Reading this blog post, made me think about the reasons I sell my clothes, as opposed to sewing only for myself. I have read and seen sewists’ struggle (too dramatic?) to keep their closet small on the blogsphere and Instagram. We love making clothes. We sew when we get new fabric. We sew when new patterns are released. I have been sewing clothes for more than 10 years. Can you imagine how many clothes I would have accumulated by now had I kept them all to myself?! I live in Tokyo. Tokyo apartments are notoriously small. I only have one tiny closet which I split in two to store my own clothes and the clothes for sale. Besides that, as a seamstress, I have a lot of other stuff to store in my house, such as patterns, threads, notions, fabrics, fabrics and fabrics….
Selling my handmade creations helped me keep my closet considerably minimal. Selling my clothes helped me keep going with my sewing obsession without filling the house with countless clothes.
Recent custom order, from antique kimono to wrap dress
Here are some ways that selling my creations helped me:
Sewing for other people is fun
Often, other people give me ideas that I would not have come up on my own. Sure, you might not be sewing exactly what you want to sew all the time, but it gives you more variety. Requests are unexpected, which is great depending on how you look at it. My kimono dress series wouldn’t have started unless I taken on a project for a client to upcycle her kimono. I would not have any ideas on how to make costumes. I would not have learned how to fix wedding dress when it is too small for a bride. The list goes on.
Sewing for other people challenges me
Had I not taken the offer from my friend to make her wedding dress back in 2011, I would not have had wedding dress business. Taking on an unfamiliar project is intimidating. But once you get over the fear and tackle the project, you learn. You learn new skills. And the more you do it, the easier it gets and less intimidating for you to take on new challenges.
Cream shift dress
I’m not criticizing for people who only sew for themselves. I think it’s great if you are like Katie, who sews for herself, reflect upon what she’s made and take and run with it. She learned what her style is, and was able to better create her capsule wardrobe. If she did not sew for herself, she might not have gotten there. By writing this, I wanted to remind myself why I do what I do and that is is good for me to do. Sewing for other people is for my personal development and creative fulfillment as well as making other people happy with their new clothes. I also LOVE sewing for myself, and in fact, am currently enjoying wearing this new button up. Any thoughts?
Photo Collaboration with Taichi Hatano
Botanical Flower Wedding Photo Shoot
Tokyo Bloggers Fabric Shopping Meet-up
Inspiration Behind the AW12 Lookbook Shoot
eimear greaney says
I generally prefer to sew for myself but equally its good fun to try patterns that are not my style but look interesting. I also like to draft patterns to see if they work for an upcycle project. Last year I decided to try and sell them at a market rather than donate as donate back to the charity shop felt like just giving them more work to do. I did not charge much but it was very interesting to see which of my pieces were popular. This year I am giving some makes to a charity shop to sell as part of fashion revolution week, as the items were made from charity shop buys – and they will do a window, ans sell them off – again, I am not bothered about the price as its for the charity shop to decide and its to show that old clothes can be remade into wearable clothes. The charity shop gave me a load of jeans that will not sell and I am making skirts – its proving good fun as I am also getting to experiment a bit!
Chie says
Wow that sounds like a fun project! I love upcycling clothes too. It’s fun to think about what element in a current clothes we should keep and what to change.
Donna says
I would love to sew for others if they only valued my craft. People want a lot for very little. My time can be spent elsewhere. Good blog post though 😍
Chie says
Thank you for your comment, Donna! Good point, sewing for others and setting up shop for profit is a separate matter..it requires a lot of work for sure!