My advice is if you know you want to make clothing for yourself, buy a dress form. It is the best sewing investment I have ever made. Then you "try on" the pattern to the form and make adjustments before cutting any fabric. What a big difference it makes.
Also a set of hams. Pressing in sewing is as important as in quilting.
We put tons of money into quilting supplies, why not something practical?
Oh, and there is a site that I love called patternreview.com It tells it like it is with the patterns out there.