I've been sewing off and on (mostly off) for lo unto 40+ years now. I was taught by my mom and a little bit by my grandmothers, but I definitely have ADHD and I'm pretty sure my mom does too so the process was a bit hit or miss.
I want to sew my own clothes for lots of reasons. I'd love things to be the right length, to have lots of pockets, to be purple, to be what I want rather than what happens to be in stores at the moment.
It's a bit frustrating though because despite having worn clothes for over half a century, I don't have a good understanding of how clothes *work*.
There are so many mysteries! Most of these are inspired by clothes I've bought, but I have the same questions about things I want to make. because I want to make them work well and there are some things I want to optimize for.
A few examples off the top of my head:
- What's the purpose of all these seams on my cargo pants? Which ones are functional and which ones are just there because REI feel the need to change things up every 6 months?
- Why does some terrycloth survive the dryer just fine, while other terrycloth gets snags and loose threads if I just look at it funny?
- How come I can carry a smartphone in the pocket of my fishing shirts just fine, but the same smartphone in my bathrobe pocket makes the whole bathrobe slouch and migrate southwest?
- What would happen if I put cargo pockets on jeans? What would be the best placement and optimal construction?
- Why do shirt patterns call for the yoke to be cut at 90 degrees to the rest of the garment? My whimsical cats will be sideways!
- Why do hoodies all have drawstrings? Do fashion designers not have cats?
I'm sure I have others. And yes, I could google any or all of these. But what about the questions I don't even know to ask?
I wonder if there's like a "fashion engineering" course I could take...
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