I'm 65 & have been making my own clothes since I was in high school. I was a size zero back then & the smallest size I could find was a 6, so I had to alter all my clothes. I've never been able to buy a pattern & make it fit right, so I take apart a top, jeans, etc., that I like the fit & use freezer paper to make a pattern. I even make my own undies. I've ripped apart my husbands 40 year old jackets, with zip out linings, & made new. You name I've ripped it apart. The hard part these days is finding good apparel fabrics. Today's fabrics are nothing like they were 50 years ago, heck 20 years ago. Many fabrics today are not woven straight, the stretch is the opposite it was back then, etc. Today's fabrics also don't shrink the same direction they used to, so I over lock the edges & wash them first.
Happy sewing
.