My new passion....making my own clothes

I worked at a small elementary school for 3 three years that was committed to being a green school.  I worked with the green committee and learned a great deal about being green.  Much of what I learned had to do with being aware of being local.  Our food, clothes, and products that we use in our life spend a lot of time being shipped from somewhere else to here.  I began to make a conscious effort to remove the shipping from my consumerism.  There is an awesome farmer's market nearby that is held weekly and provides fresh, local food for sale.

As a teacher and union member, I wanted to find products that were Made in America.  I want the clothes I wear to support American workers and to be made ethically by people that were fairly paid for their labor and by adults, not children in third world countries.  To that end, I've decided to try to make most of what I wear.

Being slightly amazonian (5"10'), I've always struggled finding clothes that fit but I've never had much success in altering commercial patterns.  I took an online class recently where the teacher used a sloping ruler!  Game Changer! I bought one on sale from JoAnn's with a 50% coupon for under $10!  I started using it with the Bronte t-shirt pattern made by Jennifer Lauren.  It turned out fabulous.  I have a very small waist and bigger hips and the sloping ruler helped me alter this area so the finished product actually looked great!  I've been doing this a while and thought maybe it was a happy accident so I made another one and it also looked good!
UPDATE:  A picture of my muslin Bronte shirt

I next purchased the metro t-shirt pattern.  The first shirt I made ended up with very tight sleeves but I removed them, altered the sleeve width using my new handy sloper, cut new sleeves and sewed them in.  Ta-da!  It fits perfectly!  I've made 4 other metro t-shirts and they all look and fit great!

I really like the indie patterns.  The designers seem to take a great deal of time making the instructions simple and easy to understand.  I take the AO file to a printer and have it printed on a big sheet of paper and then copy the size I'm going to use.  I'm currently storing the patterns rolled up like blue prints.  Not sure if that is the best way to go but I truly cannot think of another way to store them.
UPDATE:

My first Metro t-shirt.  I learned you need a lot of stretch for this shirt.  The fabric was very cottony.  This is the first shirt with new sleeve.  Not my fav because it lacks stretch.

These are the ones I made after learning about knit stretch.  I like them much better.  I've actually gotten complements on them!  So nice to wear something that actually fits well!

 Check out the sleeves on this one.  The length actually covers my wrists.  That NEVER happens in ready made long sleeve shirts!

Please ignore the mess behind me!  I am still in a foot cast and the house is a hot mess!