Do you save money when you sew your own clothing? Before fast fashion lowered the cost of ready-to-wear clothing, sewing was an economical solution to expensive clothing. But in a time where cheap clothing is just a click away, that isn't necessarily the case. Sewing your own clothes can be cheaper if you really want it to be, but it often isn’t.

So, we priced several Seamwork patterns with their ready-to-wear counterparts to compare costs. However, before we look at the numbers, it's important to acknowledge that “cheaper” can’t stop at a garment’s final price tag.

Examining additional costs of commercial garment production, you'll find high ethically obscure costs, like the environmental impact and abuse of human labor. On the other hand, if you sew clothes yourself, there are invisible price tags in each project, like your sewing tools, equipment for your space, patterns used more than once, and little things like a portion of a spool of thread and a small piece of interfacing, which are hard to price out at a small scale.

As we compare the price tags of several kinds of ready-to-wear clothes and their Seamwork equivalents, keep that in mind.

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Let’s Look at the Numbers

So how did we get all these numbers? We started with Everlane, a ready-to-wear brand that tells you how much it costs to produce their garments. They publish the cost of production alongside each piece of clothing in their catalog. Transparency isn’t the norm for most clothing manufacturers, so we’ll look at Everlane’s prices because they include a breakdown, including the fabric, materials (like hardware), transportation, duties, and labor.

To put this into perspective more, we also shopped some of our favorite ethics-driven independent labels, including shops that produce here in the US and claim fair wages and sustainable fabrics. So will these shops reflect a similar cost as our home sewing projects? (In short, yes, they do.)

After looking at independent brands, we shopped at Target to get a dose of fast-fashion reality. Remember, some fast-fashion prices can get even lower than Target’s prices.

For the Seamwork patterns, we tallied fabric, supplies, and labor. We used mid-range fabric prices and included breakdowns for our base sizes 8 and 20. Labor costs were based on an average of $18 per hour. So keep in mind that you might be buying cheaper or more expensive fabrics—and you might be sewing for free.

Jeans

Everlane: $98 ($28.85 to produce)

Indie brand: $255

Target: $34.99

Seamwork Tessa: $148-159.25

• Fabric (at $15 per yard): $30-$41.25


• Notions: $10


• Labor: $108 (6 hours)

Button-up shirts

Everlane (cotton): $75 (costs $24 to produce)

Everlane (silk): $128 (costs $42 to produce)

Indie brand: (cotton): $160

Target: (cotton): $20

Seamwork Rachel (cotton): $98.37-$104

• Fabric (at $9/yard): $21.37-$27


• Notions: $5


• Labor: (4 hours): $72

Seamwork Rachel (silk): $124.50-$137

• Fabric (at $20/yard): $47.50-$60


• Notions: $5


• Labor: (4 hours): $72

Jackets

Everlane: $175 (costs $32.14 to produce)

Indie label: $195

Target: $50

Seamwork Francis: $205.58-$215.50

• Fabric ($25/yard plus lining): $87.50-$97.5


• Notions: $10


• Labor: $108 (6 hours)

Leggings

Everlane: $68 (cost $20.52 to produce)

Indie label: $78

Target: $30

Seamwork Tino: $53.50-$58.50

• Fabric ($10/yard): $12.50-$17.50


• Notions: $5


• Labor: $36 (2 hours)

Jumpsuits

Everlane: $120 (costs $48.82 to produce)

Indie label: $250

Target: $29.99

Seamwork Sky: $105.50-$122

• Fabric (at $12/yard): $37.50-$54


• Notions: $5


• Labor: $63 (3.5 hours)

T-shirts

Everlane: $24 (costs $7.72 to produce)

Indie label: $70

Target: $9

Seamwork Ryan: $35-$42.50

• Fabric (at $10/yard): $15-$22.50


• Notions: $2


• Labor: $18 (1 hour)

Dress

Everlane: $100 (it’s on sale for $50 and costs $33.91 to produce)

Indie label: $190

Target: $29.99

Seamwork Benning: $80-$90.50

• Fabric (at $14/yard): $42-$52.50


• Notions: $2


• Labor: $36 (2 hours)

Swimsuits

Everlane: $65 (costs $21.38 to produce)

Indie label: $153

Target: $40

Seamwork Crosby: $101.75-$109.25

• Fabric ($15/yard): $33.75-$41.25


• Notions: $5


• Labor: $63 (3.5 hours)

Underwear

Everlane: $15 (costs $5.02 to produce)

Indie label: $39

Target: $5

Seamwork Dana: $25-$27

• Fabric ($10/yard): $5-$7


• Notions: $2


• Labor: $18 (1 hour)

Casual bag

Everlane: $55 (costs $13.49 to produce)

Indie label: $80

Target: $25

Seamwork Lee: $66

• Fabric (faux leather at $15/yard, lining): $25


• Notions: $5


• Labor: $36 (2 hours)

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What do these numbers mean?