I want to be more conscientious with the decisions I make about where my fabric comes from and making only those things that I need, mending worn out clothes and making heirloom products but at the moment that is not really practical in my life. Currently I am living alone without a set schedule and the act of making things is keeping me sane. That and researching dyeing techniques that I keep meaning to try out.
I am also at that stage where I am trying to figure out my style and what pieces would be a good investment to make quality versions of to keep for a lifetime and what pieces will never be worn, for one reason or another. I will always try to keep waste in mind, but will not be going full blown eco friendly, traceable origins, known producers wardrobe, for me this is just not practical. A lot of the time I do minimise the impact my clothing has, I buy a lot of second hand clothing and second hand textiles, a lot of my clothes are made out of old bed sheets or XL-XXL second hand clothing bought for the material. I cut patterns flat to reduce the amount of wastage there is when cutting out which gives me useable size scraps as opposed to long thing scraggly bits, sometimes I can even halve the fabric requirements! These scraps then go on to be used in other clothes, I have recently started making my own underwear, the only down side to using scraps for this is I’m not a skinny size 8 (unlike some people around here!) and the scraps needed are not actually that small (I also like a full coverage).
Getting the most of out things is something I really enjoy, re using the bones of a roast chicken to make broth, using the left overs from last nights meal to make soup (anyone on ship with me last year will know this one first hand as we had soup for lunch practically every day for two months as a way to save money by reusing leftover that would have been too small to reuse in a meaningful way any other way), using ALL of the gardens windfalls to make something! Proof of this is that my parents dropped in on their way past last night and handed me 3 boxes of windfalls from their garden which go with the box I already have from this garden, to which I am having a bowl full added each day practically! I also have two fridge drawers full of pears which I am struggling to find a use for.
There is only so much chutney that one needs, or can give away as presents and I don’t really eat puddings so all those apple crumbles and cakes that people keep suggesting are not really very appealing to me. I might have to make some apple sauce but I still have two tonnes going spare. Any ideas?
I try to use the fabric that I have but am also looking at filling in gaps in my wardrobe and a lot of those gaps are there because I don’t have any suitable material to make something to fill them, requiring the purchase of new fabric. But still I feel I’m getting to grips with this a little more, thinking about what I really need as opposed to just getting fabric because I can…
Sounds like good, ethical advice to me and something I also try to do. Can’t help with the glut of apples though – we’ve got the same problem as we’re sick of apple crumble now!
Thanks, I’m currently sat here in the house coat that I turned that duvet cover into, made from 100% second hand textiles which makes me happy. It also feels like wearing a blanket, which in essense it is as its ‘lined’ with an old wool blanket donated by my mother.
I’ve been hitting the jackpot with charity shops lately as I managed to find 1.5m of denim the other day. Which might give me the kick I need to produce trousers…