How to Decide When to Make It vs When to Buy It
If you sew, you’ve probably thought about making something instead of buying it. Sometimes it’s because you’ve made the item multiple times, and other times it’s because you know you’ve got the skill to do so.
However, it’s not uncommon to have feelings of guilt when you buy the finished item from a store instead of making it yourself. If you’ve ever felt split over what to do, here are three things you should consider before making that decision.
Cost
First, you’ve got to consider the cost. Do you have enough money to make the item with the materials you want? Depending on the project, it might be more expensive to make it than to buy the finished product outright.
Perhaps you don’t have a fabric store near you that stocks what you need. In that case, you might need to travel further to a store that does or shop online.
If you choose to shop online, you might find the right materials for a cheaper price, but you’ll have to factor in shipping costs into the total.
After considering the cost difference and what you’re willing to spend on the product, that alone might help you to decide whether it’s better to sew it or buy it.
Time
However, the cost of a product can also refer to time. Do you have enough time to make the item as well as you want it to be? For example, if you have your heart set on making a blanket for a new family member, do you have ample time to do so?
If it’s something that you need at the last minute, you might not have time to make it from scratch. In that case, you might just have to pick it up from the store.
Depending on the situation, it might be better to have the item on time than to present the product months after you originally wanted to.
Skill
The final point that should be considered is the hardest one to be honest about: skill. Can you actually make the product? This one is difficult because having even the most basic sewing machine and supplies means you can make a lot of things.
However, if you’ve just learned how to make a pillow, you’re probably not ready to make that wedding dress your friend wants.
It takes time to go from the basics to complex projects because there are always new things to learn. Sewing is a skill that takes work to master. This means that you might need to practice working with a particular fabric or pattern for a while until you feel confident enough to show off your work.
If you can’t make a copy of that bag you saw at the store, it’s okay to buy it instead. Rather than making the whole product from scratch, you can always purchase the finished item then add an applique or make some other alteration to turn it into what you want it to be.
Regardless of whether you choose to make or buy something, you should feel confident with your decision. There’s not really a set project that is 100% something you should make or purchase because it depends on your situation.
Example 1 (When to Make It)
I was once asked to wear a knee-length black dress for an event with my sorority. I had known about this event for almost a month, and looked at several stores for a dress that would fit the bill. However, all of the dresses I saw at the time were either strapless or had thin straps. As the event was going to take place on a cold night in March, I wanted the dress to have sleeves.
While I could have gotten a dress from the rack and added on to it, I decided that it would be better to make it instead. My reasoning for it was that I had wasted enough time looking at finished dresses and it was too late to order one online.
But what really pushed me to decide to make it was the cost. A lot of the dresses I had looked at were around $100, and in order to alter the garment to what I wanted, I would have had to buy fabric for it anyway. I decided that since I could make it cheaper, I might as well do so.
Two weeks before the event, I went to my local Hancock Fabrics store (which unfortunately closed a few years back). I had worked with a certain black satin fabric a few months prior, so I picked up 3 yards of that for $10 a yard (on sale), a zipper for $8, and two spools of thread for $4 each. This meant that I spent a bit less than $50, which was under the $100 I had budgeted for the dress originally.
I had no problem with making the dress at first, as I used to be quite good at making skirts. However, the neckline and the sleeves were tricky because my serger wasn’t working at the time. But unless you looked at it closely, you wouldn’t have noticed just how uneven the neckline was.
Luckily, I finished the dress a few hours before the event started and I received a lot of compliments for it. For me, it was worth the time and money to make it because I got exactly what I wanted. However, if it weren’t for the fact that I had done a similar-enough project a few months prior, I wouldn’t have been quite as confident that I could make something presentable.
Example 2 (When to Buy It)
Alternatively, a project can be quick, easy, and cheap yet still not be wise to attempt. When I was in college, I was furious with how quickly the new pillows for my dorm room deflated. I had only been using them for about two months, and even my comforter was thicker than both pillows by that point. They were supposed to be firm, but it would be more accurate to say they were full of air.
I’m very good at making pillows, so I thought it would be wiser to make them myself next time. Out of spite, I bought a yard of cotton fabric for $10 and two $10 bags of fiberfill to plump the new pillows with. Altogether, doing things this way for two new pillows cost less than the flat ones. Stitching the fabric together was also a quick and easy endeavor.
However, while it’s easy to sew together a large pillow, the same can’t be said about stuffing it. Logically, I should have known that a larger pillow would require more time and energy to stuff. But I didn’t truly understand this until days after my hands started aching. I lost my patience and decided to just stuff the pillows as fast as possible.
This momentary frustration ended up ruining the project in the long-term. The stuffing ended up bunching to one side and left a significant area flat with both pillows. Every time I washed the pillowcases, I would have to fix the stuffing.
Even though the project should have been relatively simple, I ruined it by choosing to rush it. In that case, it was a waste of time and money that would have been better spent purchasing finished pillows from a different distributor.
Conclusion
If you don’t have the money, time, or skill to make something, it’s perfectly reasonable to purchase it instead. As mentioned before, you can always buy a finished product and alter it to what you want instead of making it from scratch.
To sum up, just because you can sew, that doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to do so.