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<strong>5 ways to think about your fabric stash </strong>
#makeyourstashBuying behaviourSewingSustainability thoughts

5 ways to think about your fabric stash 

written by Kate

How do you like to think about your fabric stash? Do you love having a stash or does it stress you out? If you’re a keen sewist, chances are you have some fabric stash. If you’ve been keen for a while, it is very possible that you’ve amassed quite some fabric over time! 

Does the size of your fabric stash give you stress?

Mine has given me stress on and off over the years. In stressed times I’ve written about shopping culture, run sewing challenges on Instagram on and off since 2018 in the name of sustainability and stashbusting – #MakeYourStash / #SewWhatIHave . They do what they say on the tin, and hinge upon the (almost the only sustainability idea that isn’t up for debate) that we should all consume a little less and use what we have.

A stash of colourful cotton lawn fabrics
A collection of cotton lawns from Liberty London and Storrs London. The red and blue one in the middle still isn’t sewn after about 2 years! I bought it because it was called Columbia Road, which is where I used to live in East London.

Sustainability and buy nothing vs sewing 

Over time I’ve been nudged towards changing my views on the issue of fabric stash. If the output of my hobby and job is sewing, I really have to stop sewing and producing any clothes. But besides some income practicalities, that is really not a joyful idea so I had to come up with some mindset shifts. That’s not to say I’m not on board with consuming less, but I think having an awareness of it means it takes me much longer to decide to buy anything and I ditched some of the guilt associated with buying. As for the existing fabric stash, well, it is already there ….

By the way, where I haven’t changed my view: a garment is not sustainable simply because I sewed (or knit) it. Honestly, I don’t feel connected to or value every single thing I make, do you? I’ve had plenty of things that have not turned out as expected or as I wanted, and haven’t managed to salvage or refashion. Anyway, moving onto the ways of thinking that really help me grapple with fabric stash stress and/or guilt and maybe you too.

1. Sewing should be fun, fabric should be fun

If you are a hobbyist, then the fabric (and pattern) stash is the core of your hobby. Feeling guilty for hobby-related purchases that you really love because you don’t “need” it doesn’t do you any favours. My technique for guilt relief: the fabric isn’t immediately talking to me, I spent a few days thinking about it (no scarcity problem – there will always be more lovely fabric!) Quite often I just forget about it!

2. Your fabric stash is a collection of beautiful things

This pointer is from my mister … who thinks fabric collections are no different from collecting shot glasses, vintage china, stamps, whatever. If you gain enjoyment from having it, then let that be that! Why should it be that fabric is not allowed but fridge magnets and toys cars are? Also – floral Liberty prints – I stopped buying them because I came to the realisation that I prefer to look at them as surface prints rather than see them on my body! So now they are beautiful pieces in my stash and I might sew one up occasionally, or not. But I know now not to buy them unless I have something very specific in mind

I told myself I’d sew all these fabrics this year, it is now May and I’ve only sewn the middle green one….

3. You don’t have to sew your stash just because you have it. 

Linked to the one above, why self impose any pressure to sew everything you have? Because you already bought it so you should do something with it? Fabric does not go moldy like food, it will be there when you feel like it. Or perhaps you don’t feel like you have room for all the stuff? In which case …

4. It is ok to outgrow fabric and let it go 

I’m a hoarder and I hate to throw anything out. You? There are fabrics in my stash that have been there for years and I have a hard time accepting I have outgrown them. But, sometimes it can feel pretty nice to give it away to people who say they really like it! There have also been many times where I’ve royally messed up on buying fabric online and it turned out to be unlike what I expected. Usually I think let me just keep it for awhile. Then sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. 

5. Looking at your fabric stash (or buying it) is a way to engage in sewing when you don’t have time or energy to sew

What if you really don’t feel like making a quick project or you really don’t have time to sew anything involved? Then having a fabric stash is really handy for some future planning … because dreaming about future projects is also part of the creative hobby. As you’d expect, I would recommend looking at your stash first before buying new things in case you find some hidden gems.

So that’s my two cents on the matter. Over to you – how do you like to think about your fabric stash? Join the discussion on IG or leave a comment here! 

Till next time 

Kate x

May 12, 2022 2 comments
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KNITTED: Petite Knit Festival Sweater x2
KnittingSustainability thoughts

KNITTED: Petite Knit Festival Sweater x2

written by Kate

The Petite Knit Festival Sweater has such a fun design, why not make 2?! That’s what I thought anyway when I finished the first one. But really, after making 2 of the same jumpers I’ll happily pause on making any bobbles for awhile 😉 I started the 3yr old size one back in October 2021 and finished it at Christmas 2021. Then I paused for a month, started my rainbow version in February and just finished it (April). So I guess I’m averaging about 2 months per sweater in terms of how long it takes to knit something. Also pleased to see the knit quality much improved on festival sweater 2 compared to number 1! Luckily I’ll be wearing mine for longer than baby T will be wearing his for sure.

Since Petite Knit patterns are so popular, I decided to write these reviews with notes and tutorial lists in case it is helpful to someone one day. The instructions on Petite Knit patterns are “ok” but they are like a big 4 sewing pattern in that they assume you already know what you’re doing. I am so grateful to my IRL (in real life) knitty friends Linda, Kim and total knitting guru Valerie for helping me out with my makes so this is my way of paying it forward!

Rainbow sweater using Petite Knit Festival pattern

By the way, I was too happy I finished to have blocked these before taking the pics. The jump up and down YES!!! moment was when the child voluntarily pointed at his jumper and asked me to help put it on

Petite Knit Festival sweater child size
I also made the joggers for both kids and the sweatshirt. Not a great bind off on this festival sweater cuff, that was before I knew better so we can just ignore that!

Festival sweater basic pattern details 

  • Yarn: DK weight, I used Scheepjes Merino Softfun (superwash) which is a blend of 50% merino, 25% acrylic and 25% microfibre. Whilst the blend might not be everyone’s cup of tea, the colour range is AMAZING compared to so many other brands I’ve seen. In an attempt to be sustainable via knit what I have, I used leftover yarn from other projects for the bobble stripes. So one of the orange rows in the arm is different from the body and the other arm, but I decided there was no way I was buying more yarn for the sake of one row of knitting! An inconsistency that I’m definitely not noticing or caring when I wear the rainbow sweater.
  • Gauge: “standard”-ish gauge of 21×28 based on a lot of other patterns I’ve considered making.
  • Needles: I achieved gauge with 4mm needles. For the ribbing, I knitted with 3.25mm (my knitting needle set contains only 3.25 or 3.75mm!) 

Bobble row tips

The most fun (but also tedious) parts of making the Petite Knit Festival Sweater were the bobble rows. They are worked over 2 rows and the bobbles are K3Tog, which is NOT nice to knit! Petite Knit has a video on how to do it, but I cannot understand Danish so I might have missed valuable information in the voiceover. Anyway after some experimentation, this is what I recommend:

  1. Practise a row first when you swatch (the most convenient time) to check your tensioning.
  2. On the setup row (ie the first of two rows to do the one line of bobbles,) I gave a little slack before each bobble stitch. Because, knitting with my regular tension, the bobbles were too tight. Knitting the rows loosely, the bobbles were too loose. 
  3. Use a left needle on the left side when doing the second row – makes it easier to put your needle through the loops when you’re doing a K3tog. It won’t affect the stitch side.

Neckband observations

The sweater is knitted top-down starting from the neckband. Knit the neckband with a purl row at the halfway point, fold in half then knit the edges together. Next row is immediately starting the yoke in stockinette, with M1 increases. Irrespective of my less than perfect knitting, even on the sample photos I found the foldover too bulky for my liking. Also I think any the M1s have a tendency to create pinprick holes, which I find as annoying as visible hand stitches on eg bias binding on a neckline finish in a sewn garment!

But, in the name of learning I did the folded neckband in the first smaller jumper:

Here you can see the chunky double layer neckband. And yes, uneven stitches and some bobble issues…

Then on the second one I simply knitted half the length, and changed from knitting ribbing to stockinette (and added the M1s).

A much better quality knit, but you can see M1 holes on the single layer neckband

Still room for improvement!

It might be unfounded but I feel like the weight of the sweater is going to drag down and stretch out the neckline at some point … 

My next make is for a friend and it has construction where you make the yoke, then pick up stitches for the neckband. I’ll be interested to see how that turns out.

Tutorial list for the Petite Knit Festival Sweater

I used the same tutorials as the Sunday Cardigan I made before, here’s a copy-paste of the list.  

  1. Cast on for neckband ribbing “Alternate cable cast on” – Sheep & Stitch
  1. M1R and M1L without holes – Yarn Sub. There’s still pin prick size holes, noticeable if you’re looking closely. I’m not sure that can be helped if you’re using M1s.
  2. Casting on underarm stitches – Suzann Bryan
  3. Picking up stitches for the sleeve (no holes under the arms!) – Suzann Bryan 
  4. Tubular or Italian cast off for ribbing – Suzann Bryan – I used this for the ribbing. To fix the jog at the end if you are doing a hem band or cuff in the round, Suzann has a video for that too. Start watching from 10:52 on how to finish.

And that’s it! I really love the finished result, and I can’t wait to take a matchy matchy pic next time. I’ve totally become a knitting addict and I’m determined to get good at it, so there’ll be more coming on the blog and my IG for sure.

Till next time
Kate x

April 26, 2022 0 comment
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A sustainable wardrobe in 2022 vs sewing all the things
#makeyourstashBuying behaviourDressmakingOpinion piecesSewingSustainability thoughts

A sustainable wardrobe in 2022 vs sewing all the things

written by Kate

In 2021 I did a lot of sewing for work, and you can hardly call that contributing to a sustainable wardrobe (depending on your definitions). So what is going to happen in 2022? After chewing on it for some time I think I’ve sorted out my thoughts on this.

Sewing work in 2022

There will be less work-related sewing when it comes to garment output. I have a full-time job so there is less time to make for examples as many tutorials as I did for Minerva in 2021. Also there are fewer sewalongs for Fibre Mood (affiliate link) … don’t know the number but definitely less than the end of 2020/beginning of 2021 where it felt like we were doing a sewalong once a week! 

I still do technical editing work and occasional sample making as part of that so there will still be garments. If I can give them away, so much the better as these are not necessarily pieces I adore having in my closet. Which brings me to …

Here’s a stack of fabric I have – mix of new and existing from the stash. There were a lot of hits and misses when I went digging in my stash! I guess tastes and preferences change over time.

Sustainable wardrobe? 

The word sustainable has lost so much meaning for me, in the years I’ve been reading and writing about it. Guess it is a symptom of overuse and how it has been abused for greenwashing purposes which annoys me no end. 

For clothing, I still enjoy the Fashion Revolution 30 wears idea of sustainability. Some sustainable fashionistas I know that don’t sew often think of sewing as naturally being sustainable. But they are also not aware that you can run up a t-shirt or basic jumper in an hour if you really wanted. I was thinking that knitting is probably a good way to slow down, but my knitting addiction is really speeding up so maybe not! Anyway, I digress.

For my own closet I’d rather think of my ideal sustainable wardrobe in 2022 as being filled with things I like to wear, things I keep for sentimental reasons, or that might be nice again one day. Call me a borderline hoarder but I’ve regretted letting go of things on too many occasions! To be honest, my wardrobe needs nothing for the next 5-10 years so anything I do is either a job, a gift, or something I really fancy making for the heck of it. Like this knitting bag I made for a friend earlier this year. Have seen it in action multiple times so I’m very happy about it!

Knitting bag - great scrapbuster
A knitting bag I made for a friend. Fabric I bought from another friend’s stash! Great scrapbusters too

Sewing for leisure to align with a sustainable wardrobe 

For sewing with leisure, I’m putting my mindset into trying to reduce capitalist tendencies / excess consumption, and also not spend my limited free time sewing things I don’t want to sew. That’s a slight shift from thinking about sustainability in terms of sustainable production, or trying to use up scraps and leftovers for the sake of it, or sew my stash because I bought something once upon a time. This year there really has to be a bit of fun in sewing, otherwise for me there’s not much point. So what that means ….

Stash sewing vs new fabric

Even though I’ve run stash sewing challenges (#MakeMyStash a few years back and #SewWhatIHave last year), looking into my stash I have felt some pieces I bought a few years ago don’t feel like me anymore. Or that I have so many orange garments in my wardrobe I really don’t feel like having anything more in the same colour family for awhile. On the other hand, I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the things I have found and liked!

The lesson here: I’m going to stop beating myself up about not exclusively sewing my stash. But, I also don’t want to be buying tons of fabric “for later” because it is nice. Better to leave it behind and buy only when I want to make it immediately so that the fabric doesn’t have time to enter my stash!

Colour 

Neutrals look good and go with everything, but sometimes I feel a bit beige and bland when I wear them. Therefore: fruit and food prints for fun – and matching outfits with my kids also good – and then carry on with the brighter and bolder colours in solids. In the last few years I found prints a bit challenging. They are super fun to sew but trying to put outfits together effortlessly hasn’t worked out particularly well for me.

Different and unexpected styles

One nice thing about working for pattern companies is that I often have to try things out that I would not normally wear, including trend styles. This keeps a bit of the sewing fun, even if I don’t necessarily want it in my wardrobe (often I’ll give it away to a friend if I’m filming a tutorial). Maybe I’ll even try the shirred or smocked trend this year?! Fibre Mood always has a lot of options with 60 patterns a year and by now I’m well versed in them, having sewed 23 of their patterns last year.

Bottoms and outerwear 

I don’t foresee a huge increase in trousers / skirts / outer wear in the near future. It is winter here in The Netherlands + full work from home. So my uniform is 4x pairs of RTW jeans in rotation, paired with tops and jumpers. So what am I making? Tops and jumpers! And knitting sweaters and cardigans.

The likelihood of adding more trousers/jeans to the rotation isn’t super high, since I’m really happy with the 4x things in rotation. But I do have a couple of pieces of bottom weight canvas so I guess I’ll make trousers at some point, maybe the Modern Sewer Worker Trousers which was gifted to me last year. 

Having mentioned that a classic wool coat wasn’t on the cards, I did make a coat/shacket from boiled wool because I wanted to have a camel coat … pics of that to come. Normally I’m wearing a puffer 90% of the time! Sadly I don’t wear my other wool coats with lining that I’ve made previously because I get too cold, so we’ll see how the camel coat will fare.

For the last 2-3 springs I’ve been mulling over the idea of a wrap coatigan thing (the Tessuti Sydney jacket to be specific) in charcoal grey boiled wool with a giant decorative safety pin. Depends if I can find the ideal shade of grey. Black feels a bit black and I’m because I’m ever so inventive I do semi-regularly copy what is in sample pictures!

Picture taken from the Tessuti website

Spontaneous sewing vs planning

I always admire the people who do the Make 9 challenge. This is where you decide at the start of the year the 9 things you want to make this year. I have no idea what I want to make next week let alone for the whole year! In my loose planning, apart from the jacket and trousers I mentioned before, I’m thinking about:

  • Semi fitted plain ish white button down shirt, perhaps Modern Sewer Classic shirt I bought last year.
  • Trend patterns shirtdress – I have a blue shirting with embroidered fluro pink pineapples on it. Absolutely loved the colour blocking on this scrappy one by the way, see below.
  • There’ll be more t shirts and maybe I’ll get cracking with a bralette kit I bought 2 years ago.
Picture from the Trend Patterns website

So that’s it, another time I’ll talk about my plans for diversifying my craft time and things that are inspiring me! Plenty more quilting, knitting, maybe embroidery, sewing for the home etc. to come.

Till next time

Kate

January 25, 2022 4 comments
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Book Review: How to sew sustainably by Wendy Ward
Opinion piecesSustainability thoughts

Book Review: How to sew sustainably by Wendy Ward

written by Kate

How to Sew Sustainably is the latest offering in Wendy Ward’s sewing books – there are four other ones focussed on dressmaking. There are many ways one can try to sew ‘sustainably’ … the branch that Wendy’s book belongs to is the “waste nothing and reuse everything” one. (As an aside, if you’re keen to read about what happens to discarded textiles, you can read some of my posts on that here). So it follows that the book is primarily giving ideas for reusing, upcycling textiles in different ways with the use of a sewing machine. Whilst there are garment projects, it is not a typical dressmaking pattern book with pull out sheets that you trace.

Disclaimer: this book was given to me as a PR product. I could tell you that everything in it is my opinion etc. – which it is – but seeing as I do know Wendy and I fully believe in her passion for all things sustainable fashion, I do have bias. However, I will do my best to give you a balanced view of why you would (or not) want the book. Note: no affiliate links.

A note on ‘quality’. In this day and age where anyone can put anything on the internet, it can be hard to tell who is the real deal and who is just about pretty pictures. I like that Wendy is a fashion professional and I have trust in her patternmaking skills!

Contents 

As you can see here, as well as the projects, Wendy gives a lot of sewing tips. I particularly enjoyed reading this section. Making continuous bias binding from one square of fabric is one of my favourite techniques. I also like that she has tips for denim and leather, down to the stitch length and needle size, when to use what kind of hem. This is all really useful stuff, especially if you just need a starting point to experiment with your machine settings. Otherwise it can be a lot of time spent going through tons of internet material to figure out what to do. There’s quite a few pages on mending as well.

How to Sew Sustainably contents

The projects

For difficulty, I would say this is aimed at beginners / beginners plus. Whilst you can probably get away without having used a sewing machine before, it will be useful if you have a little bit of experience. Then you can get the best out of the guidance in the book.

There are clothing projects as you can see from the contents. On closer inspection, these are designed to be unisex and as low waste as possible. Or at least that is what I assume as a lot of them are based on rectangles. Stylistically they are not all run of the mill basics and I actually do like some of the patchwork that Wendy made – her style is strong enough to be recognisable and runs consistently across all her books, IG feed etc.

More interesting to me in the book is the out of the box thinking on the non clothing projects, whether it’s textile art of home accessories. When I think of scrap busting I typically think of quilting, bags, patchwork clothing. But actually, I could also make scrappy pillows, wall art, cards … and this would be a nice way to be a bit crafty without constantly making clothes.

Clarity of instructions and writing

The illustrations in the book have a bit of an organic / hand drawn look and feel. But it’s easy enough to see what’s going on. For example:

Example of illustrations from book

As it is a book and not individual patterns, you will find yourself flipping backwards and forwards to find the instructions for drawing the pattern, construction etc. I found this a bit of a pain to be honest. But, this is the case for any sewing book I’ve ever come across. Apart from that, they were clear and easy to follow.

Zip pouch test

To fully test out the instructions on the projects, I decided to follow one for a zip pouch as I needed a gift for a friend anyway. It turned out well with no problems.

Zip pouch made from leftover bits of fabric I had lying around.

Dressmaking patterns 

The Yes You Can Jacket, Robe and Top caught my eye so I thought to read through the section. It requires a little thinking – you have to draw the pieces yourself and take measurements that are not just bust/waist/hip. The instructions on where to measure are pictured, and where to draw/cut the fabric is also clear from the diagrams and the accompanying text. 

It might be a nice exercise if you’ve ever wanted to have a go at pattern drafting but don’t know where to start. Or you don’t fancy buying a full on patternmaking book, making a block then adjusting. It is a bit more involved than following a ready made pattern, but not intimidating. I can’t imagine a robe would give too many fit issues so probably nothing to worry about there.

Verdict

The retail price is less than 15GBP. This is a very good price for the info and projects that you get (as you can see from the contents section above)! But, it also depends on whether Wendy’s style speaks to you. There’s no use in buying books etc. if the projects don’t appeal to you. My take on it:

This book is for you if …

  • You want to have ideas for different things to do with your scraps
  • You like spending time puzzling together your scraps and thinking about what colours and textures might go together
  • You like patchwork clothing
  • You enjoy home textile accessories that might be a bit quirky and different.
  • If you need a gift for someone who is into upcycling and reusing

This book is not for you if …

  • You only want dressmaking patterns
  • You don’t like scrappy stuff
  • You don’t want to go to the effort of drawing your own paper patterns 
  • You want straightforward fast sewing that doesn’t require any thinking (ie just follow instructions blindly and off you go). 
Leftover poplin and cotton lawn is my favourite for making pockets! If you’re keen to see my strawberry dress I posted it here.

Hope that helps in the decision making! You can buy the book from Wendy’s website here (no affiliate link)

Till next time
Kate x

September 9, 2021 0 comment
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Fashion Revolution Week 2021 & sustainable sewing
Buying behaviourOpinion piecesSustainability thoughts

Fashion Revolution Week 2021 & sustainable sewing

written by Kate

Fashion Revolution Week 2021 is here again. It is something I’ve been following for some years now and I like everything that it stands for. In particular, it is the one time of year that there are a lot of interesting talks about new developments in sustainable fashion that are accessible to the public. But as the years pass by, I find my enthusiasm waning a bit … in some ways, these kinds of spotlight weeks have started to feel a bit like birthdays. A lot of build-ups, a big hoo-ha, and then we kind of “forget” about it during the year. However, Fashion Revolution Week 2021 did trigger me to write this so I guess that can only be a good thing to serve as a reminder to me too!

Do I forget about sustainable fashion when it’s not Fashion Revolution week? 

Well, a mininalistic wardrobe is not something I own so I’ve already failed if “own only what you need” is the aim. My tally says I made 63 things in 2020. That’s >1 new item of clothing a week. A lot of it was work-related sewalong sewing, and I gave away a load too. If my H1-20 (first half of 2020) was anything to go by, about ⅓ of it was leisure sewing. In 2021 I have more sewalongs for a new client so I think the makes will continue – you’ll hear more about that soon!

Whether or not my sewing volume is justified in the name of work is irrelevant if I still choose to do it. However, it may have had an influence on my views on the matter of sustainable sewing. But over time I have tweaked my approach a little and now I’m firmly of the opinion: 

Sew because you love to sew.

More than because you want to live a more eco friendly (sustainable?) life.

When I first started banging on about sustainable sewing some years ago, it was very much along the same lines promoted by sustainable fashion line – buy less, choose well, make it last kind of vibe.

But there are a few issues with this that I’ve come to see over time when trying to apply this to sewing and I wanted to talk about that today. The issue of sustainability is extremely nuanced, whether it’s fashion, food or anything else. So here are my sustainable sewing considerations. Note that I write these from an environmental perspective. It might appear that I am ignoring the human angle – that is because it is far too big to cram into this post as well.

Note! The points below are just my opinion. I would always encourage you to do your own reading and research from the websites of reputable organisations or speaking to people in the know where you can (i.e. not only looking at random posts on Facebook) so you can have a good base from which to form your own opinions.

1) Sewing is my hobby.

If I didn’t sew, I might choose to collect china, throw pottery, garden, run, race cars, go scuba diving… you get the gist. You don’t need me to tell you about the mental health benefits of hobbies. It just so happens that I really like clothes (and I started learning to knit). So maybe it was unrealistic for me to ever think that I could have a minimalistic wardrobe.

2) Sewing only removes the garment worker from the fashion supply chain.

The rest stays the same. Sewing has the benefit of attempting to opt-out of the fast fashion cycle, but you could argue the impact is less than we’d like it to be because of this.

Fashion Revolution has historically concentrated a lot of Who Made My Clothes? but this year they have moved past that and I see a new campaign #WhoMadeMyFabric. This is to look beyond the garment worker and consider who else is working in the supply chain. From the looks of things it is the same kind of campaign as the garment worker one – write to brands and ask for transparency. 

A lot of fashion people I have spoken to across the years had this belief that sewing is inherently sustainable because you build a connection with your clothes. Whilst this can be the case, I’d wager that most sewists also have a number of sewing fails. And some of us a stash. For me a lot of the time, sewing doesn’t always feel better than buying fast fashion.

3) Nuances and contradictions are everywhere

  • Polyester is plastic, but it will probably last longer than cotton (see here).
  • Organic cotton is not necessarily the answer (see here).
  • Do smaller sustainable fashion brands really have the bargaining power to effect wholesale change? What about sewists whose niche is tiny compared to fashion?

… just a few examples that come to mind. Basically, there’s no easy right or wrong on a sustainability scale, particularly when it comes to choosing fibre types.

4) Greenwashing galore

There is little that makes me madder than greenwashing. Terms like “sustainable”, or “eco” are meaningless. Or slapping on labels like OEKO-TEX100 and including it in an “eco range”, that really irritates me no end.

Let me rant about this for a moment…  OEKO-TEX has a number of certification types. OEKO-TEX100 which you commonly see in fabrics is about testing for harmful substances of the END product. In fabric terms, this means the finished fabric (read it on their website here). It does not include the substances that are used in the production of the fabric. So that means you can have an OEKO-TEX100 for viscose. If you ever looked at the production process of bog-standard viscose (or bamboo for that matter) you will know there’s nothing eco about it. But as far as I understand it, the certification doesn’t take this into account.

5) Overall impact of a reduction in textiles is low 

… compared to other personal measures when it comes to climate change.

I’d encourage you to read this article by Dr Grace Peng, who is actually qualified to comment on such scientific matters. Bottom line is this: fewer textiles is pretty low on the list on an impact scale compared to cars and planes. Does that mean we shouldn’t bother doing anything about it? No, but we should also keep our eyes open on the big picture. For example we could try switching our homes to green energy and ditching the car more often if it is economically feasible.

—

Where to after all of that? 

When it comes to approaching fashion and sewing, I still really like this diagram by Sarah Lazarovic on the hierarchy of needs, I’ve posted it before on all my social channels!

Buyerarchy of needs diagram by Sarah Lazarovic

Buying less stuff is the most direct and simple way of engaging with sustainability issue. For the rest, I’d say, buy the fabric that works for the garment you want to make. Feel guilty about making it? Ditch the guilt and just make it, it’ll be good for your mental health. Feeling bad about buying? Shop second hand if it’s possible for you, whether it’s clothing or bed sheets for toiles etc. Or just wait it out before you buy … who knows, in a few days/weeks/months you may not be interested in it anymore anyway.

If you want to hear me natter on more about sustainability, then head over to the podcast episode I did with un:CUT here.

What I’m doing during Fashion Revolution Week 2021

Well, there’s the #WhoMadeMyFabric campaign, which I think is really important from the human angle.

Also due to COVID, there are many events that have moved online. So I don’t have to miss out just because I don’t live in a big city anymore (although there is always the possibility that the kids don’t allow me to watch/listen and the timings don’t work out). But for the rest, I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing – write and talk about sustainability occasionally because it’s a topic I’m interested in. And maybe some of you want to read it!

Will you be doing anything for Fashion Revolution week 2021?

Till next time,

Kate

April 19, 2021 2 comments
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