Although it is really so inexpensive to buy clothes today, being able to use a sewing machine is still a terrific skill to have. It is a real pity that consumers need to pay quite a bit on alterations if they need just simple sewing done like replacing a zipper, for example. Before the 1980′s when clothing became so much cheaper to buy, fabric retailers were everywhere and wipping up an outfit on your machine was a terrific creative outlet for people who are now middle aged or older. Today, young people are hardly ever able to alter their clothes to fit – but anything goes, anyway, I think. If something needs to be altered people merely have to fork out.