is Winifred Aldrich's Fabric, Form and Flat
Pattern Cutting. In particular, you may want to take a good look at
how different fabrics look when made up in similar patterns, and the
"which fabrics drape rather like another fabric" list in the back.

There are lots and lots of things to know about sewing, and things I
wish I'd known more about when I started sewing -- I can't begin to list
them all. Probably the two tips I wish I'd gotten drummed into me earlier
are to pay meticulous attention to grainline, and to use good interfacing,
often in more areas than the standard patterns specify. Oh yes, buy
good thread, and replace machine needles often.

And I've yammered enough for tonight.

Kay