Q&A for How to Make Clothing

Yes! Pressing is really a step that a lot of people want to ignore, because it's time consuming and it's not really sewing, but it will definitely make your garments look a lot better. Believe me, this will save you time and frustration.

It depends on what you want to do. Cotton is a good go-to fabric for a basic dress, and is easy to work with for beginners. Silk looks fancier but is harder to work with. Two-way or four-way stretch fabrics like Spandex are good for dance-wear. Discuss your options with the fabric retailer.

Use strong fabric glue or reuse old clothing and change it up with scissors or glue without sewing anything. Hand sewing is another option -- while slower and more tedious, it is still favored by the haute couture fashion houses for their customized clothing for the elites. It's also not a bad skill to have.

wikiHow has a whole article on this topic, with diagrams and even shoe pattern templates, which you can find at: How to Make Shoes .

Many craft stores have fabric. JoAnn Fabric and Crafts has a large selection. They have lots of varieties of colors, textures , and more.

You can use strong fabric glue, or hand-sewing is another option.

You could repurpose an old shirt in various things, such as a t-shirt quilt for a baby or pet , a a baby romper or a a crop top . Do a search for "old shirt" or similar on wikiHow to see what else you might find.

Modern sewing machines are fairly straightforward to learn to use. You can use YouTube tutorials to teach yourself and you might even be able to find the exact make of sewing machine you have. For more help and images showing you what to do, see: How to Use a Sewing Machine .

At stores like Walmart, in the sewing section you can find packets of different patterns for clothes of all kinds. My favorite brand is Simplicity.

If you are looking to make your own long sleeve shirt, first of all your will need to create a cardboard cut our of the long sleeve shirt pattern using your size grading of the shirt design. You will then apply the pattern over the fabric you have chosen to use and mark the fabric. Cut inside the mark line so there are no marks on the fabric. Once you have all your pattern cut out, you are ready to stitch.

By measuring accurately and creating a template recreating the measurements correctly.

First, take measurements that fit the person you are making the clothes for. If it's for yourself, measure your shoulders, waist, whatever you need to do. Mannequins are used to test and fit the clothing, as well as for displaying your finished garments. You don't actually use the mannequin for the sewing part. You can, however, put some of your clothes on the mannequin to get an idea of how it looks and use it as inspiration to make a pattern. Mannequins aren't a necessity to make clothes, though. You can even use an old doll as a model.

There are many things you need to consider when choosing a fabric, depending on the type of garment, its use, or the style you're trying to achieve. The best way is to get educated on the vast variety of fabrics available and how they are used: you can find information online, go through the labels in your closet or ask someone at your fabric shop. Now the kind of characteristics you want to focus on in a material are its thickness, breathability, elasticity, color, price, external aspect (shiny or matted?), softness, resistance, reaction to your skin (if you have a sensitive skin or plan to use your garment for sports), type of fiber, how it gets washed, if it creases when worn and so on.

Look around at local stores. Try types of fabric and see what you like. If you need something specific, then do research. See what your favorite clothes are made of. Don't be afraid to spice it up!