Making the decision to start creating your own clothes is an exciting one, if not daunting. I’ve put together some tips I’ve collated from friends, colleagues and my own experiences that will hopefully help you out a bit, and give you some inspiration.

1. THINK A LOT

   It’s very easy to get overexcited, go to your local fabric shop and spend a crazy amount of money on wacky material and shiny buttons. However, I would advise against this only because you probably already have the majority of stuff you need to get started and also very little idea on what you want to make. The best starting point is just to go about your day as you normally would, but allocate some of your thinking time to coming up with ideas of clothes you would like to wear. I wake up with ideas all the time, and by lunchtime I’ve normally realised how ugly/impractical/difficult it would be to create and thought of something new. Just have it in the back of your mind to be thinking about clothes, and ideas will come.

2. BE JEALOUS

   Noticing someone’s perfect jacket and being green with envy is actually really helpful, even if it does annoy you for the rest of the day. You’re jealous because that’s what you want, and the great thing about creating your own clothes is that you can normally recreate things cheaply that would cost you loads of money to buy, with the bonus of being able to control exactly how it looks. Write down clothes that make you jealous, styles that you envy and things you just don’t think you’ll pull off. Because you can.

3. WRITE AND DRAW AND COLLATE

   Once you’ve thought a great deal about it, you want to bring all your ideas together in some way. Create a sketchbook, do a mind map, make a Pinterest board, write a big list. You’ll probably already have an idea of what way you best work and there’s no point in fixing what isn’t broken, this isn’t meant to be the tricky bit or at all stressful - the point is to create yourself a reference point and have somewhere to add ideas as you think of them. I’ve often found planning pretty difficult, and skipped this step only to find myself half way through a project with no real idea on what it was even meant to be.

4. SORT

   We’re almost at the fun bit (not to say that sorting through all your clothes isn’t fun) but this step is essential so that we don’t fall into that pesky over-consuming spiral. For example, imagine there is a lot of corduroy in your mood board - do you have anything that already fits the bill? Do you have any clothes made from amazing fabric that just don’t fit you, or that have aspects that stop you from wearing them (I’m constantly battling with the women’s clothing industry’s love for weird bows on t-shirts)? This would also be a good time to make a wish list of things you definitely don’t have but you would love to find or make.

5. FIND SUPPLIES

   Charity shops are the best thing in the entire world when it comes to changing up your style and finding supplies. Always check the curtain and blanket section because you can find some incredible things (I found a duvet set with some very artistically drawn cabbages on it which I’m definitely going to turn into some weird trousers), and if you fancy crocheting or knitting, you can often get yarn extremely cheaply. Use what you already have as a base, don’t overwhelm yourself with too many projects at once (especially as your style and skills will evolve), and if you can borrow any equipment then do so, especially if you’re not 100% sure you’ll like the craft you’re trying out.

6. GET STARTED

   Personally, if I’m trying to learn a new craft, online tutorials and instructions are my go-to, but these don’t suit everyone and you’ll be able to find lots of books, videos and workshops out there that will help you learn. I will be posting tutorials on here as well which will hopefully cover the basics of lots of techniques I use regularly. Remember that you are not going to be an expert straight away, things take practise and although it may be frustrating at times, it is going to be so rewarding to be able to wear something you created.

I’d love to hear from you! Show us what you’ve created, suggest a tutorial or just say hi @claes.zine.