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I sew clothing as a hobby and have a friend who does so as their job. One of the most difficult things that my friend deals with is people having no idea what a

I sew clothing as a hobby and have a friend who does so as their job. One of the most difficult things that my friend deals with is people having no idea what a hand sewn (in this case by "hand sewn" I mean not industrially manufactured, not sewing using needle and thread) garment costs to make. Just the materials generally cost more than a fast fashion garment and even relatively simple garments like a basic shirt take hours to sew. Even at if the labor is priced at minimum wage, something like a jacket or dress could cost hundreds of dollars.

ActionHank 3y ago
Out of interest what are the benefits of a hand sewn garment vs something that is tailored, but using machines? Edit: not sure why I am being downvoted, genuinely curious if there is a material difference or if it is just the more ethical thing to support.
- droopyEyelids 3y ago
  GP put a parenthetical in their post that indicates they mean tailored (the way you're using it)
- harimau777 3y ago
  I think I chose my terminology poorly. I was avoiding the term "tailored" because to me that could imply something custom made (e.g. taking someone's measurements and then making a suit or dress pattern specifically to fit them) whereas I mean something made individually but using an off the shelf pattern. However, to your question: To me I don't see a lot of advantage in hand sewing for most applications. However, that's not the area of sewing that I specialize in, so someone who was really into it would likely have a different opinion! That being said, I can think of some specialized situations where hand sewing would be necessary or have an advantage, and I'm sure there are others that I don't know about: There are certain specialized hand stitches that can produce unique effects. For example, blind stitches (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_stitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_stitch) can be used to join fabric without a visible stitch thread. Smocking (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smocking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smocking) is a specialized hand sewing technique for creating ruffles or gathers in fabric; either to make them form fitting (without using elastic or knit fabrics) or for decoration. A lot of the characters in House of the Dragon wear clothing with gathers in them that sort of look like scales; that's smocking. Certain things like sewing on sequins can be done with a machine but it's a machine that most people don't own. My favorite example of this is sashiko (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashiko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashiko). Sashiko is a beautiful Japanese style of embroidery originally developed to reenforce fabrics. However, it is generally done using a running stitch (the basic up and down stitch with a needle such that there are visible gaps between each stitch) which most sewing machines can't do. The most obvious application is historical reenactment. That could be done either to achieve a period appropriate effect (for example one of the techniques I described above) or just to maintain authenticity.
  - ActionHank 3y ago
    Thank you!
hn_throwaway_99 3y ago
Yeah, the ultra low prices of fast fashion have also helped to wreck the thrift store model. The thrift store I volunteer at has standard prices for most garments: $5 for a T-shirt, $6 for a pair of pants, $8 for a dress, etc. (though very high-end designer items are individually priced in a "boutique" section). While those prices are a great deal for most "mall-based" secondhand items, they're often higher than the new price for Temu/Shein clothes. Volunteers have just been told to throw any donations of those brands away, because it's not even worth it to sort and inventory them. But still items sneak through, so you'll see loads of people online bitching about how "They're crazy if they think I'm going to buy this Shein skirt for $xyz." Fast fashion is a plague on humanity. So much garbage, and for what, a 5 second dopamine hit after someone taps a buy button?
tnecniv 3y ago
It goes that way with furniture too. I wanted to make a super basic thing that doubled as a raiser for my TV and space to store a few books. Basically 3 pieces of wood. The cost of the wood was as much as some mass produced junk you can get on Amazon from a knock off factory in Asia.

ActionHank 3y ago

Out of interest what are the benefits of a hand sewn garment vs something that is tailored, but using machines? Edit: not sure why I am being downvoted, genuinely curious if there is a material difference or if it is just the more ethical thing to support.

droopyEyelids 3y ago
GP put a parenthetical in their post that indicates they mean tailored (the way you're using it)
harimau777 3y ago
I think I chose my terminology poorly. I was avoiding the term "tailored" because to me that could imply something custom made (e.g. taking someone's measurements and then making a suit or dress pattern specifically to fit them) whereas I mean something made individually but using an off the shelf pattern. However, to your question: To me I don't see a lot of advantage in hand sewing for most applications. However, that's not the area of sewing that I specialize in, so someone who was really into it would likely have a different opinion! That being said, I can think of some specialized situations where hand sewing would be necessary or have an advantage, and I'm sure there are others that I don't know about: There are certain specialized hand stitches that can produce unique effects. For example, blind stitches (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_stitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_stitch) can be used to join fabric without a visible stitch thread. Smocking (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smocking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smocking) is a specialized hand sewing technique for creating ruffles or gathers in fabric; either to make them form fitting (without using elastic or knit fabrics) or for decoration. A lot of the characters in House of the Dragon wear clothing with gathers in them that sort of look like scales; that's smocking. Certain things like sewing on sequins can be done with a machine but it's a machine that most people don't own. My favorite example of this is sashiko (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashiko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashiko). Sashiko is a beautiful Japanese style of embroidery originally developed to reenforce fabrics. However, it is generally done using a running stitch (the basic up and down stitch with a needle such that there are visible gaps between each stitch) which most sewing machines can't do. The most obvious application is historical reenactment. That could be done either to achieve a period appropriate effect (for example one of the techniques I described above) or just to maintain authenticity.
- ActionHank 3y ago
  Thank you!

hn_throwaway_99 3y ago

Yeah, the ultra low prices of fast fashion have also helped to wreck the thrift store model. The thrift store I volunteer at has standard prices for most garments: $5 for a T-shirt, $6 for a pair of pants, $8 for a dress, etc. (though very high-end designer items are individually priced in a "boutique" section). While those prices are a great deal for most "mall-based" secondhand items, they're often higher than the new price for Temu/Shein clothes. Volunteers have just been told to throw any donations of those brands away, because it's not even worth it to sort and inventory them. But still items sneak through, so you'll see loads of people online bitching about how "They're crazy if they think I'm going to buy this Shein skirt for $xyz." Fast fashion is a plague on humanity. So much garbage, and for what, a 5 second dopamine hit after someone taps a buy button?

tnecniv 3y ago

It goes that way with furniture too. I wanted to make a super basic thing that doubled as a raiser for my TV and space to store a few books. Basically 3 pieces of wood. The cost of the wood was as much as some mass produced junk you can get on Amazon from a knock off factory in Asia.