FrugalForLife has a great guest-post up about sewing. It includes tips on learning to sew, as well as a discussion on the economics of sewing your own clothes. It’s well worth a read if you’d like to save money by making some of your own clothes.
Personally, I can only sew a little and always mean to practice more but never get time. I’m currently having zero luck finding attractive, reasonably priced sleepwear so maybe I’ll just have to make my own!
Spending less than you earn helps 
Seriously though, I\’m not the best person to ask because Mr Bargain Queen does most of the budgeting around here. He keeps a spreadsheet of absolutely everything we need money for each year and divides our income into all these different categories so he always knows how much we have to spend on things. Then he tracks all the expenditure in each category so he can see if we\’re over- or under-budgeting. I like his approach because he aims to have plenty of money set aside for all the essentials so we never have to go without anything we really want. Well, apart from summers in Europe — this blog will have to start making money instead of costing me if we\’re going to do that 
I\’ll see if I can convince him to write some posts about budgets but it might be the end of semester before he has time… will that be OK?
I couldn’t sew to save my life. In junior high, everyone had to take a six-week sewing class, and I was lucky to escape with a “C.”
Tha said, I wish I could. I think sewing would be most cost-effective for buying things from thrift shops and then modifying them (for fit, style, etc.). Otherwise, I think it would be almost as expensive to buy fabric as it would to buy something; from what I see in the fabric stores the really nice fabrics are not cheap. (But YMMV.)
Great site; you rule, Bargain Queen!
Thank you!
I’ve had the same experience with fabrics. I don’t mind when low-quality fabrics are really cheap; I just make sure I make them into something that doesn’t have to last long or look great.
I hate it when expensive fabric doesn’t live up to the price though. I once made a pair of tailored trousers that took ages. The fabric was $40 and after three wears it had pilled horribly. It was very disappointing because they’d taken so long as well as costing a lot.
I don’t buy from that fabric store (Lincraft) any more!
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Katie said,
August 29, 2006 @ 2:57 pm
Hey Bargain Queen, can you help with how to become a Budget Queen? I am so in debt ;(