Is store-bought clothing still more expensive than sewing?
It is still cheaper to sew, if you sew it yourself. Give me an example. You can find an Armani skirt at a department store for $4,000; or make the same skirt, a simple style, maybe with a kick pleat, using a yard of a high-quality wool crepe that I sell for $95 per yard. Will the fabric be as up-to-date and the quality as high? I have an Armani beaded Chantilly lace that is made in Italy and sells for $1,150 a yard. I have silk prints made in Italy that are in the current collections of Pucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Roberto Cavalli. Left: Armani printed silk satin, made in Italy, $110 per yard; right: viscose and polyamide metallic lace, made in France, $125–275 per yard. What’s the most common mistake people make when shopping for textiles? They confuse the fiber with the weave. A customer will ask for silk, a fiber, but they are really looking for satin, a very soft, lustrous fabric. Satins can be woven from any fiber: wool, silk, cotton, polyester. You should say “wool satin,” “silk s
