So after a long and tedious process of trying to find an abaya that fits me ( I am 5'7"), I came to a conclusion that I really want to make my own clothes. Living here in the West, it is extremely hard for me to find skirts that actually go below my ankle and long sleeves that cover my arms instead of being 3/4. I am not even mentioning the "not so fitting" factor, since almost all clothes are made to emphasize on every curve a woman's body has.
First, I tried different islamic websites such as eastessence.com, shukronline.com, islamic-attire.com and they all have really nice clothes alhamdulillah, that look beautiful and very fashionable as well. Trendy jilbab. The only issue that I have is the quality. I have purchases some items before and they never look the same as the picture online and wear out really quickly. It might be because most items are made in India, where they use different quality standards, clothes coloring, etc. Another issue that I had was the price. I just don't feel comfortable spending so much money on clothes I can't even feel or see.
This is when I remembered about a friend of mine who had her clothes made. I know I can pick my own material, color, style and pretty much customize as much as I want but the price factor kicked in again. It will end up costing me at least $70 for a trendy cotton jilbab and nobody wants to wear the same thing over and over again. Plus I have two small children and nothing stays clean for more than 2 hours so I would have to buy at least 3-4 jilbabs.....
And I got desperate! I remembered about the sewing classes I took in middle school and little projects I made here and there. I started watching all these videos online about "how to sew". It all looks so simple and so quick. The most amazing thing is that making my own clothes will cost me no more than $30/jilbab.
