"What is fabric?
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@elexia I've come across one of the saddest possible examples of linen that I ordered online and hated, otherwise it's been good for me. But I've been buying fabric and not clothes, and the couple of linen garments I've bought (second hand) have been very very nice and infinitely durable... So there's definitely a wide range of it.
Generally clothing manufacturers will try to get away with the cheapest possible options, so it is harder to find good quality even if you pay a bit more, but anything not expensive is almost certainly going to be bad.
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@sinituulia it definitely wasn't cheap
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@elexia Sagely nodding. Sometimes it's just all shit. It's so much easier to just add zeroes to the profit margin than actually make something really good.
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@sinituulia are we really gonna have to invest a bunch of money and time into learning to make our own clothing to have good quality clothes? I doubt that our ADHD is gonna allow it
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@elexia Well, at least I can assure you that if it's something your brain ends up liking it's going to get *way out of hand* very fast and then you're suddenly in the possession of just so many tools and materials and also more wardrobe than you know what to do with...
I may be biased, but I quite think making your own clothes is a great hassle but also deeply satisfying and eventually even more convenient!
Edit addendum: am autistic and ADHD
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@sinituulia mhmm also AuDHD. we've considered it before but we already struggle with learning to do simple repair stuff right and we've been burned before purchasing stuff only to then not use it anymore. this would require a lot more than the needles and pins we have. at least we got the sewing needles our grandma used from her after she couldn't use them anymore. better than the cheap ones you find at most stores. and her thimble fits us okay. importantly it would require a bit of space too and we are very limited on that.
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@sinituulia @elexia for some reason, I feel called out :D
(for the “so many tools and materials and more wardrobe…” bit)
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@elexia @sinituulia I don't know whether it's helpful or the opposite, but lately I've been sewing a lot of clothing by hand, for reasons, and those require needles, thimble, small scissors and materials. very little space, but time, lots of time (but I enjoy the process)
good fabric scissors are the next thing that could be needed, unless one is making old style clothing that is made of rectangles that can be ripped on the straight grain (which is at least half of what I've been handsewing)
it's a huge “your mileage may vary”, however
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@valhalla @sinituulia we have scissors that our grandma used to use. neither pair cuts as well as we'd like though
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@valhalla @sinituulia wonder if that's something we could fix
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@elexia @valhalla Scissors can have the little bolt oiled and tightened, and be sharpened and smoothed. This will probably cost way more than a new pair, but cobblers at least here offer this?
A new pair of good quality fabric scissors can be anything from 25€ to 60€ for a reasonable pair - compare to cooking knives, you can get lucky with cheaper ones but also can pay much more if you care to!
The most expensive I've seen has been 80€, which seemed a bit excessive, but there's more expensive tailor's shears I know. -
@elexia @valhalla When I've been in the mood for it I've much enjoyed sewing by hand. You only really need about a lap full of desk space, or a lap, for the sewing itself. Having high quality sewing thread is way way way more important for hand sewing than for machine sewing, so I'd recommend sourcing a good cotton, linen and/or silk thread. Polyester and bad cotton thread will just make it miserable!
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@sinituulia @valhalla I mean that at least in theory sounds like we could do it? we've not got experience sharpening scissors really though, only knives a little bit
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@sinituulia @valhalla we do not tolerate polyester thread in this house
still wanna know where to get a good linen thread that isn't unreasonably expensive. -
@elexia @sinituulia my feeling is that it may end up being yet another distinct hobby, but I don't have experience doing it
(yet? :D )
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@sinituulia @elexia I fully second this post!
I think with linen thread waxing it is a necessity?, so that's another (small) thing that is required?
with cotton I think waxing is nice (I know it is), but probably you can do without in a pinch
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@elexia @sinituulia @valhalla same… in general, finding anything but polyester in stores has been impossible for me (in Germany). Nor even any specialties (I asked for buttonhole silk in several stores and got confused blank stares), just regular thread that's not poly – impossible.
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@amberage @elexia @sinituulia sigh
one of the shops I used to buy thread from has switched to only have poly thread “because nobody wants the inferior one” and no. just. no.
thankfully buttonhole silk is not considered a specialty here in Italy, or at least not yet.
