CLOTHES MAKING ≠ SEWING

If you look through our website or follow us on social media, you'll notice that we don't say "We'll teach you sewing". We always say "We'll teach you how to make clothes". While the world has collectively decided to label everything to do with clothes making with one word "sewing", we disagree.

Sewing is just one step of the clothes-making process

Here at Arkdefo, by sewing, we mean the literal act of stitching, that's it. And we teach sewing for free because it should be a skill available to everyone. But clothes making is much more interesting than just sewing. We teach the entire process, from A to Z.

1. It starts with an idea

Every garment design starts with an idea: what do you want to make? An idea can be born in your imagination or can be inspired by another garment you might have seen in a magazine. An idea is brewing in your mind and makes you wonder what would be the best fabric for the garment. The colour? Zips or buttons or nothing? Why do you want to make it? To wear with what? To where? This idea-nurturing process can take any amount of time: from minutes to weeks and even months. It might involve sketching, mood-boarding or just brewing in your head.

2. Fabric sourcing

After you settle on the general idea, it's time to choose the fabric. Sourcing could be simply going through your fabric stash and picking up that orange twill that you bought ages ago for something very special. You will know what's the right fabric for your project.

3. Idea re-evaluation

The next step is a sanity check: does the idea work for your body type & your lifestyle? Do you want to change something in garment design? Your fabric choice might have inspired you to change a thing or two. This is completely ok: clothes-making is a creative process and you can change your mind as many times as you want.

4. Pattern drafting & sampling

Now that you know what you're creating, it's time for pattern drafting. Decide on the fit you are going for, choose a pattern block that works best for it or draw a new one (once you know how to draft basic blocks, you can easily make new ones in 10 minutes). If you have any doubts about the overall look/fit, you might do some tests. Here the first little bit of sewing might happen.

5. Pre-washing fabric, ironing, cutting pattern pieces

Test fabrics don't need to be pre-washed, please don't waste your time on it: you won't be wearing a test, you won't be washing it. The purpose of pre-washing garment fabric is to pre-shrink them before cutting pattern details, otherwise your garment might lose a size in the first wash. And of course, it needs to be ironed after. Transferring pattern details onto fabric is a crucial process that needs great precision and can't be rushed. Remember when cutting to always have a separate pair of fabric-only scissors (don't cut paper with them). When you cut fabric, don't cut in the air: the lower knife must be touching the table/floor at all times.

6. Deciding on garment construction

Now you have all the details ready, in what order are you going to stitch them together? What steps make the most sense? With time and experience, you'll just know it in your head. In the beginning, it could be a good idea to write steps down and double-check if it makes sense. For example, it doesn't matter if you first attach the collar or the sleeves to a shirt, but you surely can't do either before sewing the shoulders together, right? And it's easier to attach the collar while the side seams remain open. Depending on the design, you might want to have the button stand sewn beforehand too. It is just a little bit of common sense, nothing else, you've got this!

7. Deal with fraying edges (ok, this is sewing)

Depending on your design, you might want to overlock or zigzag the fraying edges of the details before sewing them together. This step wouldn't apply if you were using French seams.

8. Pinning details together

Time to start putting the pieces together. But before you go to the sewing machine, you need to connect them with pins. Depending on the size of the details, it might take some time too.

9. Sewing & Ironing

Now you're finally getting to sewing. But wait, every sewn seam needs to be ironed. You are basically doing both steps all the time: sewing/ironing/sewing/ironing/... It is the last step(s) of the process, the least creative, the most mechanical: it's just stitching & ironing. All the fun part has happened BEFORE you even got to the sewing machine.

So no, we don't teach just sewing. We teach clothes making as a whole: from understanding how to work with your measurements and your body type, to understanding fabrics, to pattern drafting and garment construction, sewing and also styling your ready garments.