Category: Me Made May

My “RTW fast” lasted until May 12. Then I binged. Sort of.

The idea behind a RTW fast is to refrain from buying any ready-to-wear clothing except for lingerie, hosiery, shoes, and belts, and garments that you’re required to wear for some reason, such as a work uniform or a bridesmaid’s dress.

I thought this would be a great challenge to up my game and to force me to sew a few projects to stretch my abilities, such as jeans and a suit. So I signed up.

And then I hit a bad combination of vacation, poor packing decisions and unseasonable weather. It was much colder in Kentucky last week than it should have been. I mean, 20-30 degrees colder. It was also rainy. And I did not pack a raincoat.

I suffered through the first day of vacation, shivering under me-made tops and sweaters. On the second day, I caved in. We were headed to Churchill Downs to watch the horse races, which normally calls for an outfit like this:

It was 50 degrees and drizzly. I ended up looking like this:

I had a mint julep anyway and ended the day up about $4.

I bought this hideous Army green jacket at J.C. Penney. I had tried to buy a jacket at any of the independent downtown Louisville clothing stores, but all they all only had summer clothes on offer. The morning of the races I Googled “shopping mall near me” and drove 15 minutes to a suburban sprawl shopping center.

I hadn’t been to a mall in a few years, and I hadn’t been to a J.C. Penney since… who knows? My mother gave me a gift certificate once, many years ago, and I spent it on socks, underwear and undershirts for me and my husband.

Anyway… the pickings were slim. It took me 10 minutes to hunt down a saleswoman, and she had no idea where I might find a raincoat or jacket. I figured my best chance was the sale rack, where bereft out-of-season clothes hung in a jumbled display.

This jacket was literally the only thing for sale that would be warm enough and remotely fit me. It originally cost $64 but was marked down to $28.79. It had nice heavy copper zippers and some quality details like zippered double-welt pockets and proper facings, but only half of the snaps on the placket would snap and some of the topstitching was wonky. 100% cotton, made in China. Oh well. I cursed myself yet again for not bringing a coat, but I resigned myself to buying it and prepared to leave.

And then it happened. What happens to lots of people when they go shopping, I imagine.

The lure of cheap, fast fashion took hold.

I browsed the rest of the sale rack and identified other “bargains”:

• A black V-neck sweater in a cotton-rayon-nylon blend, made in Indonesia. I already had packed a me-made black cardigan for the trip, but I thought I also might need this heavier pull-on style. Originally $32, marked down to $7.99.
• A black lightweight nylon and mesh windbreaker, made in China. I convinced myself that since the Army green jacket was on the heavier side, I might also need a lightweight jacket for warmer rainy days on this trip. Originally $54, marked down to $26.99.

I drifted to another sale rack and started looking at tops and pants because, well, everything was so cheap. Then I remembered that I didn’t need anything else. Then I remembered I was trying not to buy RTW, especially cheap, foreign-made fast fashion. I slunk off to the register instead. In all, I spent maybe 5 minutes choosing, trying on, and deciding to buy these garments.

The black sweater was probably a good buy – it fits well and the fabric seems nice (we’ll see how it washes and wears over time). I wore it a few times on vacation because it remained chilly and my me-made cardigan was pretty lightweight.

The windbreaker is really a sad thing. I’m sure I will wear it, someday. But I did not need it and I should not have bought it. Because I sew my own clothes, I have certain… let’s say… standards. While my me-made apparel is not perfect, I would never do something like this:

Exposed elastic – eek!

Serged hood seam – yuck!

Yep, that’s a serged seam in the center of the hood that can be seen from the right side if the hood is worn down. The edge of the hood was serged with exposed threads instead of a clean turn-and-topstitch finish. Seriously. How hard would it have been to draft a flat-fell for that one seam and properly finish the edge? Also, the elastic was inserted into cuff  by sandwiching it into a turn-and-topstitch cuff that was serged closed, instead of inserting the elastic into a casing so that the edge is clean. You can see not only the serging from the right side, but also the edge of the elastic!

I would like to know what goes into these fast-fashion RTW designs. Yes, they are meant to be cheap and quick, but how much cheaper and quicker is it to do something so crappy vs. something decent? Without these two gross finishes, this would be a nice little jacket instead of an embarrassment.

My main takeaway from this experience is that I spent about a minute buying this jacket. That’s the dirty little secret of fast fashion that no one talks about. This stuff is designed fast, made fast and bought fast. I was a little astonished at the sale price and didn’t think further. If I had looked at this jacket with a critical eye for 30 seconds more, I would have noticed these big flaws and would have passed it by. Part of the blame rides with the consumer, too.

Anyway, I will reinstate my RTW fast for the rest of the year and finish Me Made May. And next time I go on vacation, I will definitely check the weather forecast before I leave, and pack a coat!