Why Do They Sew? Women’s Motivations to Sew Clothing for Themselves

Abstract

Garment sewing is undergoing a resurgence in participation, with a growing number of women choosing to sew their clothing instead of buying readily available fast fashion. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the current motivations of an ethnically diverse sample of women who sew garments for themselves. The in-depth interview data from 15 interviews revealed personal fulfillment to be the overarching reason for participation. Personal fulfillment was achieved through main emergent themes of investment, control, and empowerment with 10 subthemes. Theoretical perspectives of prosumerism, craft and do-it-yourself consumption, and uses and gratification theory were applied to the emergent themes to interpret the motivations of these women to sew garments for themselves. A model of sewing motivations for female garment sewing was developed to illustrate the connection between the emergent themes’ contribution to the women’s personal fulfillment and recurring cycle that takes place each time the women create a new garment for themselves.