How can I make my own clothes?

[wannabe1]

My question has more detail to it though. I've looked on youtube a little bit about how to start clothing companies, however they all seem to buy their clothes pre-made by somebody else and just paint their own artwork on them. That is not what I am aiming for.

I want to make my clothes "unique." I don't want the tag to say "fruit of the loom" "Hanes" or any other brand. I want it to have the name I choose. I want to design and make them myself. I eventually went to Barnes and Noble to look at craft books and Yahoo Answers to ask around a little more. They all just seemed to imply to go to places like Joann and buy the fabric there. I feel like that is still too generic though. Do Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle, Faded Glory, Armani, and other well known brands buy their fabric material at Joann? You see my point.

Where can I get fabric that I can really work with? How can I work with different materials? I'd like to experiment with cotton and polyester mixes, different thicknesses of fabric and maybe even wool.

I would genuinely appreciate help with this. I don't necessarily know that I'm looking to start a big giant company, but I do want to have clothes that I can feel a little more connected with.

I really want to make a hooded sweatshirt, t-shirt, and stripped dress shirt. In terms of the stripped dress shirt, I want to choose the thickness of the stripes as well as vary their orientation to my liking.

 

[jc4jax]

You are starting in the wrong forum, try The Cutter & Tailor forum

 

[JustDucky]

It sounds like you are looking for custom made fabric. ("I want to choose the thickness of the stripes as well as vary their orientation to my liking.") That is going to be incredibly expensive. You're better off just using what you can buy already made from someplace like Mood or B. Black and Sons (B. Black and Sons also sells hymo, which you'll need if you ever decide to give suiting a try). Wawak is a good source for the supplies you'll need. And like jc4jax suggested, the Cutter & Tailor forum is a great source of information. However, I highly recommend just lurking rather than actually posting. Most of the information you will need to get started is already there.

I also recommend that you start out very small with fabric that isn't terribly expensive. You're not going to get it right the first time. Like anything else, making clothing takes practice. Making clothing that doesn't look like you made your own clothing takes lots of practice. And if you practice on fabric that is $50/yd you're likely to blow hundreds if not thousands of dollars before you make the first piece that you would willingly wear out in public.