☞ Question of the Week: Warm Winter Clothes—Buy or Make? (No advertising thread)

Dear users and authors,
how do you handle this for yourselves and your families? Do you buy or make warm winter clothes entirely, or just in part?

I bought my winter coat, but I make all the accessories—like scarves, hats, shawls, and wrist warmers—myself. :-)

You could learn to sew and make your own coat. :-)

I knitted my last winter coat myself. It was my first try, and I liked it so much that my mom would like one, too.
My mother-in-law knits gloves for me.

However, I prefer to buy everything I wear for skiing or ice skating. I’d hate for it to tear if I fell.

And I also prefer to make my own warm vests—that way, the armholes are guaranteed to fit me.

I used to even sew anoraks for my oldest kids.... these days, I just knit hats, gloves, scarves, and neck warmers for them.
My younger kids don’t like knitted sweaters—the men in my family, unfortunately, do. Why “unfortunately”? Imagine a 206 cm tall man, broadly built, who wants a nice long patterned sweater with a hood... or an uncle with a little belly :-)
I myself love knitted sweaters and vests, since I’m always cold and hand-knitted items are simply warmer. I also knit socks, even though I find that the most boring task. 

@Josefa
I even have a sewing machine ;-)
I used to sew my own sweaters and dresses. These days, I just can’t bring myself to do it. ;-)))

In recent years, I’ve bought most of my clothes, with a few exceptions, but since I joined Crazypatterns and see so many beautiful handmade items here every day, I want to make as much as possible myself again. For this winter, I knitted myself a thick tube scarf (by the way, I wore it for the first time today and I love it :-)). The matching wrist warmers still aren’t finished, but I’ll manage that before it gets cold.
There was a time when I sewed everything myself, even winter coats and jackets. The desire to start again is definitely there, I just don’t have the time...

We buy warm winter jackets and coats. I make hats, scarves, infinity scarves, and shawls myself—mostly by crocheting. Every now and then, I’ll also make a sweater or a vest.

As for sewing winter jackets myself, for one thing I wouldn’t have the time, and for another, I don’t enjoy it as much as crocheting or knitting.

My two boys love the Minion hats I crocheted for them last year—they don’t want to wear store-bought ones anymore :-) And I’m surprised that, unlike scarves and gloves, these hats haven’t gotten lost yet and are still in one piece.

OK,
let me summarize:
many of you would also like to sew coats and jackets yourselves—or used to do so in the past—but no longer do because of time constraints?
Right?
Somehow, this seems to be a recurring pattern?

@Josefa
Something like that. ;-)
For me, I’d also add that personally, a self-sewn jacket or coat would be too complicated. I probably wouldn’t be able to pull that off without a tailoring course. ;-)

OK
I’m currently trying to understand why sewing patterns are more of a niche here on CP, even though we have such nice patterns for jackets, for example
here
https://www.crazypatterns.net/de/items/14683/paula-e-book-kapuzen-parka-duffle-coat-mantel-mit-kapuze-in-6-groessen-xs-xxxl-naehanleitung-mit-schnittmuster-von-firstloungeberlin

Please keep in mind that this is not a promotional thread, thank you. The link is only there to underline my argument.

I have to admit... I only make my own scarves and hats; I buy everything else :)

I wouldn’t even know when I’d have time to make the other things ;)

Honestly, I’m so desperate when it comes to winter jackets that I’d even take the time to sew one to my own taste, but I haven’t seen any patterns yet that match what I’m looking for—solid color, simple, straight-cut (meaning not fitted and not flared anywhere), and comfortable. If a jacket like that pops up here—and if it’s also suitable for those of us who are slim and on the shorter side—I’m in!

@Inna,
if those are available, please let me know right away...they’ll fit me too.
@Josefa,
personally, I think it used to be cheaper to sew your own clothes. But please don’t take that to mean that I think the patterns are too expensive. Back in the days of the schilling, about 20 years ago, sewing your own clothes was a real money-saver. But I could be completely off the mark on that.

When it comes to sewing, I don’t really like very simple patterns, and I just can’t seem to get the more complicated ones right. I also have my issues with stretchy fabrics—they never fit right. And store-bought clothes cost almost as much. Considering they don’t fit properly, it’s just too expensive and too much effort for me.
Knitting and crocheting are much easier. I like to knit sweaters and jackets for myself. My grandchildren don’t really like wearing knitted clothes (I didn’t like them much as a child either).

@Sabine, about the jacket—okay, I’ll let you know :-)

As for the costs—you’re certainly right there; I also think that in this age of mass production somewhere in Bangladesh, it just isn’t worth it to sew your own clothes—the fabric often costs more than the finished garment. Sewing for cost reasons really doesn’t make sense these days. But I think more and more people will soon start sewing for other reasons: As they think more and more about the conditions under which their clothes are made, they’ll automatically start looking for alternatives—and if clothes are supposed to be fair-trade, vegan, and organic, they’re really expensive. That would make you consider doing at least the final stage of production yourself. So, I’m convinced that homemade items still have a bright future ahead of them.

Unfortunately, we usually don’t know where the fabrics come from or how they’re dyed…
And in these discussions, we also tend to forget that for many people in Asia, working in a garment factory is the only way to support themselves and their families. Sewing your own clothes doesn’t really help these people. We need to tackle the root causes of the problem and try to change working conditions in those countries.
But I don’t want to start a new topic here. I don’t think that’s what Josefa was getting at with her question either.

@ruthk
If you’d like to discuss this topic, feel free to do so.