This was so thorough! Sewing a dupe, especially when you make your own pattern, is a great way to learn about drafting, practice skills and build confidence. I also think it’s a little act of rebellion.
Thank you! I agree that it's such a good way to build those skills in a way you'll find engaging because you're making something you find cool! I guess the line for me starts getting blurry when people start monetising those dupes...
Love this! Dupes are a proud tradition of home sewing. My mom describes recreating cool clothes from magazines and catalogs to wear to school in the late 1960s and 1970s
Love this from your mum! And I agree that sewing trendy clothes for yourself based on cool clothes you've seen is definitely a strong part of sewing history
wonderfully written! i touched on this a bit on my substack as well, not quite as thoroughly. i have such conflicting feelings! i recreated a bode quilt with a lot of critique and some changes—seeing as traditional quilt blocks are often shared and have been passed down throughout history (their design is also a reproduction). i still felt weird about it, but it’s also content people love to see 🤔 weird times!
thank you! it can be so tricky to find the line between inspiration and imitation, but my guiding light is if I'm doing it in good faith and with my own thoughtful adaptations then I feel okay about copying trends!!
Also, the big guys copy the little guys too. Draper James has a new dress out that is ex tly like a Sewing Revival pattern. The Sewing Revival pattern has been out for quite some time now.
I don't think it can be helped since patterns, like history, repeat themselves. It is inevitable.
I wonder though how close these "dupes" patterns are piece by piece replicas of the original garment?
I mean I've spent a lot of time looking very closely to high end clothing and while of course it's possible to make X look similar to Y it rarely is in pattern cutting, construction technique, and obviously fabrics. And I own some pieces that were so incredible I sacrificed to purchase them.
For example, when Sarah Burton was the head designer for McQueen, there was a series of jackets that did something amazing: melding the lines of the side panel into the pocket flap but curving it over the hip so that it carved out the waistline further emphasized by a wide lapel....
Sure CloningCouture on IG can do it. I've watched her tailor a pagoda shoulder jacket IRL.
Most dupes I see are sad imitations of the original. They remind me of the knockoffs NY "buyers" would copy by sneaking into Paris fashion shows in the 1950s and 60s and then sell them at Gimbels and other department stores stateside.
How interesting! I’m not a seamstress at all, but I find the topic intriguing. I know a story of a woman who went to try on wedding dresses, and her mother took pictures of her (on an actual camera as this was in the 90s) then went and made her a wedding dress by hand that resembled the one she had tried on.
I think ultimately the ethics come down to the who’s profiting? I don’t think it hypocritical to criticize large companies that steal small businesses’ ideas and to be find with using a pattern that mimics a large company - people have always found ways to make things cheaper and more affordable because big companies profit plenty!
Also, does the slang “dupe” as in “that’s a dupe” actually mean duplicate? I always thought it was just using the verb “to dupe” in a different way (a noun) that’s atypical of English grammar. As in a piece that is ‘a dupe’ is a piece that deceives one to believe it is actually belonging to the brand it’s mimicking. I hadn’t realized it could just mean duplicate!
I haven't ever really thought about this. I think as someone who doesn't have the body type of standard sizing, most small businesses/ small batch clothing designers are not going to have clothes that fit my body properly (not saying its completely their fault I understand fashion markets) which means that sewing can be a better choice to be able to have a piece like a tie front shirt, anything that buttons up the front, or anything with defined boob placement.
I think about this all the time! Almost everything I sew is based on something that's for sale because I either:
1. don't want to support the fast fashion brand
2. can't afford it
3. want to learn/figure out how it's made
This was so thorough! Sewing a dupe, especially when you make your own pattern, is a great way to learn about drafting, practice skills and build confidence. I also think it’s a little act of rebellion.
Thank you! I agree that it's such a good way to build those skills in a way you'll find engaging because you're making something you find cool! I guess the line for me starts getting blurry when people start monetising those dupes...
Love this! Dupes are a proud tradition of home sewing. My mom describes recreating cool clothes from magazines and catalogs to wear to school in the late 1960s and 1970s
Love this from your mum! And I agree that sewing trendy clothes for yourself based on cool clothes you've seen is definitely a strong part of sewing history
wonderfully written! i touched on this a bit on my substack as well, not quite as thoroughly. i have such conflicting feelings! i recreated a bode quilt with a lot of critique and some changes—seeing as traditional quilt blocks are often shared and have been passed down throughout history (their design is also a reproduction). i still felt weird about it, but it’s also content people love to see 🤔 weird times!
thank you! it can be so tricky to find the line between inspiration and imitation, but my guiding light is if I'm doing it in good faith and with my own thoughtful adaptations then I feel okay about copying trends!!
Also, the big guys copy the little guys too. Draper James has a new dress out that is ex tly like a Sewing Revival pattern. The Sewing Revival pattern has been out for quite some time now.
I don't think it can be helped since patterns, like history, repeat themselves. It is inevitable.
I wonder though how close these "dupes" patterns are piece by piece replicas of the original garment?
I mean I've spent a lot of time looking very closely to high end clothing and while of course it's possible to make X look similar to Y it rarely is in pattern cutting, construction technique, and obviously fabrics. And I own some pieces that were so incredible I sacrificed to purchase them.
For example, when Sarah Burton was the head designer for McQueen, there was a series of jackets that did something amazing: melding the lines of the side panel into the pocket flap but curving it over the hip so that it carved out the waistline further emphasized by a wide lapel....
Sure CloningCouture on IG can do it. I've watched her tailor a pagoda shoulder jacket IRL.
Most dupes I see are sad imitations of the original. They remind me of the knockoffs NY "buyers" would copy by sneaking into Paris fashion shows in the 1950s and 60s and then sell them at Gimbels and other department stores stateside.
How interesting! I’m not a seamstress at all, but I find the topic intriguing. I know a story of a woman who went to try on wedding dresses, and her mother took pictures of her (on an actual camera as this was in the 90s) then went and made her a wedding dress by hand that resembled the one she had tried on.
I think ultimately the ethics come down to the who’s profiting? I don’t think it hypocritical to criticize large companies that steal small businesses’ ideas and to be find with using a pattern that mimics a large company - people have always found ways to make things cheaper and more affordable because big companies profit plenty!
Also, does the slang “dupe” as in “that’s a dupe” actually mean duplicate? I always thought it was just using the verb “to dupe” in a different way (a noun) that’s atypical of English grammar. As in a piece that is ‘a dupe’ is a piece that deceives one to believe it is actually belonging to the brand it’s mimicking. I hadn’t realized it could just mean duplicate!
I haven't ever really thought about this. I think as someone who doesn't have the body type of standard sizing, most small businesses/ small batch clothing designers are not going to have clothes that fit my body properly (not saying its completely their fault I understand fashion markets) which means that sewing can be a better choice to be able to have a piece like a tie front shirt, anything that buttons up the front, or anything with defined boob placement.