I do occasionally as I have a high waist line with hips high too so most ready made clothes won't fit me. Even patterns have to be altered to fit my odd shape. I go for simple style patterns as they never seem to go out of season and you can fancy them up with embroidery, lace, accents of different colored fabrics. So much you can do with patterns these days.
I still have a large quantity of dress fabrics from before I moved up to Iowa back in 2010. I'd usually buy at least 5yds of each fabric so I'd have enough to make a jacket, skirt and sometimes even a simple style dress. Most times I'd use my serger to finish the seams which always makes it look more professional plus keeps the edges from fraying.