Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

In this episode we’re getting conceptual! Episode #42 explores an idea that is fundamental to living as sustainably as possible: keeping resources at their highest possible level of use. This conversation is with awesome return-guest Shelly Sommer, who lays out the principles of a circular economy and why we should be aiming for this important goal, within our making practices and beyond. Shelly schools us on all this with her usual fun and joyful approach, whilst also sharing many practical, actionable tips for how we might enact responsible stewardship whilst sewing. In particular, she talks me through her method for making ‘new’ fabric from scraps, which is an approach I’m so inspired by and have been playing with ever since. 

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Listen to my interview on the sustainable knitting podcast A Smaller Life HERE. 

Find Shelly and her incredible quilts and garment creations on her Instagram feed @encodedstudio. 

Listen to Shelly’s first appearance of CYT in Episode #19: Quilting and Conscious Consuming with Shelly Sommer HERE. 

Learn more about a circular economy on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation website HERE.

Listen to Episode #24: Conscious Making in Real Life with Rebecca Evans-Merritt HERE. 

Listen to Episode #20: What Thread Should I Buy? HERE. 

Listen to Episode #15: Hand Stitching Clothes with Louisa Owen Sonstroem HERE. 

Check out Shelly’s scrap-busting mini quilts HERE (pictured below). 

Read about the dungarees I made my son from denim reclaimed from unworn garments HERE (pictured below).

The denim patchwork dungarees I then made with the leftovers can be found HERE. 

Find abstract quilting legend Sherri Lynn Wood HERE. 

Learn about the Gees Bend quiltmakers and their history HERE. 

Sewing patterns are often the starting point for those of us who make our own clothes. In recent years we have witnessed an explosion in the amount and the variety of sewing patterns available to us. Plus, developments in technology and the sewing industry have resulted in patterns being available in different formats. Then, once we’ve bought a pattern in a particular format, there are options of how to use it. At CYT, our goal is to enjoy sewing whilst conserving resources and reducing potential waste where possible. So in this episode we unpick what choices we might make when buying and using sewing patterns and why.

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Sewing patterns currently come in five formats: 

1) the traditional patterns printed onto paper, 

2) as digital PDF files that require printing out, 

3) as projector files that gets projected directly onto the fabric,

4) as sets of instructions or measurements that guide you to draw the pattern directly onto fabric or

5) printed overlapping on large pattern sheets in pattern magazines and books. 

Buying and Using Paper Patterns More Sustainably:

Find out where in the world it’s produced. That might impact the retailer you choose to buy it from. 

Consider becoming a member of #teamtrace by tracing off the pieces before hand onto more paper first rather than jumping straight in and cutting out your size. On the surface it seems like you’re using double the materials, but by giving yourself space to test out fit and alterations on the practice go, you are likely to be preserving more resources overall. 

If you plan to make any alterations, or suspect you might need to make any alterations in the future, tracing first rather than cutting straight is the absolutely best choice. You can play around on the traced off pieces and always have the original version to refer to. Or if your alterations don’t go to plan, you can trace the pieces again and start over. Tracing is also necessary if you want to retain all the sizes. You may wish to make another size for yourself or someone else in the future. Plus, by tracing off your pieces and keeping the original pattern uncut, it means that when you no longer want it, it can be passed on to another person, at a sewing swap perhaps, or by donating to a charity shop or thrift store. 

If you cut into the original, and later find you need the uncut and unadulterated pattern again in the future, you’re going to have to buy the whole thing again, pattern, instructions AND packaging. Which would mean double the environmental impact of the original pattern. And if you do cut into the original you’ll be rendering it pretty much useless once you're done with it. 

Therefore, if garment sewing is a passion for you, and something you can see yourself doing for a number of years, I’d recommend buying a large roll of recycled paper suitable for pattern cutting and tracing. But if you don’t fancy investing in a roll of paper specific for the purpose, rolls of large format printer paper, wall paper and wrapping paper can also do the job. 

Using PDF Sewing Patterns More Sustainably:

Only print out a pattern when we are actually about to use it in case your plans change. You might end up not wanting to make the view you printed out, or you end up not making it at all and that will have been a waste of energy, paper and ink. 

When you do print out your PDF pattern, there’s no need to print out the instructions. Instead, view the instructions directly on your laptop, tablet or phone. 

Whether you’re using an A0 print out or A4/letter pages that have been stuck together, you can also choose to trace the size you need and retain the original printouts. As with paper patterns, this will save you the time and hassle of reprinting and sticking together pages if you wish to make alterations to the pattern and may need to refer to the original, or if you want to save the rest of the sizes for the future. 

Printing and Using A4/letter PDF Sewing Patterns:

Check what pages you actually need. If the pattern offers multiple views, i.e. there are different style variations within the pattern, take some time to work out which pages you need to print out for the one you want to make to save you paper and ink. Some pattern companies will detail which pages you need to print out depending on the sizes or styles you require in the instructions. But for others, you might need to figure it out for yourself. 

Check if the PDF file includes the LAYERS FUNCTION!!!! This will save you a lot of printer ink over time. To find the layers function, when you open up the PDF document usually in a programme like acrobat reader, check if there’s a logo on the left hand side that looks like a stack of squares. If it doesn’t show up as you open the file, you can find it by selecting view in the tool bar at the top, then show/Hide, then Navigation Panes, then Layers. If your pattern has that function, you can deselect the layers you don’t need by clicking on the tiny eye icons, and all the lines of the sizes you don’t need will disappear from view. Make sure you don’t deselect the pattern information layer though, because that contains all the writing and any markings are common to all sizes. 

What paper are you using? If you can, I’d urge you to buy recycled printer paper. It’s only worth it for recycling services to collect paper and recycle it to make new products, as opposed to sending it to landfill, if there’s a demand for products made from recycled paper. We need to be keeping as much stuff out of landfill as possible. 

Also related to paper, if you work in an office or other work place that regularly prints stuff out onto A4 or letter sized paper, is there a source of waste paper you could tap into?

Similarly, if you live with kids, or work with kids, or have a friend or family member with kids, their stream of artwork might also provide plenty of pages you can print your patterns out on the back of. 

Stick the pattern pages together with glue rather than sticky tape so the patterns can be recycled when you’re eventually done with them. I use a thin layer of my kids’ PVA craft glue. Let your pattern dry before cutting out the pieces. Sticky tape is obviously plastic, which deems every page it touches unrecycle-able. Try to buy PVA glue in larger quantities and decant into smaller containers with a lid like empty jam jars. 

Printing and Using A0/Copshop PDF Sewing Patterns:

Only get your pattern printed when you are ready to actually use it in case you change your mind and your sewing plans to avoid wasted resources. 

Check which pages you actually need. If there are different views included in the same pattern, or different elements, hopefully they will be grouped as such so that you can avoid printing entire pages if necessary. 

If the pattern has the layers function, an A0 printing service can also deselect the unnecessary lines which will save on ink. I also think it makes cutting out your pattern a lot easier if you’ve not got so many lines to confuse you. Check in advance if your pattern has the layers function, and if so, check which size or sizes you require, and ask them when placing your order to only print the necessary sizes.

If you’re getting your files printed by an A0 printing service, use a local service. Or if there isn’t one within your local area, at least one in the same country. You might choose to ignore this if you’re getting another physical product sent to you at the same time and the price of printing is reasonable though.

If you are using a postal printing service, batch your order so you’re getting a few patterns printed at once to save on postage and packaging. 

This episode is the second featuring my conversation with mending-legend, Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald. Two years ago Erin wrote a book called Modern Mending, which I legitimately feel may be the very best mending book out there. In this episode we hear all about its creation and the concepts behind it, including the concept of ‘experimend’! She shares some important tips for beginner menders, including why we should approach #visiblemending inspo with caution. Erin also hammers home the importance of sharing our mending and alterations endeavours, which leads me to make a pledge of my own…

Support the podcast over on Patreon!  

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

Find out about Erin’s book, Modern Mending HERE. It is available in all good bookshops. 

Erin worked on The Daily Fix project with Jen Gale, the creator of The Sustainable(ish) podcast HERE. 

Anxious Frog is a character that appears in Modern Mending as the voice of concern. He helps Erin address any worries readers might have when faced with a mending project or new technique. 

Erin sells her book and mending supplies in her online shop, also called Modern Mending, HERE.  

Menders Erin is currently inspired by:

• @konfekt_kunststopferei_hamburg HERE
• @schneckstein HERE
• @theholestorydesign HERE
• @ekaterinahaak HERE

This episode (Ep. #39) is the first of two featuring Australia-based mending expert, Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald. In this one we hear the tale of how a baby journalist with zero formal sewing training grew to become a mending legend. Erin tells us how quitting her former career and the fall-out from her breast cancer diagnosis led her to refocus her energies on repair and reuse. Her experiments taught her that there was a real desire to keep things in use for longer, so she set up a social enterprise, hosted repair workshops (both in person and online) and wrote her book, Modern Mending. Erin is proof that you don’t need a fashion degree or a background in making to have a massive impact by sewing more sustainably. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!  

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

Her online shop, Modern Mending, is HERE.  

Ep. 38 is the third and final episode in the mini-series all about the Me-Made-May wardrobe challenge. Expanding on last week’s episode about setting your own unique pledge, today we’ll flip it and discuss super-simple, basic pledges that still offer heaps of learning potential. If you’re just not sure what your wardrobe goals are, or you don’t have the headspace for anything complicated right now, this episode provides the solution. We also hear from previous podcast guests, Amy Dyce and Judith Staley, who also chose simple pledges for their challenges. They talk about the wealth of takeaways they accrued from this approach, and give us some thought-provoking insights about applying the lessons learnt.   

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You can still learn A TON about your wardrobe, and make great strides in getting closer to the wardrobe you dream of by setting yourself a very simple, standard pledge. Picking an uncomplicated formula, as long as it is challenging but do-able for you, will still give you a chance to learn and play about throughout the month. 

A great way to start is by finding out exactly what you have. Try to find a chunk of time to get all your handmade items out in one place.

Then cast your mind back a week or so, or pay attention to what you’re wearing for a few days. How many handmade items do you wear on average already? 

Then set your simple pledge by choosing to up the frequency slightly, or by altering how you wear them. 

For example, if you usually wear a handmade item twice a week, pledge to wear a handmade item three or four times a week. Or if you usually wear two handmade items each day, make it three! 

OR keep wearing two handmade items each day, but make sure you wear a different outfit combination each day.

Find Amy Dyce on Instagram @craftandthrift HERE and find the website HERE. 

Listen to Episode 5: Craft & Thrift with Amy Dyce HERE and Episode 6: Life, Sewing and Sustainability with Amy Dyce HERE. 

Find Judith Staley on Instagram @judithrosalind HERE and the Sew Over 50 community @sewover50 HERE. 

Listen to Episode 12: Sew Over 50 with Judith Staley HERE. 

This is the second episode in the mini-series all about the Me-Made-May wardrobe challenge. If you’re not sure how to get the most from taking part in MMM, this episode offers a guide to crafting your own, tailor-made pledge. Included are examples of a variety of unique pledges that might click with you, and lead you to heaps of useful lessons and insights about yourself and your wardrobe needs. We also get to hear from two previous podcast guests and repeat MMM participants, Rebecca Evans-Merritt and Meg Grandstaff. Both offer their own fascinating perspectives, experiences and takeaways from their own challenges, and offer advice for new participants. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon! 

To pick a useful challenge for you, the first step is to get a handle on how your relationship with wardrobe currently stands. 

If you can find the time, get all your self-made items out and have a look at what you’ve got.

Also have a think about how often you tend to wear handmade items already, and which ones see the most action. Think back to what you wore the past week. How many items were made by yourself?

By looking at what you’ve got AND by thinking about what you usually wear already, you’ll get some clues for a suitable pledge. 

Is there a sticking point that you’re already well aware of? For example, you feel happiest in a dress, but rarely wear them. Or you have a whole load of clothes made from vibrant prints, but you’re not sure how to incorporate them into an outfit. 

Remember, the main point of the challenge is to wear your handmade items more and/or in different ways. So with that in mind, hopefully you will start to get some ideas for a pledge that will push yourself slightly out of your comfort zone to allow yourself to learn and grow. 

Find Rebecca Evans-Merritt on Instagram @revansmerritt HERE. 

Listen to Episode 24: Conscious Making in Real Life with Rebecca Evans-Merritt HERE. 

Find Meg Grandstaff on Instagram @megthegrand HERE. 

Listen to Episode 22: Mending Workshops with Carla & Meg / Community Glue HERE. 

Me-Made-May is a popular annual wardrobe challenge that helps participants improve their relationship with their handmade wardrobe. It also gives you the opportunity to learn lots of useful lessons that will inform your making going forwards. Episode #36 is a deep dive into the challenge that I inadvertently created thirteen years ago. Whether you’ve already heard of MMM, have taken part in the past, or it’s entirely new to you, this episode will help you decide if you want to step up to the challenge this year, and how to get the maximum benefit from it if you do!

Support the podcast over on Patreon! 

What is Me-Made-May?

MMM is a wardrobe challenge that helps you improve your relationship with your handmade items. It can also teach you what to make (and not make) in the future! 

What isn’t Me-Made-May?

• MMM isn’t a making challenge
• MMM isn’t a photo challenge
• MMM isn’t a competition
• MMM isn’t about having heaps of handmade clothes

So who is MMM for? 

The challenge is for anyone with at least one handmade item that wants to make improvements to their wardrobe and how they feel about it. 

How do I take part?

You will need to intentionally wear your handmade items more and/or in different ways throughout May 2022.  

Have a think about the handmade items you own, how often you already wear them, and perhaps if there are any areas of your relationship with your wardrobe that you already know could use some improvement. 

Then set your own pledge outlining the specifics of your challenge before 1st May. There’s a fun pledge formula that you can use, it goes: 

“I (insert name or username) pledge to wear (insert specifics of your pledge) for throughout May 2022”

You can keep this entirely to yourself, tell friends and family, or share this on social media: whatever you wish.

Shortly after the COVID pandemic reached the UK in early 2020, artist and maker Sophie Passmore responded to the craziness and confusion by founding the Mask Makers UK community. This Facebook group became an important hub providing information, assistance and support to thousands of voluntary mask makers. More than two years later, Sophie is still keeping abreast with developments in mask-related science, advice and design progression and sharing it all for those who want and need it. Mask masking and the community Sophie brought together have evolved tremendously over that time. In this episode (Ep. #35) she tells me all about it: the highs, the lows, her motivations and the time she appeared live on Breakfast TV showing the nation how to make a mask from a T-shirt!

Support the podcast over on Patreon! 

The Facebook group and community Sophie founded is Mask Makers UK HERE.

The first Co-administrator of the group is sewing blogger/writer/teacher Portia Lawrie. She can be found on Instagram @portialawrie HERE. 

Designer Jacqueline Pang’s website Sewing Seeds of Love website is HERE. Her Smile Mask pattern (free) with a clear window can be found HERE.  

Scrub making community groups set up in response to the lack of PPE earlier on during the pandemic, For the Love of Scrubs HERE and Facebook group Scrubs Glorious Scrubs HERE. 

The Noah Rainbow fabric designed by Tessa Semple for use by the NHS below:

Sophie’s mask making videos can be found on her Youtube channel HERE. 

The video that went viral (that Sophie accidentally deleted!) is the Reverse Nose Fold Mask video HERE.

Dr. Jocelyn Songer’s Maker Mask website containing science-based information for mask makers is HERE. 

Find the pattern and instructions for Joan Fearnley Singer’s Mask for performers HERE.

Sophie’s appearance on BBC Breakfast on the TV can be viewed HERE.

Iris Luckhaus is a German designer and illustrator who developed a similar mask design HERE. 

Sophie demonstrates how to make a mask brace HERE. 

Before many of us were even aware of the damaging aspects of fabric production, Charlie Bradley Ross was researching better alternatives. Her desire to share that extensive research and the connections she made with ethical and more sustainable producers grew organically (excuse the pun) into her business, Offset Warehouse, and later The Sustainable Fashion Collective. For Episode 34 of CYT, Charlie tells me about her journey, offers a beginner’s guide for sewers wanting to choose better fabrics, and explains why we should be wary of the term ‘deadstock’. We also get into finding the balance between using what you have and supporting business doing good work. We learn how she approaches working respectfully with fabric producers, how she’d like over-consumption to be addressed and other important fabric-related concerns. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Charlie owns eco and ethical fabric business Offset Warehouse HERE

The documentary, China Blue, that switched Charlie onto thinking about the impact of fabric HERE

One of the handwoven Ikat fabrics that might make Charlie cry! HERE

Image source: Offset Warehouse

Discover some banana leaf textiles HERE and pineapple textiles HERE

My favourite fabric on the Offset Warehouse site is this hand-dyed, handwoven, Fairtrade selvedge denim HERE

Image source: Offset Warehouse

Find out more about The Sustainable Fashion Collective HERE

Dark Waters is a film about the contamination of a town by manufacturing corporation DuPont HERE

Sewing and mending are important life skills, as well as being a source of fun and creative expression. However, with fewer and fewer schools offering any kind of sewing or textiles lessons, are us adults doing enough to pass on these skills to children and young people? After all, the planet will be in their hands before long. In this episode (Ep.# 33), I argue the case for encouraging kids to sew, and offer up ideas and tactics for how to do so, whether you are a parent yourself or not. 

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Why should we encourage kids to sew?

How can we encourage kids to sew?