My mom used to sew my clothes when I was little. My grandmother was a great seamstress and could sew clothes and upholster furniture, self taught.
A good friend is an excellent seamstress, makes clothes, quilts, dolls, you name it. She started from being a teen, with a family that couldn’t afford to buy clothes for all the kids.
I would love to learn to sew and have a Janome machine that’s only a few years old but I haven’t used it much. I wish I had time to sew. I can tell you that I am almost a professional shopper haha and buying clothes on clearance is way cheaper than buying fabrics at the craft store, a store like Joann’s Fabrics where cottons can be 12 dollars a yard, unless you catch a sale.
One idea if you have a machine is buying thrift shop clothing and modifying it. I see people on Instagram that do incredible things with buying large size clothing and then cutting it down into dresses, shirts and jackets for thinner recipients.
I joined the American Sewing Guild which has local chapters, which all have groups. If you join the guild, you can attend some groups and learn how to sew there. The ladies that are members do incredible work and are happy to help newbies. We were at the local chapter annual luncheon yesterday and seeing the work that the ladies do is really inspiring. There are also tons of YouTube videos and FB groups where people share their work and knowledge.
My friend asked me to check the member price at Costco online today. They have some computerized machine which is about 1500. I saw a computerized Janome for 249 which you don’t have to be a member to purchase. I was advised not to buy a Brother or a Singer as the quality is cheap. You can also buy a machine at a thrift shop if you luck out but you don’t know until you start trying to use it whether something is wrong with it, and repairs can be expensive. If you’re going to pay for a repair, you may as well just buy a new machine.