As a child, I learned to sew. I was lucky, my grandmother taught me to knit, and my step-mother taught me to sew (as she sewed), and I always loved making things (we did a lot of toilet roll craft in our house and for many years had napkin rings covered with wool made from the cardboard tubes in toilet rolls).
Even mass-made clothing is still handmade, as humans still do the sewing. Sadly, big machines do the patternmaking and cutting, and the economies of scale mean that manufacturers standardise sizing, yet I’ve yet to meet a human who fits those specifications, particularly the further away from the original pattern block you are.
When I was a teenager, it was cheaper for me to make clothes than to buy them. I’d babysit neighbours’ kids, make my $2.40 per hour, then take myself on my bicycle down to the local Home Yardage fabric store, go through the remnants bins (usually) to see what bargains I could find, then come home and whip up a skirt, shirt or pair of pants. Then came the boom in clothing manufacturing in Asia, and it became cheaper to buy than make my own, plus I got busy with work and life and put aside my sewing for some years.
Sometime in my 40s, I’d been an image consultant for a number of years, which made me much more discerning and particular about what I’d be prepared to buy. I had young kids, gotten divorced and had a very limited clothing budget (and not much time either, with the demands of single motherhood). I remember spending hours searching for a skirt in a colour, pattern, fabric, and style I liked, only to come up empty-handed, time and again. That’s when I got out my trusty sewing machine and decided to start sewing my own clothes again. Not everything, by any means, but bits and pieces.
Plus, I started embellishing bought garments to make them truly my own.
What I think is great about sewing for yourself goes beyond what you’d expect from the results.
1. When You Sew, You Learn to Adjust Patterns
This is not a sign of failure (just as altering any garment you buy is not a sign of failure). It means you’re an individual. A unique being. Your colouring, your contrasts, your height, shape, and features are all yours, and nobody else’s, which means that it’s completely OK to make adjustments to the pattern you’re sewing. And what’s great is that most patterns already come with a variety of options, plus indications of good places to lengthen or shorten different parts of the garment. You get to choose a neckline, a sleeve length and style, whether or not you want to add pockets… and that is just the start of it. You get to choose the fabric, the colour, the print, and decide on the garment’s ease. What this does is take you away from judging your body by a set of completely arbitrary sizes (small, medium, large, extra large, extremely extra large, etc.), which aren’t a measure of your worth as a human. And puts you in the driver’s seat. Plus, there is no size label because the garment you’ve made is as unique and individual as you are. You develop some self-compassion.
You’re not trying to fit a size anymore.
This improves your body image as you stop blaming your body and start blaming the clothes. Your body is no longer the problem.
2. When You Sew, You Make Mistakes
And mistakes are OK. Most of the time (unless you accidentally cut into the middle of a piece), most mistakes are completely fixable and as long as you can get more fabric, they’re all fixable, as you can cut another piece if necessary.
You can unpick the seam and sew it again. You realize that a mistake is not a failure, it’s a lesson. Oops, I should have checked that before I sewed it (I mean, which sewist hasn’t attached pieces upside down, or inside out, or the wrong way round at some time or other?).
You are not a failure when something doesn’t work out like you’d hoped. Instead, it’s something you learn from. It improves you. You become better and better with each mistake you make.
That’s the spirit of a growth mindset at work.
3. Clothes Fit You, Not the Other Way Around
In this age of mass production, the quality of fabrics has deteriorated significantly. If you want a specific garment in a natural fibre, it can be hard to find. So many garments are made from synthetics that just don’t breathe. Fabrics that make you sweat (and hold in the smell).
You don’t have to settle for a fabric that doesn’t meet your criteria. You get to choose the fit and the fabric, rather than choosing the “least worst”, you get to make “the best” for you. Sewing liberates you from the constraints of mass manufacturing, where a crew neck is cheaper to manufacture than a V-neck, so that’s what you’re stuck with, even if it isn’t your desired neckline. You no longer have to dread the change room.
4. You Have to Slow Down and Have Patience
In this world of instant dopamine hits from social media and the internet, we can get caught up. Sewing and making (any sort of craft) take time and concentration, require you to focus, and help you become more zen. Anyone who has ever tried to rush when they sew knows that this creates more mistakes and ends up taking more time, not less. Taking care takes time. It’s a great lesson.
Because sewing takes time and patience, you appreciate the garments you make more. They are not so expendable. You don’t want to throw them out. You place value on them, as time is a currency (as is the money you spent on the fabric, notions and pattern to make it), your time is valuable, which makes you realize that you are valuable too.
It seems strange, but taking care in the making stage helps you feel better about yourself as a person. When you’re fully engaged at the task at hand, you push aside distractions and bring your mind into a state of flow, which is completely absorbing and enjoyable. Flow is associated with reduced anxiety, improved mood, and greater psychological well-being. Sewing is, quite literally, a moving meditation.
5. You Learn to Love Your Body
Because you’re making those adjustments, you’re choosing the fit, you’re altering to make the clothes feel good on. Your clothes feel right on you, not binding, not itchy or scratchy, not annoying, not making you feel like something is wrong with you (because it’s never the store-bought clothes you blame, it’s your body that you’ve learned to blame). Instead, your body is celebrated with the garments you’ve made.
Your measurements are just numbers, not a source of shame. Sewing rewires your relationship with numbers. This can radically shift the emotional charge around body size and shape.
6. You Reveal Your Own Style
Because you’re not buying off the rack, at the mercy and whim of the fashion trends and what’s currently available, you learn what’s right for you. What you love to wear, what sparks joy, what expresses you. You’re not stuck in black because that’s the only color available. You’re not beige, basic and boring because that’s what the stores are full of.
When you are sewing, you’re being creative, and doing so helps you think more creatively, which makes you see your own creativity and embrace it. The possibilities start becoming endless.
As kids, we see ourselves in a much more creative way, as we grow up and go to school,
Developmental research has found that children’s creative thinking ability tends to decline during middle childhood. And this is because the grading system in schooling judges ideas, criticising them (in an attempt to improve them), but often results in kids becoming less creative, so they learn to “fit in” rather than be the ones that stand out with the original, divergent ideas. Just like we dress to “fit in” rather than “stand out” in our own unique ways.
Bringing a creative outlet like sewing back into your life is a great way to rediscover your creativity that may have lain dormant for some time. I will always remember talking to a client in a style consultation who had become a nurse because her mother said it was a good career she could always fall back on, even though, in her late teens, she’d been very creative and designed her own clothes. She’d lost that creativity in her style, which was why she felt so stuck and bored with her current style, ,helping her find that again and reveal her creativity was wonderful (and it’s why I’m so passionate about what I do).
Your creativity and self-esteem rise together. Research supports the link between creativity and self-esteem, and this link is stronger for women than for men. Making and wearing handmade clothes leas to higher feelings of self-efficacy as well as self-sufficiency, which together are empowering.
What you make is a one-of-a-kind – you reveal your own style.
7. You Experience The Power of Enclothed Cognition – Amplified.
Enclothed cognition is the science of how clothing affects our thinking and behavior. As a sewist, you live it at a deeper level. Different types of garments carry distinct psychological associations. When you make the garment yourself, you have intentionally chosen every element, from the buttons to the fabric to the thread, to align with who you are and what you love aesthetically. Choosing outfits that reflect your personal style boosts your mood and self-esteem, emphasising authenticity and comfort.
8. You Build a Wardrobe that Reflects Your Lifestyle and Values
Sewing gives you the opportunity to create stylish and unique pieces that fit you perfectly. Rather than acccumulating clothes that don’t work together, you can build an intentional cohesive wardrobe choosing colours, patterns and textures that work together in garments that you want to wear (this is still possible to do when you buy off the rack, but is much harder as you have to wait til the retailers have want you want, which can take a lot of time and energy to find).
This approach allows self-esteem to be rooted in mindful curation and creative use of your resources.
9. You Develop a Sense of Accomplishment
When you step out in your new dress, made by you and receive compliments, you feel satisfied and rewarded in a way that you never get from buying off the rack. This feeds your confidence and self-esteem. Each completed garment is proof of your capability. Working with your hands on creative endeavours reminds you of your capacity for problem-solving, ingenuity and resilience.
Sewing doesn’t just make garments – it rewires the relationship between you and your body, your wardrobe and your sense of self. It’s one of the most practical expressions of everything I teach in my work. That style is a skill, fit matters, and you deserve clothes that work for your body, not against it.
