5 Reasons Handmade Clothes Are (usually) More Durable Than Store-Bought

If you’re going to take the time to make your own clothes, you want to be sure that they will actually last. After all, that last shirt you bought only lasted through 4 cycles in the washing machine. What if your own clothes that you spend precious time and energy on do the same thing?

Generally, handmade clothing will last longer than store bought because it is made with greater care using higher quality fabric and stitches. It’s also easier to repair homemade garments if something does start to wear out, helping them to last even longer.

Now, probably the first few pieces of clothing you make for yourself aren’t going to be the highest quality. That’s okay, we all need to go through a period of learning before we can make those high-quality durable clothes. But once you get the hang of it (which will take less time than you think), you’ll see that your homemade clothing lasts you so much longer than fast fashion store-bought garments.

1. You care for the garment as you make it

The more care you put into making your garments, the better they will hold up in the long run. Since you are not trying to quickly finish as many pieces of clothing as possible, you can take the time necessary to make sure all the details are correct and the seams are secure.

You can add stay tape and an extra line of stitches to reinforce a seam. You can use smaller stitches, more durable seam finishes, and take more time making sure facings and pockets are securely in place.

By taking your time on each step and focusing on the details, you are actively making your garments more durable. The more you work on improving your technique and gaining new skills, the more durable clothing you’ll be able to make.

2. You’re more likely to take care of something that you put time and energy into

Which do you think you’d be likely to take better care of? A cheap button-up shirt you bought from the department store or a button-up that you spent 10+ hours creating?

A lot of the durability of any piece of garment comes down to how we take care of it. The reality is, I barely knew the first thing about caring for clothes before I started creating my own. Now that I know how much work goes into creating every single one of those shirts I made, I have a lot more incentive and desire to make sure they are well taken care of.

3. You can choose high-quality fabric

You can also use high-quality fabric in your sewing practice. Most commercial garments nowadays try to make the process as cheap as possible by lowering quality standards on fabric. When you choose your own fabric to work with, you’ll be able to pick the ones that won’t rip as easily or stretch out too quickly. It takes a little bit of time to start getting a feel for quality fabric, but here are some basics that can get you started:

• Does the fabric fray too much? If so, you may want to avoid the fabric, especially as a beginner.
• Are there visible pilling or pulled threads? If it’s already pilling a little before you buy it, the fabric may be of lower quality
• How does the fabric feel? Does it feel like plastic or something that would be comfortable to wear?
• Is the color consistent? If the fabric is supposed to be a solid color, there should not be any patches that are off. A shoddy dye job is an indication of low-quality fabric.
• Does stretch fabric recover easily? After you stretch the fabric, does it bounce back to its original size, or stay stretched out?

Learn more about how to choose high-quality fabric to work with

4. You will probably use a smaller stitch length

With the exception of some very heavy-weight fabrics and stretch fabrics, a smaller stitch length creates a more durable end result. But guess what? It also increases the amount of time it takes to sew every single seam. So most of the time commercial clothing is made with a fairly large stitch length to save time, but most home sewists will usually use a shorter length.

Try it for yourself. Sew a sample seam with the widest stitch length on our machine and then switch to something around a 2 or 3 length. You’ll immediately see how much faster it is to sew that first seam. However, if you pull on the thread, you’ll see it also unravels so much easier.

5. Handmade clothes will fit you better (so you’ll want to wear them more)

The durability of clothing also comes down to your desire to wear it. You can have the most high-quality long-lasting jeans, but if they chafe, you’re never going to wear them. This means they’re not durable, since they may as well be thrown away or donated.

When you make clothes for yourself, you can conquer these fit issues and actually wear your clothes until they reach their last leg. Learning to sew clothes that fit correctly does take some time, so I wouldn’t expect this from your very first garments, but as you get better at sewing and tailoring your clothes, they will last longer simply because you want to continue wearing them.

Bonus: You can fix the garment if something goes wrong

Obviously, handmade garments are not fool-proof. Even if they are well made, they can get rips and tears, and wear out over time. But since you made this clothing yourself, you also know exactly how to fix it. You’ll know which seams need to be picked apart in order to fix the problem.

You can also keep the remnants and large scraps that you used to make your clothing. I the garment ever needs a repair, you can find the remnants that are made from the exact same fabric and make the repairs look invisible.

Commercial clothing is generally created in whatever way makes for faster sewing. There is never any real thought put into whether or not the construction makes sense or makes it really difficult to go and make repairs later.