Sonya Philip is an artist, designer, and teacher. Four years ago, Sonya started 100 Acts of Sewing , making dresses while documenting the process. Since then she has made it her mission to convince people to sew their own clothes. When not covered in bits of thread, she can be found knitting another shawl or cardigan. Sonya lives in San Francisco with her family. Firstly, when you make your own clothes you’re able to completely customize them to your preferences – think size, tailoring, shape, colours, textures. So instead of having to go on the hunt for the perfect pair of trousers that has all of the features you like, you can just make them exactly how you want instead. The one downside I have to admit is that sewing is a skill and it takes practice to be able to make things exactly how you want. Plus, unless you’re a pattern designer (which most of us aren’t) you’ll need to find patterns that fit the style you’re looking for. A more skilled sewist can make alterations that will get them where they want to go, but a beginner might not be able to stray too far from the pattern. Here’s me working on my exploratory sewing. I consider this to be my design practice and try to create a capsule collection each year to add to my portfolio. It keeps me happy and curious to discover new pathways in design and sewing. Lesson 6: Don’t make too much!

How you design the interior of your wardrobe will vary depending on a few factors, such as your lifestyle and wardrobe size. If you collect a lot of shoes, clothes and accessories, then you may find that a tower unit with shelves helps to keep your items separated and organised. If you’ll be predominately keeping clothes in your wardrobe, and you’d prefer to see your items easily, then a more open-style, hanging wardrobe interior such as the Aura Storage Kit may be a better match. At the end of the day, what matters is your personal needs and preference. If I wore them regularly, even more than once in a week, then that pattern goes to the hit archive, because it passed my comfort and confidence test. If I got lots of inquiries and my friends noticed it, then it got bonus points, because folks do get used to seeing you a certain way on a regular basis, and if it passed that test then I knew it matched my personality. One of the best parts is the techniques I'm going to share will work for ladies wear, men's clothing and children's clothing.

I started sewing my clothing because I was inspired to make things that felt true to how I wanted to present myself. I’ve always been told that my sense of fashion was unique, as I’ll wear whatever I want, whether it’s in style or not.

If you have more specific questions around walk-in wardrobes, we have FAQ sections dedicated to walk-in wardrobe designs and fittings.

Base & top of the wardrobe

Zigzag stitch. A basic stitch setting on many machines; sewing at the edge helps grab hold of the thread and keeps them from separating. Take a look at your clothes. Sometimes this is less about examining what’s hanging in the closet and more about what ends up in your laundry basket. Determine what you wear and then use your answer to help decide what you’d like to sew. Now unfortunately, some garments I tried did not, and I gave them to friends for whom they were better suited. There are some similar qualities to sewing your own clothes that are like buying ready to wear. Unfortunately, after you try on the garment and give it a wear you might figure out you don’t like it. Pinking shears. This is a special type of scissors that cuts small triangular notches. This stops long threads from forming and unraveling along the edges. There are so many great options available out there, and it’s so much fun to explore them all. But hopefully this list gives you a good starting point!

Our focus will be on quality and fit. I'll show you how to adjust patterns to fit and suit you perfectly, whether you prefer long, short or cap sleeves, high or low waistbands, and slim, straight or wide-legged trousers. Not Just Ladies Wear The core frustration for I've seen for students is that first sew up that’s the real disappointment. I see folks spin out, stop, and get to the point where they are examining that one garment so intently for what they did wrong. It's not you or your level of knowledge, it can be a number of things. Storage & organisation Furniture Textiles Kitchenware & tableware Kitchens Lighting Decoration Rugs, mats & flooring Beds & mattresses Baby & children Smart home Bathroom products Laundry & cleaning Plants & plant pots Home electronics Home improvement Outdoor living Food & beverages Christmas Shop Shop by room

Extras

Now I sew one item at a time. And I make a muslin, which I didn’t do before because often the garments were simple styles and basic fits that I would make the adjustments right on the actual garment. If a garment is especially complex, and has a lot of details, bet your booty I’m making a muslin. But I also make a muslin to test the suitability now, so that I’m not being wasteful with my materials and am being very careful to ensure that what I’m making I’m going to love and wear for the long term. Start simple. For your first project, I’d recommend a pair of loose, elastic-waist pants. I think one of the first things I ever made was pyjama pants. This is a great way to practice, because if they don’t turn out that well, you’ll just be wearing them around the house or to sleep anyway, so it doesn’t really matter! When broken down into manageable chunks, designing a walk-in wardrobe is not much different to designing a wardrobe. It’s simply bigger. I hope these tips have given you the confidence you need to take the first step in sewing our own clothes! If you have any questions that I didn’t answer, let me know in the comments below. And, please also let me know if you enjoy the sewing content! Sewing is such a big hobby of mine, and I would love to share more of it with you alongside my other slow fashion, capsule wardrobe, and simple living content. Double bummer. Even if you are able to sew it up and make it fit, you must give the garment a few wears to see how you really feel about it. When it's on you, you are going to see if it fits your personality and improves your confidence. There are several garments that I sewed up that passed this test.

Some of my biggest wins this year have been with indie patterns, and I highly recommend them to those of you who are unfamiliar with garment construction, because sewing indie patterns are often like taking a sewing class! The instructions are so detailed and the pictures are very clear. And if you are struggling with fit, give some of these patterns a try. Most of the indie patterns I sew, I almost never have pattern alterations, which is so appreciated. Especially when it comes to clothing, sewing a more loose, flowy linen garment is a lot easier than trying to put together a tailored piece like a pair of denim or a structured, button-up blouse. Plus, linen pieces are in my opinion very in style these days! And because linen is a fully natural fibre, it will biodegrade so it’s more sustainable and earth-friendly. It's improved our home, and our budget. My husband is a fashion guy, and thank God he now sews his own clothes too. I don’t necessarily treat my wardrobe sewing as my creative practice because I do have my own garments I design for the exploration of the potential and pleasure of surface design and abstract pattern making. Note your measurements down and compare them to the sizing on the pattern. If you’re in between sizes, or you find your bust measurement is one size and your waist is another, don’t fret! Instead, get yourself some tracing paper (that roll of parchment paper from all your pandemic baking will also work in a pinch), and trace out the pattern. This is the time to make any simple adjustments to the pattern, such as lengthening or shortening. When you’re finished, cut out the traced pattern and write out all the information—called pattern markings—like the name, size, the fold line and how many pieces to cut out. More on this later.

In high school, I had a really quirky sense of style—I owned so many dinosaur shirts and plastic bow barrettes. I transitioned to a very casual jeans-and T-shirt-look for college and graduate school because I was working in a lab a lot of the time. Now, I finally feel like I’m dressing in a way that truly feels like myself. I think of my style as classic and vintage-inspired, but I still like to throw in those quirky accessories. As this part of garment sewing often presents the biggest challenge, I recommend using visual aids to help. Here is a video tutorial. The next step is taking measurements. You’ll need a soft measuring tape (also called a tailor’s tape), a pencil, and a notebook. Measure your chest at the fullest part, waist, and hips. If you need a visual reference, Youtube has many great tutorials, including this one.