If you are an awesome seamstress... I say go for it.

If you can "sew" like me, I'd say avoid it. Yeah, the stuff I've made for myself turned out wearable and you probably couldn't tell it was made just by a casual glance... but I always had thread and isht sticking out in the wrong places. Sometimes things wouldn't fit right, etc.

I'd go with the handmade jewelry like someone suggested and mention you make some of your own clothes. We do a lot of our own costumes for performances and philanthropies, so someone who can at least sew a straight seam is always useful.

This is just my opinion, and what I have seen on my campus, so take it with that in mind:
I see nothing wrong with wearing something you made, IF it's really really nice. A girl at my school during recruitment week had this amazingly gorgeous skirt, like nothing I had ever seen before. When asked where she got it, she said she had made it. No one thought less of her, in fact, everyone thought more of her because she was so creative and crafty. If a sorority just wants you because you wear designer...well, that certainly wouldn't be the sorority for me!

I like designer stuff as much as the next girl, but if you can make something that will have people gushing over it, do it, wear it, and love it! Not many people have that talent, so consider yourself lucky. As long as it looks good and is appropriate, it sounds fine.

Of course, again, I go to Lyon College. It's small and much less competitive, so take what I say with that in mind.

I would say it depends.

It depends on the fit, quality and style of the garment you make.

It depends on how you present yourself in said garment.

It depends on the competitiveness of the school at which you're going through recruitment.

If you're going to wear something that fits your body well, is sewn well, is appropriate for the day of recruitment and you feel confident in, then by all means, rock your handmade clothes.

If it's something that's ill-fitting, poorly made or you're going to feel self-conscious in the entire time you wear it, leave it in the closet.

At both my undergrad school and the school at which I now advise, handmade clothes wouldn't necessarily be a disadvantage to a PNM, unless they were horribly dowdy and poorly made. Both schools are medium-sized Midwestern schools with a moderately competitive recruitment.

I agree that if you're a heck of a seamstress, go for it. People don't dock points from girls for whether their clothes are designer or not, but rather for their overall appearance (neat, clean, not sloppy)... I think there was a whole other thread about appearances and their influence on rush.

OMG, like, that's so totally true! I mean, thank God there are sororities that are too clueless to realize that a person's worth is only proportional to the number of Manolos in her closet, because otherwise a poor soul like me would never have gotten a bid.

True Story: My mom wanted badly to make me a dress for each round of rush. I was really skeptical about it because my school was so competitive, but my mom convinced me to let her do it because she had done so for her own rush when she was in school. When I only had 7 parties (of a possible 12) for round 2, I quit wearing the handmade clothes and did better in the 2nd, 3rd, and preference rounds. I had a friend from one of the houses who cut me first round who told me that her sisters thought my homemade dress made me look like "a poor girl who couldn't afford dues" (and the dress was really pretty cute).

Don't know if that helps, but I figured I'd mention it.

Oh, Snap.

Whoa, I think you took what I said completely the wrong way. I said nothing about your chapter or my chapter, but just that there ARE plenty of girls out there that come through rush decked out in designer clothes.

I don't own a single pair of Manolos... nor do most of the girls that I know. I was simply giving a *possible* reason for our differing views on the topic.

I agree wih UK TriDelt.

Thank you. I'm not trying to ruffle feathers here, and what I'm saying really shouldn't. Some sorority women and PNM's have a lot of money, no one debates that, and it shouldn't be controversial. Wear what makes you happy.

If your clothes look awesome that's going to be a good thing.
If they don't, it's going to be a bad thing.

And that will be true whether you buy them, sew them, steal them from your little sister, or find them on the side of the road.

I have always gotten more compliments about things I made myself than I ever have for store bought dresses, even designer, and people never believed that I'd made them. It's because I can make them to fit perfectly, where store bought clothes NEVER fit me right. I think it depends on the quality of the seamstress, fabric, ability to fit and choosing the right patterns for your body type.

Dana, maybe there really are a ton of women at UK who can afford top designer labels but they only wear them inside their houses? Then when they leave the house, they wear, say, A&F and carry knock-off designer handbags. That would explain the differing POVs about the fashion climate at UK. Because no one really knows what's going on in another sorority's house :)

Kind of like in Saudi Arabia where the wealthy women dress head to toe in Chanel, etc. but when they leave the house they cover themselves with a burka and no one knows they have the "good stuff" underneath.

I thought burqas were the blue coverings worn in Afghanistan and abayas were the black ones worn in Saudi.

Alum, i think you're right. The average American just picks the most familiar term and runs with it. Not a dig on KillarneyRose, just an observation.

-I wouldn't have remembered the right word myself :p