Whatever Happened to Making Your Own Clothes?


 Whatever Happened to Making Your Own Clothes?

There was a time when a sewing machine wasn’t a quirky hobby item tucked away in the loft – it was a normal household tool.
People made clothes, repaired them, altered them, and passed them on. Jumpers were knitted. Socks were darned. Fabric scraps were saved “just in case”.

So… what happened?

1. Fast fashion happened

The biggest shift wasn’t cultural – it was economic.

When a T-shirt costs £4, the maths stops making sense:

  • Fabric

  • Thread

  • Time

  • Skill

Why spend hours making something when the shop has a wall of it, cheaper than the material alone?

But that bargain comes with a cost we don’t see:

  • Huge water use

  • Synthetic fibres shedding microplastics

  • Poor working conditions

  • Clothes designed to fail after a handful of washes

We outsourced the effort – and the consequences.

2. Skills quietly disappeared

If no one around you sews, knits, weaves or spins, you never see it as normal.

Schools dropped practical textile skills.
Homes lost the tools.
Knowledge wasn’t passed on.

What used to be everyday competence became:

“Craft”
“Hobby”
“Something your gran used to do”

Not because it stopped being useful – but because it stopped being profitable.

3. Time became the luxury

Modern life is fast, noisy and tired.

Making clothes requires:

  • Slowing down

  • Learning mistakes

  • Accepting “good enough”

That’s hard in a culture trained for instant results and next-day delivery.

But here’s the irony:
We say we don’t have time… yet we spend hours scrolling, shopping, returning, and replacing poorly made clothes.

4. It’s quietly coming back

Something interesting is happening.

People are rediscovering:

  • Visible mending

  • Knitting and crochet

  • Second-hand tailoring

  • Small-scale weaving and spinning

  • Repair cafés and community workshops

Not because it’s cheaper.
But because it’s better.

There’s a quiet satisfaction in wearing something you made, fixed, or understood.

5. Making is a form of climate action

You don’t have to spin your own wool to make a difference.

Small steps matter:

  • Repair before replacing

  • Learn one simple alteration

  • Buy fewer, better garments

  • Choose natural fibres where possible

  • Support local makers and repairers

The greenest jumper is often the one you already own – especially if you make it last.

Maybe the question isn’t “what happened?”

Maybe it’s:

What would it look like if we brought some of it back?

Not as nostalgia.
Not as perfection.
But as quiet resistance to throwaway living.

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