Note: picture is Wendy’s own
Wendy Ward is one of our sponsors for #makeyourstash. A teacher, author, designer, Wendy does all of it in the sewing world! We are very lucky that Wendy is on board with our sustainable sewing challenge project and we were keen to get to know her better. Here’s what we found out:
What’s your name and where do live?
Wendy Ward. I’m originally from Sheffield, but have lived in Brighton since 2001.
What’s on your sewing table right now?
In the last few days I’ve finished a very seasonally inappropriate summery Fulwood dress and a very cosy Kinder cardigan from my new book Beginner’s Guide to Sewing with Knitted Fabrics, next I’m making some samples of a new pattern I have in development and some sweatshirt versions of the Peak T-shirt from my book.
What did you do before you became a pattern designer?
I worked in the fashion industry as a designer and product developer for 7 years.
What triggered your interest in sustainable sewing?
I’ve always been interested in sustainable consumption and recycling – I was the designer for a fair trade organic cotton clothing brand for 4 years and I spent 2 years doing an MA investigating ways to recycle textiles.
What’s your favourite thing about it?
I think working within any kind of restrictions forces you to be more creative, that’s what I love about sustainability. You have to question everything and go back to the start. If you have limitless materials and possibilities at your disposal it doesn’t take so much creative input to make something new and the new things often end up not being that interesting.
What’s the biggest challenge you face when trying to keep your sewing sustainable?
Information!! The key to sustainability is information. There are so few companies out there who can really tell you exactly where their fabrics have come from and how they were made. Also it’s hard to resist temptation isn’t it?! Especially on social media when suddenly everyone you follow is making the latest pattern and using the latest fabric, it’s hard to resist the urge to dive in and make your own version.
Do you have any tips to keep your sewing mindful and relevant?
Knowing your own style is most important. It will help you avoid that urge to join in with what everyone else is making. Recognise what styles and garments you enjoy wearing most and focus on making those. I also relentlessly encourage my students to enjoy the process, they must get sick of hearing me say it!! That question: “How long will it take me to finish this project?” is one that makes my heart sink every time. If that’s your only focus – go back to shopping for clothes. If you’re going to make your own it’s about sooooo much more than the end result, embrace it!!
Do you usually shop your stash?
I do, but I’m lucky to have a whole workshop in which to store it, lots of samples on which to use it and plenty of students to help me ensure it never gets out of control! I am human though and I do still occasionally buy fabric, but I have to absolutely love it and have a concrete plan for it. I never buy fabric on a whim.
If you had to recommend a book, it would be…
Sewing books from the 70’s and 80’s – particularly the Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing is by far the best sewing techniques book I’ve ever owned, it’s clear, well illustrated (I think illustrations are way clearer than photos) and very comprehensive. The Vogue Sewing Book from the 70s is another excellent reference book, but don’t be fooled into buying a more recent edition, make sure it’s the original.
What are you looking forward to?
Being able to get back to working on some new MIY Collection patterns after almost 2 years of working on back to back books!
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Thank you so much Wendy for your time!
PS. readers, if you love Wendy’s dress below its available on her website here
Wendy wearing her Fulwood dress (available from her website as a pdf)
8 comments
I miss that company Wendy used to work for! They sold their own fabrics and the quality was amazing, and it was so great to know it was organic AND Fairtrade certified. I’d love to know if Wendy’s got any insight into why it’s become so hard to buy fabric with both of those certificates – a few companies that did it have closed down in recent years, and although there’s more organic cotton fabric around I haven’t seen any that’s Fairtrade for a while.
Hi Nina, I don’t know what company that was but if they sold their own fabrics that would have been a winner in my book. As for why it is difficult to buy – as far as I understand fabric shops can stock buying direct from manufacturers / design houses (in the UK, think brands like Atelier Brunette, or Lady McElroy which does all the popular floral prints on cotton lawn that everybody sells). Or they can stock from overstock – leftovers from fashion brands, film sets etc. that come from factories via a chain of middlemen. In the case of overstock I think unless the fabric is super recognisable you just wouldn’t know. Not sure if you remember Zara had an extremely popular coat which had its own hashtag on Instagram last year and then I saw the fabric sold in a lot of the shops.
In terms of the eco fabric stores closing down, I have a theory that a lot of the stuff is just not aligned with what the UK market wants. Recently I bought a book of swatches and liked none of the designs. The cotton prints weren’t nice and I don’t like cross weave fabrics (which seem to appear in all the eco stores) – it just wouldn’t make up to look like something I want to wear! What do you think?
It struck a chord with me – that if resources are limitless, new things aren’t that exciting and it’s not difficult to churn out projects. I think sewing is much more meaningful when there is careful planning and deliberate purpose, and if fabric is only bought under certain circumstances, they are much more precious than the mindlessly amassed stash.
“Mindlessly amassed stash” – I am totally going to steal this term! I think thats why we see a lot more people making stuff out of new fabric rather than up cycling. Sewing something is challenging enough and you really have to work hard with your creative muscles (I don’t have any really btw) to make something upcycled. It takes effort to find the fabric, then effort to figure out if you can do anything else other than a patchwork garment, and then to adjust your pattern so that the pieces fit together and figure out how you are going to cut it out with the appropriate grain! For some odd reason I also feel bad for cutting up a garment from a charity store. Its utterly ridiculous but there’s a voice in my head that says “its a perfectly good garment”….
So interesting. Thanks for this Kate. Lately I’ve slowed down dramatically with fabric buying and I’m trying to sew from my stash more and more.
Wendy’s comment about knowing your style and not trying to join in with with what everyone else is making is becoming my mantra too, plus slower sewing and with more care.
Hi Di, really happy to hear that you are on a fabric shopping slowdown! In terms of knowing your style, I think you are already brilliant at that. I have never seen you make the latest and greatest indie patterns, and you have a distinct style to which you add little trend features and interest. A winner in my book! Thanks for reading xx
So many aspects of this article resonated with me! I love your initiative to “sewyourstash” first off 🙂 Reading Wendy’s comment,
“That question: “How long will it take me to finish this project?” is one that makes my heart sink every time. If that’s your only focus – go back to shopping for clothes. If you’re going to make your own it’s about sooooo much more than the end result, embrace it!!”
is exactly what struck me as one of the biggest changes to garment sewing. I’m 63 and am a returned-to-sewing sewist (3 years). It struck me almost immediately that there was this constant undercurrent (that was not present at all 40 yrs ago) of “this will take so many hours to complete” with the ideal being 3 hrs! A kind of apologetic tone by designers if this was going to take more time than that and a cultish following to patterns that “took no time at all to complete”. This whole “fast is best” has sunk into the whole culture even in the sewing world. Fast and easy are “sales” words for everything – it defines GOOD. Sad that it also has infected this beautiful hobby that sewists all claim to love! What’s the rush? Most people now have way more clothes than they’ll ever need in 10 lifetimes! Compared to when I was growing up it’s mind boggling 🙂
This is a HOBBY you do for the PROCESS and if it becomes like piece work then I agree with Wendy, go back to buying your own clothes. It’s certainly less expensive! Further to this there are so many people trying to figure out ways to “monetize” this hobby.
Hobbies are not money makers, they are money sucks. But that’s not new. 40 years ago women would justify, rationalize and apologize for pursuing this hobby by saying it “saved” money. This is a feminist issue that calls for a much longer article. Unless you determinedly bought the cheapest fabrics on the market (polyesters, nylons), sewing was never cheaper than buying your own clothes. I know this because I wanted to sew as a teen but my mother thought the whole sewing your own clothes thing was ridiculous. I was spending as much on patterns, fabric, notions (never mind the machine I begged her to buy me!) as I would have on clothes which was absolutely true! Sewing is a lovely hobby and you either love it or hate it. If you love it then take your time to learn it well – make yourself beautiful clothes you are proud to wear – challenge yourself to make things that would cost the MOON to buy RTW – and spread the word!
Sheesh you really got me on my soapbox this morning 🙂
Hi Kathleen, nice to hear from you and I always love your honesty. You know not many people have ever talked about sewing as being particularly expensive but it really is! If I bought say 2 yards of a popular cotton or viscose fabric for 1 dress that would likely be more than what I would pay in a mid priced store. (I am totally not a fan of cheap fabrics by the way) And yet most of us still amass a load of fabric, I really wonder how many people budget? Actually I was in a fabric store once and the saleslady asked me what I was going to make. We got into a conversation and she said she has had friends ask her why doesn’t she sew everything she can wear. She said because its just too expensive! I think this rings true especially when you first begin to sew and the quality of stuff you are producing isn’t that good. I haven’t made many clothes this year and am paralysed with indecision as to what is next. I’ve been going to some expensive RTW stores to see what is out there and will decide what I can do myself!