To buy or to make?

[Philomel]

Thanks everyone.  I think I"m going to start by repurposing some of my current garb.

I need something for Robin hood so I'm thinking of trying to make what I already own look more 12th century.

[tigrlily64]

Good luck! 

[Cilean]

Well it is a thing of effort vs Money.  If you have the cash for something, like a Smock.  If I purchase one it would be $80.00 at my Faire.  For $80.00, I could make 9 smocks and a partlet.  Or for $80.00 I could make my entire outfit not including my shoes. If I find something I could not create then I would think about purchasing it!!


Good Luck,
Cilean

[Peter Beer Slayer]

When I first started in the SCA a did a lot of research creating my persona.   

I went with an early period primarily because the garb from later in history was beyond my skill.  I could (and did because I was a poor college student) do lots of t tunics, tabbards and hose. 

Now, many years later, I am doing renaissance.  While I could do it. I could follow a pattern. I could make something beuatiful with my hands (and sewing machine)... I soo don't have the time or the aptitude.   


You can firmly put me in the "To Buy" column. 

Support your local vendor!! 

[Lady Anne Clare]

I make mine simply because I don't have $300 to pay up front for garb that catches my eye.  Whereas I find when making it, I can slowly purchase the items I need.  In the end I hopefully spend less on the materials for making my garb than if I had purchased it from someone else.

[Samantha]

I opt for making your own--it really isn't that difficult, if you have even a nodding acquaintance with a scissors and a sewing machine.  If your seams aren't perfect, well, I doubt that renaissance women all made perfect seams.  Last year, my friends and I decided to go to the faire in garb for the first time.  (It looked like garbed folk had more fun!)  I made all three sets of garb in the two weeks before the faire.  Two of us were (relatively) easy--middle class women, long chemises, long skirts, and bodices.  Her husband was harder.  He wanted to be a pirate, and had 3 things for me to work from: a "poet" shirt, a sword (with scabbard & frog) and his motorcycle boots (too short).  Think THRIFT SHOPS!  His boots were lengthened & cuffed with leather from an old jacket, his pants were cotton slacks 2 sizes too big, with the modern closures replaced by drawstrings.  I made a sleeveless jerkin from cotton velvet, trimmed with a little stitching with gold thread, and his baldric was from the legs of a pair of suede pants--total cost, under $15.  It really doesn't take so much skill, as it does imagination, a little understanding of how things are put together, and courage.  This year, I, too, am going pirate (suits my inner self better than a merchant's wife).  I wanted a cavalier hat, and couldn't afford to buy one.  From the thrift shop, one felt hat with the right brim + one felt hat with the right crown + one old velvet dress= one cavalier hat.  The ostrich feathers I ordered by mail @ $4 each.  Total cost? the hat, $3.50, the feathers, $10, and three hours of my time.  Be brave.  You can do it.

[Kate XXXXXX]

It would probably never occur to me to buy garb.  I've been sewing for 47 years and making clothes for 40...  I do now sew for others professionally, but I also buy some things that I either don't like making or find it cheaper to buy.

If you are just starting, do what others have suggested: make chemises and simple skirts, buy a bodice, and slowly build up your skills as a seamstress.  Find out what is cost effective in both time and money for you to make and what you like making.  No point in making stuff you hate doing, after all!