{"id":93846,"date":"2017-03-14T01:53:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T05:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=93846"},"modified":"2017-03-14T01:53:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T05:53:41","slug":"slow-fashion-tired-of-ill-fitting-clothes-woman-makes-head-to-toe-wardrobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/14\/slow-fashion-tired-of-ill-fitting-clothes-woman-makes-head-to-toe-wardrobe\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow fashion: Tired of ill fitting clothes, woman makes ‘head to toe’ wardrobe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The self-taught seamstress is on a quest to fill Erica Penton’s closet entirely with clothes she made herself. (Photo: Alex “Skud” Bayley\/Flickr)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX\u2014Erica Penton’s goal is to never buy clothes again \u2014 not even her bras.<\/p>\n

The self-taught seamstress is on a quest to fill her closet entirely with clothes she made herself.<\/p>\n

Penton started making her own clothes several years ago, but got serious about replacing her entire wardrobe with self-made garments last August.<\/p>\n

She said she worked in retail for years and found that \u201cfast fashion\u201d clothes never fit her properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a hard time finding what I wanted, and when I did find it, it didn’t fit me very well, so I was often having things tailored,\u201d said Penton, her shoulder-length dark wavy hair resting on a soft grey sweater with a black bow on the neck, a creation she based on one by designer J Crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started doing the math… I started to see that making my own clothes was something that I really wanted to work towards, and it also meant I got exactly what I wanted from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

She has spent hundreds of hours making jeans, winter coats, tops and even bras. Soon, she’ll attempt a bathing suit. And this summer, she plans to learn how to make shoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going for head to toe. I’m trying to encapsulate a wardrobe as much as I can,\u201d the 35-year-old said in her home sewing studio in Halifax’s north end, with its hand-me-down 1980s-era Kenmore sewing machine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much fun. I really love that I get to start with a piece of fabric and a giant paper pattern… two really big abstract things that become this 3D object that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costs can vary, she said. For example, her J Crew-imitation sweater cost her about $60, while the designer version would retail for about $250.<\/p>\n

But factoring in labour costs, there isn’t always a huge amount of savings. In fact, some garments work out to be more expensive than their store-bought counterpart.<\/p>\n

The difference: the fit is perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take a lot better care of my clothing now because it’s not disposable. I know exactly how much effort it to make it,\u201d said Penton, who has a masters degree in library science.<\/p>\n

Penton has been intermittently updating her ratio of self-made and store-bought clothing. So far, about 25 per cent of her wardrobe was made in her home studio.<\/p>\n

The ambitious task, which Penton has been documenting on her blog, is very time consuming \u2014 almost as much as full-time job, said Penton.<\/p>\n

And her painstaking work hasn’t come without setbacks. Penton spent more than 40 hours crafting a black pea coat with pleated side panels before mice found their way to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI accidentally left some dog treats in one of the pockets. I was devastated. I think they started to make a nest,\u201d said Penton, looking woefully at the holey jacket. \u201cI know how to fix it now, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

But other items, such as a basic slouchy top, can be whipped up in about four hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s totally possible to make something and wear it out that night,\u201d said Penton, who learned to sew by watching tutorials on the Internet.<\/p>\n

Draped over a wooden hanger in her studio is a vibrant red cropped boxy top with floral designs. The bottom of the shirt hits just at the waist of a pair of dark bell-bottom jeans.<\/p>\n

Penton smiles and twirls as she models the self-made outfit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favourite thing to make is jeans,\u201d she said, running her hands over the dark wash material.<\/p>\n

Another hanger holds something most people throw in a pile on the floor: Pyjamas. The light blue floral pants and shirt have lace trim and white piping throughout.<\/p>\n

Next to the nightwear is a pair of dark pattern pants \u2014 with a unique twist. Penton used extra material from a button-up shirt to line the pockets and flaps of the pants in royal blue.<\/p>\n

She said it’s those personal touches that make the garments \u201cthat much more precious.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HALIFAX\u2014Erica Penton’s goal is to never buy clothes again \u2014 not even her bras. The self-taught seamstress is on a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":93853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[16571],"class_list":["post-93846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fashion-and-beauty","tag-slow-fashion","mauthors-aly-thomson","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}