Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

Do you practice values-based spending? You probably do, but possibly never thought of it in such terms. In this episode, regular guest Shams el-Din Rogers and I discuss how to align your spending and your making with what’s really important to you. Plus, Shams and I share what we think, or rather hope, our wardrobes broadcast about ourselves!

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Find Shams el-Din Rogers on Instagram @shamseldinrogers.

Listen to her on previous episodes of CYT:

Shams is part of a creative re-use collective called Works in Progress Toronto.

Values based spending is a term coined by Jen and Jill from the Frugal Friends podcast. Listen to a one of their many awesome episodes on the topic:

Shams is a supporter of the Black Women Stitch podcast created by Lisa Woolfork. 

Wawak is a US-based online sewing supplies shop where Shams buys her cotton thread.

At time of recording, Shams had just dropped out of the Last Sewist Standing challenge, and I was still clinging on. Hear about the challenge in full detail:

Shams and I discussed the sustainability of Halloween costumes, including stats I learned whilst researching for:

Shams and I touched on the subject of sewing when you already have enough clothes. This topic was expanded upon in:

One point that was made in this discussion is that the more sustainable option is often to buy or do less. This was an idea explored further in:

Have you heard of the multiple forms of capital? It’s the theory  that there are numerous ways in which we can be wealthy, beyond our finances. This week’s guest, Laura Oldanie, is a green living and money coach who talks to me about the concepts and the practicalities related to living a rich and resilient life. As makers, we are used to flexing our creativity and resourcefulness. So let’s investigate how we can apply these skills more broadly to achieve abundance, resilience and wealth. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Laura Oldanie has many facets to her work, all of which can be explored via her website.

Follow Laura on Instagram (@rich_resilient) and on YouTube (@lauraoldanie).  

Laura co-authored a book ‘Growing FREE: Building the Life of Your Dreams Without Losing Your Soul or Destroying the Planet’:

I first heard about Laura through The Frugal Friends podcast:

There are many platforms for sharing and acquiring unwanted items, including:

Check out Laura’s course: Towards Regenerative Investing - A Beginner’s Guide.

Invest in regenerative farming in the US via the Go Steward platform. 

This week you will hear an episode of the Sew Organised Style podcast about a social enterprise based in Australia called The Nest Community. The Nest is an incredible charity that empowers women by fostering healing and connection. And they do this important work by keeping existing crafting materials in use and by sharing craft skills and knowledge.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

I made my pallet bench at a workshop run by The Salvage Sister:

In this episode you will hear founder and CEO of The Nest Community, Roz Holt:

This episode was made by Sew Organised Style podcast and first aired 4/3/24. The second episode, focusing on the volunteers at The Nest Community, aired 1/4/24 and can be heard on the Sew Organised Style website:

This is the second part of my conversation with Maria Theoharous in advance of our feed swap next week. In this part we find out just how organised IS the maker of the Sew Organised Style podcast?! Plus we share which of our previous guests have surprised us and how…

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

This is the second instalment of a two-part conversation. Listen to the first part:

Maria Theoharous makes the Sew Organised Style podcast. 

Follow Maria on Instagram (@velosews).  

Days for Girls is an organisation that attempts to eliminate the stigma and limitations associated with menstruation. 

I worked out my manifesto with my friend and former coach, Kim Witten, and encouraged others to do the same in Ep. # 71: Making Personal Manifestos with Kim Witten.

Maria was deeply moved when Denise Archer relayed her experience of living with breast cancer and the after effects. 

Birgitta Helmersson surprised me with an Australian accent when we met up to record:

The input of the CYT listeners to create the Scrap Strategies episodes have had a direct impact on my sewing.  

One day I would love to record a conversation with Zero Waste Daniel!  

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to make a sewing podcast? Maybe not, but I’ve recorded a conversation with fellow sewing podcaster, Maria Theoharous from Sew Organised Style, that will give you some insights anyway! 

Maria and I came up with lots of fun and illuminating questions to pose to one another. We talked for so long that we're splitting this chat into two episodes, the second part will come later this week. So press play if you want to know which episodes Maria and I are most proud of, and what mistakes we’ve both made during the making of our podcasts! 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Maria Theoharous makes the Sew Organised Style podcast. 

Follow Maria on Instagram (@velosews).  

At the time of recording, I was making my fourth pair of Ginger jeans. 

This isn’t the Chanel-style jacket that Maria was making at time of recording, but it’s a great example of her jacket-making talents! 

My mum’s sweatshirt made from scraps:

The Sewcialists was an incredible community blog that focused on sewing. All the previous posts are still available to enjoy. 

Susan Young has appeared in many episodes of Sew Organised Style. You can hear them all, including the conversation that helped Maria get her Sewjo back during lockdown. 

Maria’s episode with Marcia Lois Riddington (@marcialoisriddington on Instagram) is one that feels very representative of Sew Organised Style’s output. 

I am proud of the success of the Seasonal Stash organisation system (Ep. #119). Download the free PDF version. 

I was also very happy with Ep. #107: Sewing is Political. 

Whether it’s because you just participated in Me-Made-May, or you’ve recently had a wardrobe sort out, what do you do with the items you find yourself no longer wearing? In this week’s solo episode, I advise you on how to diagnose why you’re not wearing them. I then suggest five different ways you can update those garments so that you’re excited to wear them again! 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Image source: Sarah Brown via Unsplash

If you want to learn more about the Me-Made-May challenge, listen to:

The Clothehorse podcast is a great place to learn more about the life of second hand clothing, including what happens to donated items. 

The three questions to ask of each item of clothing:

My five suggested approaches for updated unworn garments (including me-mades):

For repair, consider signing up to the Winter of Care and Repair challenge for motivation. 

For advice on how to proceed with a repair, this episode might help:

For refitting assistance, check out this episode:

The Bernie Belt Bag pattern by Friday Pattern Co. might solve the dilemma of a pocket-free garment:

Image source: Friday Pattern Co. 

The free Oversized Detachable Collar pattern by Tilly and the Buttons would really jazz up a plain garment:

Image source: Tilly and the Buttons

If you’re interested in trying your hand at natural dyeing, these episodes provide a ton of information:

Does the climate and ecological crisis just feel too massive to deal with sometimes? When it all feels so overwhelming, it can be tempting to tap out completely and disengage. That’s totally understandable. However, my guest today, Beedy Parker, shows us that it is entirely possible to participate in climate related activism and action, whilst continuing to lead a happy and exciting life. From attempting to influence legislation to hemming her neighbours' trousers, Beedy has been getting stuck in since 1970. Sadly, we can’t all be Beedy, but we can all take heart and inspiration in her example. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

The leather glove thimble is made in Japan by Little House but it probably sourced most easily via Etsy. 

Beedy Parker is a committed naturalist and social and environmental activist living in Maine, USA. 

Read more about Beedy (unfortunately this link doesn’t seem to work in Europe, frustrating I know!). 

This is another piece about Beedy. 

Beedy recommends sourcing a copy of ‘The Needleworker's Constant Companion’, first published in 1978.

I referred to an article by Christina Garton called Weaving While Neurodivergent on the Handwoven Magazine website that is a fascinating read. 

Check out Beedy’s pants bags and felted wool slippers:

So how about wool, anyway? Here is a wonderful natural fiber that grows on the backs of gentle animals, who, Shmoo-like,* provide meat and manure, and even milk and cheese. When sheep are rotated through pastures, they improve the land and keep the farm open – and yet, the use of wool for clothing and blankets seems to be disappearing, as are the sheep. People who raise sheep in New England and around the world receive less and less money for their fleeces and must depend solely on the meat market for income. What's been happening in the world of wool?

I went on a woods hike this fall with an environmentally minded group and was surprised to see that everyone else was wearing recycled plastic fleece jackets and pullovers, the same people who, five or 10 years ago, would have been wearing beautiful hand knit sweaters and woolen Maine hunting jackets. Even their mittens and scarfs and caps were mostly synthetic. Well, I guess the weather is warmer these days, and the advertising blitz has been successful, and that "fleece" really is sometimes made of recycled plastic soda bottles, which adds a measure of virtue to the apparel, but is this really what we want to wear?

Do we want to wear "oil," with its unfortunate "cradle-to-grave" trail of pollution? Synthetics made of oil attract their relatives, oily stains and synthetic odors and solvents, the outgassing of other plastics in our environment, and these pollutants sink in and stay. To 5 reveal the true nature of plastics, try this little fiber test (cautiously): Singe a few threads of different fabrics with a lighted match. The cotton (or any vegetable fiber) gives off a pleasant wood smoke odor. Wool smells like the burning hair that it is. Synthetic plastic fabrics melt into a sticky black puddle that gives off noxious fumes, a transformation into its original self, as shocking as the melting of the witch in "The Wizard of Oz." This stuff poisons people when it is mined, when it is refined and manufactured, when it outgasses in normal use, and when it is burned in municipal waste; whereas wool comes out of the land, via photosynthesis and protein synthesis, and when we're done with it, microbes can reintegrate it into the land.

Many things have changed in our lives since the days when wool was the dominant fiber in cold weather countries. We now spend most of our time indoors and in temperature controlled cars; we hardly need coats. We don't walk much and our health suffers accordingly. In the past we trusted our wool jackets and socks that breathed when we sweat; that could shed all but a long soaking rain, and even then, would dry from the inside out from body heat and would continue to keep us warm. It was the survival stuff of the Northern winter! Now we don't seem to need it any more and we have forgotten the simple ways of taking care of it: airing out, brushing (coats and jackets), spot cleaning with soap and water, and a gentle soaking to wash. When sweaters get thrown in the washing machine, they come out shrunk and felted. (Then I buy them at rummage sales and make wonderful slippers out of them.) People now tend to send wool clothing to the dry cleaners, which is expensive and brings home the toxic vapors of the chemicals used in cleaning. And most of us have learned that we shouldn't expose ourselves to the chemicals in moth balls, because they affect people as well as moths. In the days before cheap, sweatshop clothing, we didn't have so many clothes and wore them more, but when you have too many unused woolens, they're vulnerable to the moth that loves still, dark places. With wool, it's often "use it or lose it". Just to jog our memories, here's how to wash wool: Soak for several hours in warm water with mild soap or mild detergent (a bathtub is good for blankets and coats), giving it a swoosh now and then to urge the water through the cloth; rinse gently in warm water till the soap feel is gone; press the water out by hand and hang the item to dry – and dry as flat as possible – on a rack (or a clothesline for blankets). Avoid drastic temperature changes and rough handling while the wool is wet. (It's the shock of agitation and change that creates felt.) Remember that woolens don't need to be washed all the time. Once a season is often enough (honors) and even less for blankets. In the interim, spot clean, shake out, brush and air as needed.

Wool fabrics used to come in many textures and fiber blends: the sturdy, cool Palm Beach fabric of military summer wear, British "Vyella" cotton and wool blends in beautiful prints for shirts and dresses, the linsey-woolsey linen blends of yore, the softness of lambs' wool and silkiness of cashmere. Warm, woven wool blankets become long lasting family heirlooms. Some weaves were light and airy, some tough, hardened and very durable; some were even machine washable. Some people think of wool as itchy and uncomfortable, because woolen underwear was commonly worn in the winter by country people, but now we can afford to wear cotton underwear and shirts next to our skin, with wool on the outside if we are sensitive.

To me, the saddest part of the decline of wool, besides the loss of income and open pasture to our farms, is the loss of a fabric that can be understood and even made, by a child, from fleece to sweater. Compare this to the synthetic, which is a remote and even dangerous mystery, wrapped in patent secrecy. It's like comparing a bicycle where you can see how the peddles, gears and wheels work and feel the centrifugal force that holds the bike steady, as opposed to the increasingly "black box" design of our computerized cars, where you just buy it and drive it. The sheep's fleece can be sheared, washed, carded, spun and knit or woven, all by hand, most of which are pleasant and tranquil activities, encouraging thought and conversation. So consider adding a few wool items to your wardrobe. Think about taking up knitting again (socks are easier than you think). And start saving up for a beautiful Maine-grown blanket. Maybe we can bring back the fleece on our green pastures.

* "Shmoos" were lovable creatures in the "Li'l Abner" comic strip (in the late 1940s) who turned into delicious food, clothing and building material when people looked at them with desire.

Have you ever found yourself unsure of how to proceed with fixing a damaged garment? The two most common stumbling blocks are knowing what mending technique to use, and knowing what materials are the best choice to create a long lasting repair. Today mending expert Jeanna Wigger and I guide you on how to triage your mending pile and answer those tricky questions. We then go on to respond to some mending dilemmas submitted by patrons of the podcast. By the end of this episode, you’ll have a much clearer idea of how to tackle your next repair.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Find some great pre-owned sewing resources whilst getting essential funds to Palestinians in Gaza via the @destash4palestine Instagram account. 

You can follow Jeanna on Instagram @thepeoplesmending.

Listen to my previous conversations with Jeanna about the Winter of Care and Repair challenge:

I help you consider the two main approaches to mending:

Jeanna adopted a ‘hidden in plain sight’ approach to fixing these T-shirts:

Find Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald via her website, and on Instagram @erinlewisfitzgerald. 

Hear Erin’s episodes on CYT:

Erin also has an online shop, Modern Mending, where you can find high quality mending supplies.  

With help from lovely listeners, we explore the use of fabric scraps:

For more info on patching:

Amy Meissner (@amymeissnerartist) is an Alaskan-based artist.  

My recent knee-replacement mend on my son’s joggers:

Are you interested in mending your clothes but you’re just not sure where to begin? For this episode, we’re taking a different approach to the topic of mending in that this episode is for complete beginners, no prior knowledge of sewing is needed or assumed AT ALL. But for the regular listeners who already engage in sewing and mending, this episode is kind of for you too. It’s an excellent resource to forward on to people in your life who are interested in keeping their clothes in use for longer, and who you feel might be open to learning how to do it for themselves.This episode is one part pep talk, one part practical guide. You’ll be left feeling empowered to start repairing your own clothes. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

The climate action NGO WRAP has published studies on the impact on keeping our clothes in use for longer. 

The items I think you need for a basic but very effective mending kit:

So you’ll need:

Additional items and materials to allow you to make patches and expand your repertoire of repairs:

And lastly, a couple of useful additions:

Common repair tasks and resources for guidance:

Stitching a button on:

This video by Treasurie shows the three different types of button. 

Repairing the broken stitching in a seam:

This video by Rokolee DIY shows both back stitch and a ladder stitch techniques. 

Repairing a hem:

This video by GreenecoStyle shows the blind stitch approach to fixing an invisible hem. 

If the original stitching at the hem is visible, then I’d recommend a backstitch to replicate the look of sewing machine stitching. 

This video by Sewn Company shows how to do backstitching more neatly. 

Repairing a tear:

This video by Rokolee DIY shows how to use a whipstitch to close the tear by bringing the edges back together and use a scrap of fabric on the inside to stabilise the repair at the same time. This is a good idea if the tear has occurred in an area of weakened fabric. 

This video by @elhrfy shows a more challenging approach but shows how you can effectively deal with a tear in fabric that probably occurred when the garment got caught on something and the surrounding fabric is in good condition. 

To Repair a hole or stabilise a worn out area:

This video by This Little Farmhouse walks you through how to make a patch that goes behind the hole. 

Katrina Rodabaugh’s book ‘Mending Matters’ is an excellent resource for making and applying both external and internal patches. 

This blog post by Indestructables includes two methods, an iron-on no-sew approach, and a hand-stitched approach:

Other books:

Check out these other episode of CYT: 

Happy mending!

Mending your clothes to keep them in use for longer is a vital part of sewing and living more sustainably. But how can we amplify the positive impact of mending our clothes? Answer: By mending them in public! By mending in public, not only are you reducing the annual carbon and water footprint of your clothing, but you’re helping to normalise these actions for other people! On the 20th April 2024 hundreds of mending in public events took place around the globe, the endeavour having been initiated by the Fashion Revolution movement in collaboration with the Street Stitching movement. I attended an event hosted by Diana Uprichard, owner of Dolly Clothing in Lewes, East Sussex, and I got to see first hand the positivity and power of mending in public. In this episode, you’ll hear from five different people I spoke to at the event, each with their own unique angle on why it’s so meaningful. 

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Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Check out the Seated Makes Challenge on IG #seatedmakeschallenge2024.

Mending in Public day was organised by Fashion Revolution in collaboration with the Street Stitching movement. 

Diana Uprichard is the owner of Dolly Clothing in Lewes, East Sussex UK. They can also be found on Instagram (@dolly_clothing). 

Melissa with her grey cardigan with its ongoing repairs:

Attendee Sarah Elwick (@sarahelwick) on the left with Mica Janiv (@micajaniv), sustainable business consultant.