I’ve been thinking about the urge to knit or sew things for myself and how it compares to the old urge to shop (which are at once the same and very very different). Obviously over the past few years — and increasingly the past few seasons — I’ve put a lot more effort into wardrobe planning than I ever had before. But even with all of that, I find myself pondering what are my actual criteria for when I add something new.
It’s definitely still a gut thing, framework aside. Any new garment has to fit into my wardrobe, sure — has to follow the old “makes at least three outfits right off the top of my head” rule — but it also has to meet or exceed my notion of how I want to dress, how I want to feel. It must have appeal for more than a season. I have to be realistically able to make it: a fingering-weight stockinette sweater will never get finished. It should fill a gap rather than being redundant with things I already own. But most of all there is good old raw, instinctive WANT. I need to feel excited to wear it — not just “yeah, that’s useful” — or else, again, it’s in jeopardy of never being finished and/or dulling my love of making. Bonus points if it can be made from stash or with a known yarn/fabric I’ve been trying to find a project for. (My stash is not very big and I rarely acquire anything anymore without a specific project already planned for it, so there aren’t that many “shopping my stash” opportunities. But to the extent I have a sweater quantity of something that’s not already earmarked, that is a definitely a decision driver.)
So I guess for me it’s about finding the sweet spot between fashion lust and practicality — it has to win over both of those judges in my head — but my favorite thing about humanity is how different we all are, and I love hearing about all those countless differences. So that’s my Q for You today: How do you decide what to make? Do you follow a list or a whim? Are you driven by your stash, your Pinterest, the Hot Right Now page at Ravelry, your budget, your color sense, your desire to use certain skills … How does it tend to work out for you? And is it the same decision-making process for making as for buying?
(Porter Bins and Field Bags from Fringe Supply Co.)
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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: Are you a repeater?
I have a list. I have stash yarn that sometimes evolves from the original purpose. Yarn sometimes grabs me. I see something here. My books. A gift. A need. A want. You get the picture. BUT, because of my reading here and other sights I have pared down what I have and rethought a lot of projects. In the future, I hope to avoid the “squirrel ” theory of buying and making. (Like when your dog sees a squirrel and is off in that direction) Thanks for the inspiration. Peg
I like knitting with the best yarns so often it is the price point of a certain pattern that I make the decision to knit it or not. Often, I see a pattern I just love, then when I find out that it will cost over $200 to knit, I decide there is lots of other stuff out there. I don’t have a huge stash either. Another problem I have, there are some of the yarn dyers that I would like to try but because I can only afford a couple of skeins and the choices are all so great, I usually don’t buy any because I can’t decide which one I want more. I have a monthly budget of about $80 … I can go over a little but it doesn’t take much to go over budget, which I usually do.
I like the idea of setting a monthly budget. I’m such a slow knitter, and knit mainly sweaters that take more than a month, so it would roll over and accumulate!
No. Shopping and making does not go through the same chanel for me. I make things I feel is pretty, whether it’s a sweater, shawl or other knitting stuff. For some very odd reason I never end up actually wearing the things I’ve made!
Shopping for clothes is either I know what I want and buy it. If I don’t I go into a store, glance around and if I find what I want buy it, if not I move on to the next store.
I’m a mess obviously :)
I totally get the squirrel thing. I have a running joke that I like to think the blue heron is my spirit animal, but really I’m much more of a squirrel. So my daily mantra is to be more of a heron. That’s in all things, but you’ve made me realize how well it applies to my making! I’m getting there.
I used to stash yarn for a future unknown project that never came out of the blue. Since I was 7 to 8 years old, knitting has always been a hobby AND also doing something useful. But for almost 15 years knitting was put aside; I had fallen in love with patchwork and I found the perfect group and perfect teacher. Those were 15 very fun and fulfilling years. Teacher moved out of town, the group dispersed and I was left without a hobby, a bit sad, with no desire to sew anything. Knitting gradually returned to my mind and wishes. Finding your blog was mostly inspiring. I’m hooked in knitting again. Made a huge donation of most of my stash of yarns for a group that knits for poor people and started afresh. My first project is a Bellows Cardigan. I don’t have much time because I’m still working, but the company of your blog keeps me going. Thanks for the inspiration! Looking with new eyes at my buying side. Elenice
Bellows is such a good reintroduction! Comparatively quick and so satisfying.
You are absolutely right! I’m in love with my Bellows knitting!!!
I think a lot more about my selfmade projects than I do about buying my clothes. That’s the reason (mainly) for trying to increase my selfmade production. It involves thoughts about the quality, the time investment, the sense of being able to do something useful an pretty at the same time and to be aware of the problems of industrial clothing production. Of course I have lists, favourite yarns or colours I love, but sometimes it is only a texture or a technique that keeps me captured. I love knitting and sewing. And fashion. It is that simple.
I am older, I have been knitting seriously for about 55 years, I have a lot of stash,some of it purchased by me, much of it passed on to me by others. I worked for over a decade at an LYS with a generous discount policy for employees and my tastes became quite high end. I am past the point of knitting only what I need: arguably I need nothing. Given all of that, my choices now are stash driven: Can I knit what will satisfy my desire for style, what will give me joy in the process, with the stash I have on hand. I don’t shop for a project anymore, with the exception of things like baby gifts and sweaters for the grandchildren (when washability becomes a key consideration). I knit a lot of fingering weight sweaters because I have a lot of fingering weight yarn, always bought in sweater quantities and rarely with a project in mind, and because I have the time. Adapting what I want to make to what is already in my stash is a creative journey I am enjoying. I get more inspiration from Pinterest these days; both of the current sweater projects are inspired by that source, patterns no longer needed.
(Before someone is moved to jump in with the “what abouts”: yes, I do regularly re-home the excess. The yarn that is leftover from projects has gone to after school craft programs, the annual garage sale that benefits the Textile Center of Minnesota, a womens’ prison program. I regularly knit for charities, both local and international)
55 years? That’s what I want to aim for!
I rarely make things for myself, usually making for others. I decide to make something for myself when I discover a need for a particular garment or accessory. I look to stash first to fill the need – choosing just the right yarns, etc. – and then select or create a pattern for the object. As a spinner / dyer / knitter, I can create the yarns I want to work with. As you can imagine that blows the doors open with possibilities!
I’ve moved this weekend and was amazed at the amount of clothes and sweaters I own. I think I have too many that aren’t ones that I reach for weekly. I’ve been guilty of making things that looked cute on someone else or looked great on a model. I am trying to be more practical and know that I prefer unfussy lines in neutral colors.
I’ve given away three sweaters in the past six or eight months to people who really wanted and love them, and it’s so satisfying!
When knitting for myself, I choose to knit projects that fill a void in my wardrobe. With that said, it has to be a pattern and yarn that I am love with. I would rather wait until I find the right project than knit something to meet my wardrobe needs. I also have been trying to choose patterns that allow me to learn a new techniques and stretch my skills.
honestly??? I usually see someone else’s (yours KT lol) FO and think “I want that!” that said it takes me months to decide on a project and yarn for it. I never buy yarn without a project in mind so by the time I am yarn shopping I’m already committed to a pattern. Occasionally my plans change, usually bc I change the pattern but it’s always in the same vein of one another. for example, I admired your improv’d pebble sweater and thought that I would like a light summer sweater in black. I swatched for an improv’d sweater with pebble held double but I thought about it – if I’m spending quite a lot on yarn, I’d rather get a pattern to make sure that it works out so I picked wintour by julie hoover. I saw jen beeman’s completed martine and really loved it too and I have been wanting to try one of hoover’s patterns :)
regarding sewing, I purchase very plain fabric (white or black, linen or cotton or a blend for the most part) and I purchase patterns when they go on sale so I just consult what patterns I have and the fabric I have at the time. I’m still learning how to sew so I try to not be too precious with fabric but I know that some of the patterns I have are beyond my reach
my favorite thing on ravelry is the “yarn ideas” section of any pattern and then I can see all the projects made of that pattern in a particular yarn :)
I normally decide to make things based on a whim haha. I wish I was productive enough to make a list though!
I am kinda whim oriented too. If I like a pattern and it sticks in my head I want to knit it. Just finished “Acorn” thanks to your post with Junko. Knitting is my therapy:)
I think that “sticks in my head” factor is a really important one! With shopping, I have for years told myself not to buy anything when I first see it, but to wait and see if I keep on wanting it. And now I do the same (or try to) with knitting/sewing plans. There are so many things where the want doesn’t last, and it’s best to know that ahead of time! Whereas the ongoing want is a good sign something will be loved and worn.
It is interesting to hear how others go on decicing and building their wardrobe. I am not that far-sighed. I tend to gravitate towards the ‘fun’ patterns that are something I cannot buy readymade from a store…
I think that’s a great strategy — buying the basics and making the things you’d never find in stores.
I have a queue of a thousand items on Ravelry. I don’t know if that helps or not! I do go and clean it out and reorganize it from time to time. I make the things my thoughts keep coming back to. I am trying hard to stick to a yarn diet and use up my stash and that’s helping me think creatively. For instance I bought the Heart on My Sleeve collection for the cause it espouses (I have had malaria, it sucks). Instead of DK weight yarn, I decided to use worsted weight yarn from my stash with fingering weight yarn held double to make a Crazyheart for my 8 year old. It’s a WIP but it was good to let go of the gradient pack I had been planning a shawl with and reimagine it as a sweater yoke.
I don’t sew or spin, and I think that’s fortunate given my hoarding tendencies!
I tend to sew and knit based on “mindful whims”–the item must work with my wardrobe, and is often driven by fabric that calls to me (I don’t have a stash of fabric or yarn, a mixed blessing).
I tend to buy basics, because I don’t trust my skill set to produce items that I’ll wear day in, day out. I admire your fearlessness in that area (and your talent).
“Mindful whims” I love that!
hmmm. How do I decide? Lately, it has been a case of I have yarn in stash, I should knit it up. What pattern works well with this yarn and my life style? That has meant that this past 6 months I have been knitting sweaters from stash. I am on the last one, inspired by your black and white pullover. Mine will be blue-green and black. In fact, when it is done, I will have at least 4 sweaters in the blue-green category. I just finished a cardigan recently. With no more SQ in stash, I will feel better about the big spin I have planned – a sweater quantity – in shades of purple for a nice change! But in my mind, turning over and fiddling about is the knowledge that more than once last winter I looked at what I was wearing and wished I had a red cardigan to wear. So I will do something about that eventually.
But I do have a lot of stash, and I have been consciously working at reducing it, so I often choose what to make based on what the yarn I have in hand is, and what I would use if I owned it. Lots of shawls, some socks, all these sweaters. I even made a sock plan for the year, and worked it out to one sock a month, it will use up almost all of my sock yarn.
I am committed to not buying any yarn that I haven’t got an immediate plan for, that I don’t think I will use in the next 6 months. And I am thinking about making that same commitment on spinning fiber, lol.
Now I bet you are sorry you asked.
Not at all! I love all of these answers.
I did not know about the Hot Right Now section on Ravelry…. so long to the morning! I have a huge fabric stash, mostly pretty nice fabric bought on super sale from Fabric Mart, and have been having the best time trying to sew up an item from each Burda issue that arrives. It’s kind of the opposite of wardrobe planning, which I used to be all about, but I’m making some of my favorite, unexpected, and frequently worn garments now! I could always talk myself into something more practical, more “me,” and this has freed me up a lot. I tend to be very careful and consistent with fabric choices, though, so my closet can’t get too crazy :)
I’m more of a beginner sweater knitter, and am still purchasing yarn for certain projects that I have meticulously queued. They are all rather statement sweaters, cables and lace and such, that I just can’t resist. Knitting takes so long compared to sewing, and I’ve been considering patterns that I’ll enjoy making as much as wearing (or more, even!).
i have to say that i am stash driven. I look at what i have and decide what i can make from it and what i feel like making. then when i finish i decide is this something i want to keep or gift. a lot of times i just make something to see if i can make it. those projects become gifts. i am trying to just make garments for myself (i am very tired of my wardrobe).
Here’s my dilemma: I WANT to make things often. I have a stash of yarn and fabric to take up a lot of space in my attic. I often have a creative urge but lack staying power. Have I finished the baby blanket for my already 5-month-old grandson? No. Have a I finished the granny square afghan for my now 40-year-old niece (afghan started when she was in her 20’s)? No. So when you say, how do I decide what to make, there’s no problem. I just start. It’s the finishing that’s the problem for me.
Barbara, do yourself a giant favor and finish the baby blanket and afghan. Make a commitment, a Girl Scout Promise to yourself, to work on them on a regular schedule and set time each week. I promise you, when you get to be my age, you will be happier with yourself for seeing these projects through. I was, and still am. Imagine the pride you will have in yourself for completing and giving these lovingly handmade gifts to your loved ones. Mine are the gifts all my ‘kids’ love the most.
I’m the opposite of MJ — I say let them go! If you aren’t loving the knitting enough to pick up the project regularly and finish it, frog it and use the yarn for something smaller. It’s so liberating to let unfinished things go. A little sweater (or even a bib!) would be every bit as appreciated — more so if you actually finish and give it! ;)
(Coming from someone who doesn’t make blankets or fingering-weight sweaters.)
Lately I have learned to think about my wardrobe first when deciding what to make. Just a few years ago I would pick a fabric/yarn that appealed to me at the shop and choose a pattern that was hot or new and not think about how this future project would fit to my wardrobe. I often ended up with handmade items that I never wore.
Now I would rather knit a gray stockinette cardigan that I know I would really wear than a colofur and specled hot-right-now yarn and knit a shawl out of it that will not go with my other items.
That being said, I would like to leave myself a permission to make that specled-yarn-shawl-or-wrap if I feel that this would evoke my knitting mojo which sometimes goes to sleep.
But it is so easy to jump to the bandwagon these days (all that socal media and so on) and then realize that you even don’t like the band :)
I try not to think about how many wrong-for-me things I made when I was starting out.
100% pure lust.
Kidding but only kind of. I don’t have a ton of time for knitting and sewing; I probably average just two sweaters and 3-5 sewn garments a year (plus gifts here and there). I keep a running list of what I want to make next and move things around as needed. But when it is time to start something new it’s usually because the fabric & pattern just excite me the most at that moment. With sewing, it’s also a matter of what I want to wear right now (so, seasonal, and sometimes informed by something inspirational I’ve seen on a person or in a shop). Knitting is always more about long-term desire, since it takes me months to finish a sweater so there’s no instant gratification. I never really sew or knit to fill a wardrobe gap or anything, because I don’t plan my wardrobe in a structured way, nor do I generally make basic building-block clothes like jeans, Ts, neutral sweaters, etc. Oh and the last factor is I don’t like it when fabric hangs around a long time, so if I have a choice of several sewing options I try to go with the one that will use the fabric I’ve had longest.
That’s a great strategy! I’ll have to try that one on my fabric stash.
This is not an answer to your question, but I wanted you to know that your slow fashion posts have prompted me to question buying new clothes. Not that I am a fashionista — I live in rural n.w. Wisconsin, and my go-to places are WalMart (gak! but it’s the only place within 50 miles that sells clothing), Target, Kohl’s, and Fleet Farm (yup), plus L.L. Bean for flannel-lined jeans and plaid flannel shirts. But I have quite enough clothes to last me perhaps for the rest of my life, so why buy anything new? I may revive my long-dormant sewing skills (I made many of my own clothes when in h.s., back when dinosaurs roamed the earth) to fill in some holes, and I will undoubtedly have to buy new jeans eventually, but otherwise… nope. Thanks!
Last year I bought a lot of patterns and some yarn to make a vest and sweater. I did neither. I’ve recently concluded that some things I need are cheaper to buy than to knit. In the past couple of months, I’ve been knitting for others and will probably do this exclusively. I am making a lap afghan using the Purlsoho super easy lap afghan pattern and Caron Cakes. The afghan is for my neighbor who is in hospice care. I want to make another afghan for my cousin whose kidney was removed due to cancer. And I just learned this morning that a friend lost her husband in January, and I want to make something for her. I’ve also bought pink yarn to make scarves for a local hospital breast cancer center. Now I have the problem of deciding if I’ll make a blanket or shawl, mainly because making a shawl is faster.
Like kmkat above, I am in no way a fashionista, living in urban n.e. Wisconsin with mostly Was-Mart, Target, and Fleet Farm, with a little Eddie Bauer and Land’s End added, for clothes. I sewed when the kids were small, made swimsuits for the family when we had a pool, dabbled in quilting but never got far. I have a reasonable fabric stash (we will not discuss my yarn stash, suffice to say I think I’ve reached SABLE [Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy]) but was dissatisfied with commercial patterns for my never-slim body–until this morning when I was introduced to Mason-Dixon Knitting’s newest person of interest, Sonya Philip, and her 100 Acts of Sewing patterns. There they are, the silhouettes I’ve been looking for in simple, uncomplicated patterns. I already have ideas for stash fabric dancing in my head. Guess where my mad money’s going tonight.
Karen, your posts about slow fashion and the way fabric production and fast fashion affects people and the world have really made me step back and think before I buy anything. Thanks.
As far as yarn-type projects go, I have my Ravelry queue arranged to reflect the quantities of yarn I already have and once a year, when I “toss my stash” looking for any resident critters (dollar store zipper bags are my friends), I select some of the single, mostly souvenir, skeins of yarn, search Ravelry for a pattern, then bag them up together to live in the “onesies” basket which I use as a palate cleanser between projects or as a breather when a large project starts to drag. I will be tapping into some Fringe Assn. knit-alongs that I let go by once I retire (at the end of June!!!!) and my life becomes my own again.
“Wal-Mart” Tsk.
I’ve never heard of Fleet Farm before you two! Curious to find out what that is …
Fleet Farm is regional in the upper Midwest, kind of like WalMart for farmers, hunters, and fisherpeople. They have basic clothing, lumber, home repair and project stuff, animal feed, kitchen stuff, toys, guns & ammo, fishing poles and lures, even cammo undies, all kinds of things. People around here call it the “men’s mall.”
All lists, all the time. Edit, refine, revise lists, consult stash, compare to wardrobe lists, daydream with visual lists (Pinterest mostly) and let it all simmer. It sounds kind of boring when I write it out, but I find list-making to be the best way to pause and pivot when needed, so I can make things that still excite me in the moment but perhaps have been on my list for a while. And I like to make things appropriate for the season at hand, for all my love of planning I still don’t really enjoy advanced planning like wool sweater knitting in sweltering summer.
Totally with you on all of that. I dearly wish I could get myself to work ahead … but it might be a matter of realizing the things I plan to make this summer are really for next summer by the time I actually get to them!
Yep, that’s what happens for me — still working off my “fall list” – turns out it works pretty well for spring, too!
I’ve really enjoyed your slow fashion posts, and the wardrobe planning, too. I need to make the time to do this myself. Although I work in an office, I can (and do) wear jeans most days, but I still want to look smart. When I first started to sew (a few years back) I had the desire, much like when I started knitting, to MAKE. ALL. THE. THINGS. I’d like to think I’m more judicious now, but honestly, I’m very project-driven (not process-driven). Similarly, I’m such a fan of color, but find myself sewing/knitting in more neutrals. I’ve decided to pair down my colors to the yellow and blue families, so that they’ll go with most of my grays/whites (I don’t wear much black). That being said, two items on my Summer sewing list are red denim jeans and your Sloper vest in a tweedy mix of brown/ivory.
I like to have a plan or idea so that I have something to rebel against – hah! I try to have three knitting projects on the needles at a time: one that is for the next season, one that is a TV knit (no-brainer), and one that is challenging either because of colourwork or patterning. Sometimes one project can meet two criteria (a colourwork sweater for the fall, for example), but I am also like a magpie – look! shiny thing! So I’m knitting a swatch for a cardigan (Liv), a pattern I bought last year because I knew I’d want to make it, and have a yarn in my stash that may just work. This is because I read a blog post about someone making a cardigan, and it reminded of Liv.
Sewing is similar although I don’t have the “three projects” idea going on, and I’m probably a little better about sewing projects and multiples in play. I do buy fabric just because I like it and figure it has a place in my wardrobe, and then I try to find the right pattern for it.
There’s always something to make; I have my little ideas, and sometimes they get bumped by others. Sometimes they don’t.
I also have two criteria – the “what I need” and the “what I want to make” groups. I’m most likely to make things in the intersection – for instance, a beautiful lace skirt that fills in my work wardrobe – but I do make things that are solely “what I need” if they’re quick to make (eg a sewn knit t-shirt) or take little mental space (something stockinette that I can knit in class) and occasionally I give myself space to make something that is purely because I want to make it – it doesn’t happen often, but making something just for the joy of it is such a delight, now and then. (This tends not to be knitting projects. They just take too long.) I have to prioritise more stringently at the moment though, I have way less making time than I’m used to!
Rebellion is the spice of life. I wish I hard started sooner x
Sewing is so satisfying in that way — being able to make a quick little top in a day and get that satisfaction without all the time and money investment of a sweater. They’re both so thrilling, but in almost opposite ways.
Hmmm, it’s great reading these comments and trying to work out where I fit in.
For the most part, I buy nothing new: it’s either op shop (thrift store), second hand on eBay or make it. Because I already have a lot of clothes, I find that my self-made items are either replacements for things that have worn out or things that I just cannot buy (woven blouses that fit).
New to my wardrobe items – self made or purchased – are often chosen not because they will fit my wardrobe but because of how (I perceive) they will make me feel. I don’t really care if things don’t make outfits, if I feel happy in it, I’ll wear it anyway.
I’m inspired by my favourite bloggers, you (who led me to trusty Grainline studio and Fancy Tiger) and Kate Davies and the podcast Knit British. I am super picky and snobbish about fabric and yarn. The high price of high quality stuff tends to keep the stash under control. I’m lucky that I’m tall and suit dresses as surely dresses are the easiest things to sew.
Knit British had inspirational things like the remakery where you go back and make an item for a second time, or the frogging thing where you just rip out abandoned or stalled projects to clear out your guilt cupboard. I never do KAL s – can’t handle the pressure !
I’m not familiar with Knit British, will have to check it out.
I’m a day late but I’ve loved reading through these comments and I guess I’ll leave my 2 cents as well! I start with a list every January and I’m lucky if I actually finish one or two items off that list as I’m easily distracted by “What’s Hot” and think “I want that!” and as a result do a lot of fantasy knitting. I work full time, so unfortunately I really don’t have much time to knit, and my Saturday mornings are my sewing time. Your blog has made me think about making items that fit into my wardrobe better but I am still pulled by beautiful fabric and yarn. I would like to knit more from my stash and am hoping to make a dent this year and curb my yarn purchasing addiction. I can definitely buy faster than I can knit! My fabric stash is still young but I have a tendency to purchase fabric on sale and inevitably at the end of the season so it sits in stash until the following year. I have two lots of silk purchased at the end of the summer in 2016 that I’m hoping to make into a sleeveless blouse and a sundress before fall. I have some gift knitting that needs to be done in the next couple of months but then I’m starting my own Channel Cardigan. I’ve had that pattern in my queue since it was released and a stash of Shelter in the fossil colorway which will be perfect for wearing over almost anything. Your slow fashion posts have inspired me to not purchase new clothing unless it’s really needed and will be worn well, so thanks for that, but I will add that I work in a professional office so sometimes new items are needed and I haven’t ventured to sew pants yet – maybe in 2018. Love the blog – keep up the great work!
I’ve enjoyed reading all of the responses. I learned to knit when I was young (my mother and her best friend who was an avid knitter her whole life). I didn’t knit again until my children were young. Now I have in storage beautiful sweaters and hats that they wore that were knit for them by my mother, her best friend and me. My children are now 22 and 23. I knit mostly for others due to my perfectionist issues. Even when I do make something for myself, I end up giving it to my daughter.
I had a lot of stash. When knitting started its rebound, I found myself belonging to four yarn clubs. I thought it would be easier with having young children, but basically, I was getting a lot of yarn that someone else determined, and patterns I didn’t necessarily like. I quit all clubs except for one. When we moved out of our home where we raised our children, I took that opportunity to be really honest with myself about my stash. I donated the vast majority of it.
Now I buy yarn for a specific project. What that project is usually is something my daughter wants me to make for her, something I would like to make for someone else, or an accessory I want to make myself. Is there a plan? No. I guess it’s more on whim, and what I see on IG. I tend towards more simple lines, geometric patterns, so I have my favorite designers, but I still second guess myself out of making a sweater or finishing a sweater for myself because it’s just not exactly as I wish. I admire your ability to change what you don’t like about a pattern that will suit you better. I can spend hours and hours on Ravelry looking at sweater patterns and I end up being quite frustrated. A few well known pattern and yarn designers woo me on IG with their beautiful sweaters on their equally beautiful models. I wish I had the ability to choose a pattern with the understanding that I want to change parts of it to fit better on my frame. I would love to have all the sweaters in my closet be ones that I made.
It’s a head and heart decision. When both go ‘ping’ together I make it.
It too me like 2000 words to say what you just said in a sentence!
Great question!
While I sew the question still applies. I totally make clothes on a whim. If I like it I buy it and let the exact details come through once my last project is complete. This keeps me from “straying” and makes the next thing exciting once I start it.
I guess I would need an entire post too to answer in detail. This is a vast question. Up to not so long ago it was mostly project driven, then stash driven as my original queue evolved (but not the stash) and as I am working my way through it (the stash), I can see moving to a more wardrobe focused decision-making process. I have too many knitted items I am not wearing. I did give a few away already, and it does feel good indeed when someone falls in love with something you made and wants it. And I have been frogging a few things to reuse a beautiful yarn for something I hope to truly wear. I plan to knit a few during the Summer of Basics KAL.
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Budget comes into play more often than I like when deciding what to make. I hardly ever go out shopping because I either buy something I sorta like or it shrinks/warps after washing or drying. I’ve never found “perfect” clothes, so now I’m delving into making my own wardrobe both hand knits and sewing garments.
That being said I tended to sway towards the whimsy/popular side which does not plan a functional or cohesive wardrobe (at least for me) lol! So now I’ve veered to the other side and try to stay very practical (not necessarily fashionable) when choosing what to make. I will take a month or two of just dwelling on the item (what would it go with? what material? how long will it take to make? whats the budget like this month? am I capable of making needed adjustments?) and sometimes I find I really wouldn’t like that outfit after all , whether its the fit, budget constraints, or the adjustments would be too challenging for my skills right now. Sometimes this sloth-like pace does keep me from making it, and thereby helping my budget, it also helps me figure out what I would truly want to keep wearing.
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