Sustainable Sewing – small measures

There has been lots of talk about making your individual sewing more sustainable throughout 2018.

Much I agree with and some I find a little eyebrow raising as they are either false economy or the claims against the fashion industry are contrary to my own experiences. Regardless of that, any move towards trying to reduce waste is a concept that should be embraced.

As such in my own sewing this year I have been trying to do a number of things

• I now rarely use calico for toiles. Sometimes but not always. Instead I have moved towards “wearable” toiles. Using up fabric that is in my stash that I know I’m not going to make up otherwise. Sometimes I still use calico but in those circumstances I’m trying to re cut the calico to use more than once or re purpose it to use as lining etc.
• finishing toiles. Now that I’m using “proper” fabric the momentum is there is finish the garments off properly, especially when it comes to swimwear samples! Many friends have benefitted from this with swimwear samples going every which way.
• When cutting out fabrics I keep a number of small patterns nearby. Once I have the main garment cut out I use the “scraps” to cut into bags, eye masks and other useful items. Then when I have a spare 20 minutes or so I can whip up once of these items. I’m using them as Christmas gifts or looking to donate them to someone who has a Christmas craft stall for charity. My favourite patterns for these have been Noddlehead Petal Pouches, Noddlehead forage bag, Wee Braw Bag and a standard eye mask pattern.
• I’ve been keeping all my tiny scraps with the idea of dropping them off to H&M for recycling at some point.
• Perviously I have always been meticulous with matching my exact thread colour to my fabric. Having lost my entire thread stash in the fire, I’ve been much more relaxed about what colours I use. Friends have gifted me threads throughout the year and I’ve been taking great delight in using the whole roll and dropping the empty spool into the recycling. I feel like I’m not wasting thread always rethreading. This is especially useful when making toiles but I still cannot use the wrong thread colour on any external stitching.
• using my stash. Naturally losing much of my stash in the fire has made the remainder feel so much more precious. But rather than keep it for “good” I’ve elevated everyday to good and am cutting into everything. My goal is to reduce it still more by making garments to replace what I have lost and not continue to stockpile things I really love which ultimley can be lost in one simple accident.
• making things I might have purchased. In addition to garments I’ve made tote bags, placemats, peg bags and a bunch of stuff for the home. By making more than just garments I feel as if I’m reducing the amount of mass produced products I buy. Tote bags have replaced plastic grocery bags and beeswax wraps have replaced plastic wrap.
• printing A0 instead of cutting and taping or pasting. Not only a time saving but I’ve always found taped pages come apart and need reprinting but the A0 fold and store easier. Having lost my whole paper pattern collection I’ve been reluctant to re buy paper patterns as if anything happens they are gone, whereas digital can always be printed again.

As we head into a new year I’ll be thinking of more ways to do my part to reduce waste.