SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The skill of sewing may seem like a talent from yesteryear.
“Teens are really interested in creating their own garments and thrifting and upcycling, and, um, adults are interested in learning how to mend their own clothes,” said Steffanie Dotson, president and founder of the San Diego Craft Collective.
But given how many more people are looking to upscale, thrift, or DIY clothing, more places are seeing more people looking to learn the trade and the benefits from it.
“I recently became interested in sewing ... part of a more general interest in a do-it-yourself lifestyle,” Emiline Carincross, a student in San Diego Craft Collective’s Sewing 101 class, said.
Dotson told ABC 10News more people are interested and signing up to learn from their sewing lessons.
“When we first started I think we were teaching classes maybe once a month and it's grown to once a week and now we offer sewing classes twice a week,” said Dotson.
Each person has their own reasons for taking up the trade.
“My primary goals are I'd love to be able to make myself a dress. I'd love to make my five-year-old daughter a dress, and I'd like to help my son on his journey so that I'm not completely lost when he's learning to sew,” Carincross said.
Creating clothing isn’t the only reason why some are sitting down to learn how to use a sewing machine.
“When I was at the mall a while ago, the clothes were getting really expensive, but they all look super cute, and I thought, you know, I could do that kind of stuff. And when I thrift, some clothes are too big, some clothes are too small, and I want to like make sure they fit me,” Lucia Blankenbiller, a 12-year-old student, said.
When it comes to thrifting, according to Capital One, about a third of clothes bought in the U.S. are secondhand.
Capital One’s data shows a vast majority of people thrifting, 89 percent, are doing so to save money, which they do to the tune of close to 15-hundred dollars a year.
“I think they're very interested in the skills that go along with that. I mean, oftentimes if you thrift something you might really like the texture of the fabric, but it might be 10 sizes too big for you,” Dotson said.
“Having those skills to change it or make it fit you better is, like really people are interested in that really right now.”
There might be pros of being able to learn how to sew.
“Just being able to repair things, it gives it longer life so you're saving money there,” Dotson said.
But there’s also a sense of pride you can’t put a price on with the trade.
“The satisfaction of doing things with your hands is probably my personal pro,” Carincross said. “But yes, minimizing clothing, doing it yourself, all of it I find very enticing and maybe lots of people are finding that way too now.”
