What’s Wrong with Home-Made

Today is going to be a rant day.   The rant of course is me saying exactly what I feel in no uncertain terms and which my children lovingly refer to as me getting up on my soap box!

The subject of my rant…the bad rap that the term “home-made” is getting.

It seems like “home-made” is okay sometimes but other times not.  For instance, it is generally accepted that home-made  food is better than fast food (and better for you!).  Then there are home-made  gifts that for many people are more personal and meaningful than store bought gifts. But with clothes…well that’s another story.  It appears  that home-made  is taking a bad rap where clothes are concerned.  Apparently clothes should look store bought, not home-made.   Oh Snap!…I think we have been duped big time on this one and didn’t see it coming!

I have recently realized just how much of a victim I am in this evil marketing plot and how deeply I fell into it.  I will spend countless hours meticulously making a garment so that it doesn’t look homemade.  I have even actually been told that what I have sewn “doesn’t look home-made” and experienced a sense of relief.  I can’t believe that I missed it!  That I tossed “home-made” out the window without a second thought, to instead basque in the knowing that I sewed something that looked “store-bought!”  I am a horrible person!

(I have now stepped up onto my soap box)

Ahem…

I know there are others who have fallen into this same trap; very experienced sewers with good intentions who generously share their ideas, tips, etc. on how to sew something so that it doesn’t look home-made.  Unfortunately  I think they have been duped too and they haven’t realized it!  It’s like we are all receiving a subliminal message…the words being spoken by a mesmerizing voice that says “you should be buying your clothes – they are better than what you make”.

(ooh – starting to warm up now on this cozy little soap box)

So then… can we deduce that if something doesn’t look good enough to the eye of the beholder, then it looks  “home-made“? Awwh…see what I am saying.

And think about this… “distressed jeans”.  I absolutely hate ripped up and holy jeans and will not apologize for saying it!  They were probably beautiful jeans before they were violated with distress!  Would you say they look home-made or would you say they look ruined?  Definitely ruined of course!

(Okay…now we are getting somewhere.  I am on my tippy toes right now, standing tall on my soap box and going for the finish line!)

After a brief examination of this poor defenseless adjective, I think “home-made”  is being used out of context and so is not guilty of its charges.  If  something looks like crap or doesn’t meet one’s expectations, it has nothing to do with “home-made”.  It has to do with skill level, but the skill will grow if  the creative mind is not ruined by unkind words.   “Home-made” is a wonderful way of doing anything and we need to remind ourselves of this.  And remember that before there were factories, there were people like you and I  who learned to sew because… it was a very important and useful thing to be able to do.

There is nothing more gratifying and rewarding than lovingly cutting out pattern pieces from beautiful fabric and transposing them into something that we can wear.  It gives one a wonderful sense of accomplishment.   As to the quality…well we know that it has nothing to do with  “home-made“.   The quality is only the level of ability of the sewer who can only get better and better.  🙂

So my friends…lets take back what is rightfully ours!  Sew to your heart’s content, and realize that you are a clothing designer, an artist, a dress-maker, a tailor, a seamstress, a sewer who is creating what was once created in the home, performing an art that has always belonged to us, the at-home sewers who are fabulous people who create and design “home-made “ clothes.  Salut!