For a long time now, sewing has been seen as a woman’s chore. Stereotypical wives and mothers patched up their family’s clothing in between their other daily chores. When women started campaigning for their rights, they rebelled against anything considered ‘women’s work; As a result, sewing is a skill very few people have now.
Sewing is not only useful, but it can be creative! Not to mention it’s sustainable. Instead of constantly buying new clothes, you can fix and alter what you already have. Can’t find jeans that fit? Taking in a waistband is easy. Extra-short pants still too long? Hemming is simple and can be done by hand.
Learning basic sewing skills gives us control over what we wear. Instead of constantly replacing our wardrobe with cheap clothing, we can thrift or invest in quality clothes and make them fit our bodies, instead of the other way around.
Let’s be real, no one fits the ideal body standards set by the fashion industry. Clothing is meant to fit a very small portion of the population and the rest of us have to struggle to find clothing we are comfortable in.
Quality of clothing is going down which means our favorite pieces get worn out fast. Stores like Forever21 and H&M are looking for ways to produce more for less money, which not only lowers quality but leads to environmental and human rights violations.
Having sewing skills means keeping quality pieces for years, which benefits our wallets and the planet.
So many of us struggle to find clothes that fit the way we want them to. It’s time to make clothing work for us, not change our bodies to fit our clothes.
Look up some basic sewing tutorials on Youtube, or book an appointment for a sewing lesson at your local Joann’s store.