Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

For Episode #32 of Check Your Thread, I got to talk with textile activist Shams el-Din Rogers. For me, this is the most powerful and thought provoking conversation I’ve had for the podcast to date. Shams shares her thoughts and perspective as an activist, advocate, teacher and campaigner. We get into the sources of Shams’s frustrations, altering patterns of consumption, her experience as a black maker, active allyship, mending as a political act, making for those will limited resources and much more. I started this podcast with the goal of being educated and challenged. This conversation certainly had that impact on me and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Enjoy.

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Find Shams el-Din Rogers on Instagram @shamseldinrogers 

Shams volunteers with Creative Reuse Toronto, learn more about the organisation HERE. 

Learn more about the work of the OR Foundation HERE. 

Image source: OR Foundation 

Listen to an amazing episode (#150) of the Wardrobe Crisis podcast called Dead White Man’s Clothes with Liz Ricketts from the OR Foundation HERE. 

Learn more about the Repair Futures project by Thick Present from the Netherlands HERE. 

Check out the excellent Clothes Horse podcast HERE and on Instagram HERE.

Image source: Clothes Horse podcast

The people’s mending on Instagram HERE have produced a useful-looking booklet to help people keep their clothes in use for longer. Find it HERE.  

Check out the mending work of Noah Hirsch, @yung_curmudgeon on Instagram HERE. He mends damaged clothes that could not be donated to charity and places them in his local food pantry (see below):

Image source: Yung Curmudgeon 

For this episode, #31, I got to speak to Liz Haywood, a very talented designer who creates zero waste sewing patterns. After a 20 year career in clothing production, and writing and self-publishing a book called The Dressmaker’s Companion, Liz discovered ZW design and started making her own patterns using this approach. Two years ago, she committed to only producing patterns that are zero waste, and has been exploring and pushing the genre forwards ever since with her book Zero Waste Sewing and a range of standalone patterns. Excitingly, Liz has tackled the issue of grading and developed methods for producing an impressive range of sizes, and is now turning her attention to adding elements to help with fitting, two areas in which zero waste patterns have previously received criticism. We discuss all this and more, including her incredibly low levels of scrap generation and the only item Liz cannot foresee herself making a ZW pattern for. 

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If zero waste design and patterns are new to you, you may like to listen to Episode 17: What are Zero Waste Sewing Patterns? HERE before this one. 

Please listen to Liz talking in detail about her fascinating career in the Sew Organised Style podcast in 2021 HERE. 

Liz’s self-published sewing book, The Dressmaker’s Companion, can be found HERE. 

Find the previously mentioned and very excellent The Zero Waste Fashion Design book by Holly McQuillan and Timo Rissanen via Bookshop.org HERE.

Liz’s blog, The Craft of Clothes, which she updates weekly is HERE. 

Zero Waste Sewing, Liz’s book featuring lots of ZW patterns to try is HERE. 

For Liz’s standalone patterns and books, check out her Etsy shop TheCraftofClothes HERE. 

Her first standalone pattern is the Tie Front Top HERE. See the top below)

The fascinating layout for the top is pictured below:

Her ZW doll pattern is HERE.

The childre’s ZW Cap Sleeve Tee pattern by Thread Faction I recently made is HERE.  

Swimwear brand, Emroce, uses recycled nylon fabric and ZW cutting techniques is HERE. 

Decode, a ZW clothing brand and design system, including manufacturing, based in Brooklyn, NY founded by Danielle Elsener is HERE. 

Find the Zero Waste Design Online collective HERE. 

This is the third and final instalment of my mini series about the Make Do and Mend campaign. We pick up where we left off in the second episode and explore some more themes and lessons from the 1940s that really resonate today. In the second half of this episode I then leave the big-picture ideas to zoom right in on the topic. I share some of the practical tips and advice that I found in the reproductions of the leaflets produced by the Government as part of the Make Do and Mend campaign. Split into three sections: mending tips, garment care and stains/laundering advice, so much of what was shared then is surprisingly relevant and useful for today’s garments and lifestyles. Plus, we find out what tiny creatures our grandparents and great grandparents were also waging war on!

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The themes discussed in the episode are:

Locally produced fabric

Find out more about Fashion Act Now HERE and follow them on Instagram HERE. 

Learn more about the Fibreshed movement HERE.

Planning new wardrobe additions

Mending and garment care

Tips and advice from the Make Do and Mend leaflets:

This is the second instalment of my mini series about the Make Do and Mend campaign. As I was reading and writing about that era, I couldn’t help but think about the situation we find ourselves in today with the climate crisis. There was so much relating to the use and reuse of materials that felt so familiar to what a lot of us have been thinking and talking about more recently. Many of us are trying to work out how to consume less and be more resourceful whilst continuing to make stuff and be creative. In this episode, I share my thoughts on why there’s currently insufficient action happening to address the climate crisis. I then explore the idea that there are lessons we can learn from the experiences of the second world war that might be applicable today. Things that can help us live and create in a way that limits our impact on climate change. 

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Hear more from Sophie (@so_so_sew) about the International Women's Day challenge HERE. Remember to use the hashtags #IWDsewchallenge and #breakthebias. 

Image source: English Heritage

The themes discussed in the episode are:

Community

Find out more about ‘Stitch it Don’t ditch it’ street mending sessions that take place around the world HERE. 

Swapping

The facts borrowed from Jen Gale @sustainableish can be found HERE.  

Pass on unwanted fabric and sewing supplies and raise money for an important cause via @destash_for_kids_with_cancer Instagram account HERE. 

Fabric-a-brac in New Zealand HERE. 

Alternative sources of fabric

Listen to Episode 26 with Eliu Hernandez HERE about reclaiming and reusing materials from unwanted jeans.

Wyatt and Jack make accessories from broken beach inflatables, bouncy castles and vintage deckchair canvas. Find their range HERE. 

Freitag make backs from recycled truck tarpaulins HERE. 

Image source: Freitag

Riccardo’s jackets made from the covering from a discarded leather sofa HERE and HERE.

Hear my conversation with Riccardo for Episode 7 HERE. 

This is the first episode in a mini series I’ve made about a topic that fascinates me: the Make Do And Mend campaign of the 1940s. ‘‘Make do and mend’ is a phrase often used today to refer to the ethos of repairing something over throwing it away. Sometimes it’s used in direct reference to the campaign that took place during the second world war, when materials were scarce and repair was essential. But as time passes and we move further away from that era, it often gets used more generally: a phrase to suggest that there’s a wider reason, movement or philosophy behind an act of repair. I thought it’d be interesting to look into the original source of the term. In this episode we look at the historical and social context of the campaign, along with the clothes rationing scheme that made MDAM so essential. 

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The resources used for researching this episode are:

Make Do And Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations - forward by Jill Norman 

Published by Michael O’Mara Books Ltd. 2007

Fashion on the Ration: Style in The Second World War - Julie Summers

Published by Profile Books Ltd. 2015

Nella Last’s War: The Second World War Diaries of ‘Housewife, 49’ - Nella Last

Published by Profile Books Ltd. 2006

Imperial War Museum website HERE. 

A clip of the TV advert mentioned with the animated clothes HERE.

Make Do and Mend specific information HERE. 

Clothes Rationing specific information HERE. 

A guide for making a skirt from men’s trousers:

A guide for using parachute silk to make underwear and blouses:

This episode follows myself and friend-of-the-podcast Julia Hincks as we attend a workshop and try our hands at rag rugging! We were invited by former guest and rag rugging expert Elspeth Jackson to attend one of her in-person workshops. If you can’t attend one of her workshops yourself, Elspeth’s company Ragged Life sells books and kits, and produces online courses and YouTube videos, so you can learn from her wherever you live. So how hard is rag rugging? What fabrics are suitable to use? And ultimately: is rag rugging a viable option for using up all our scraps, unwanted fabric and old clothes? These are the questions Julia and I set out to answer…

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I spoke to sewing expert, teacher and author Julia Hincks in Episode 9 all about overlockers/sergers and coverstitch machines, listen to that one HERE. 

Find Julia’s website HERE, and her books HERE.

We attended a workshop taught by rag rugging expert Elspeth Jackson. Elspeth’s company, Ragged Life, can be found HERE. 

Listen to Episode 18 with Elspeth HERE. 

Find details of Elspeth’s books HERE, kits HERE, workshops HERE and YouTube channel HERE. 

The tools Elspeth taught us to use:

My sample of the three main techniques:

Julia working on her sample:

Julia’s rag rugged bouquet in progress:

Me prepping some fabric strips:

Working on my mat:

For Episode 26, I had the pleasure of talking with Eliu Hernandez, a quilter and maker whose work focuses on reclaimed denim. Eliu has developed an approach to deconstructing unwanted jeans that allows him to harvest as much as possible to reuse again, including the belt loops, pockets, leather patches and even the thread! I loved nerding out about denim with him, and even if denim isn’t your jam, this conversation may help you take reusing garments to a whole new level. We also discuss the portability of hand stitching and unpicking, crafting as a new parent, and consider the likelihood of a pair of jeans having been worn to rob a bank! 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Find Eliu on his IG feed @madeorremade HERE. 

Eliu has made a series of quilts entitled ‘Waist Not’, which are made almost entirely from reclaimed materials, including the backing and thread used for quilting (see below).

‘Cutting Up Jeans’ is a fabulous little zine that Eliu made in collaboration with quilt artist Zak Foster. You can purchase it HERE. 

Find out more about Zak Foster HERE. 

Find out more about Heidi Parkes HERE. 

Eliu makes use of the reclaimed zips from deconstructed jeans by making these wonderful, and very useful, zippered pouches (see below):

A selection of Eliu’s reclaimed, handmade, leather thimbles:

For our quarter-century episode, I’m having a deep dive into the topic of handmade period pants with lingerie and pattern designer, Yelena Buck. If you’re a period haver, or there’s one in your close family, this episode might convince you to try making some if you haven’t already. We talk about the benefits of period pants in general, and self-made ones specifically, plus the ingredients that go into them, and how to launder them so they’ll last for many years. Yelena also expands on some of the other more sustainable aspects of her business, plus offers advice for garment makers who want to branch out into making undies, including ways to save money and resources whilst doing so. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Find Yelena’s business, Sew projects via its website HERE and Instagram feed HERE.

Yelena sewing in her narrow boat!

The Moontide Period Pants PDF pattern is available HERE. 

The kits (with or without pattern) including all materials required to make the period pants are available HERE.

Read my blog post reviewing the undies pattern and kit HERE. I love my teal version:

Welcome to Episode 24 with the wonderful Rebecca Evans-Merritt, a maker that I’ve long admired for both her gorgeous makes, AND her intelligent, thoughtful approach to making. Last year she created a talk for the Fold Line sewing weekender event entitled Slow and Conscious Making that included suggestions on how we can improve the sustainability of our sewing. Finally! I thought, a reason to get in touch with Rebecca and get her to talk to me! In this conversation we discuss those definitions and get into the realities of slow and conscious making: what it looks like in real life and how it can get tricky. We talk about both our methods for planning our makes, and how being ‘particular’ about what she wears helps keep Rebecca on track with living out her values. You’d think that given the subject matter, this would be quite a serious conversation but it was actually so much fun to have. It’s probably the episode in which I laughed the most whilst recording. Enjoy!

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

The blog post where I review the free School Cool dress pattern for dolls that I mentioned in the intro is HERE. 

Find Rebecca Evans-Merritt’s Instagram HERE where she shares her beautiful, wearable makes and styling tips. 

Watch Rebecca’s Slow and Conscious Making talk HERE. 

A screenshot from her talk is below:

Rebecca mentioned:

Happy New Year! Episode 23 is a solo one made with a helpful dose of listener feedback. The start of a new year is a great time to think about new habits you’d like to implement going forwards. I’ve collected a whole heap of goals related to sewing more sustainably that listeners intend to focus on during 2022, and I’ve thrown in some additional suggestions of my own. If you like the idea of setting goals or aims at this time of year and could do with a dose of inspiration, or you just like thinking about sewing, then this episode is for you!

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The goals outlined in this episode are:

Slow Sewing.

Listen to Episode 15 with Louisa Owen Sontroem about hand sewing clothing HERE. 

My denim shirt to Anthea blouse upcycle can be found HERE.

Questioning which fibres you sew with.

Learn more about Oeko-tex certification HERE. 

Learn more about GOTS certification HERE.

Listen to Episode 20 about what threads are available for home sewing HERE.  

Only make things you’ll actually wear.

Find out more about Me-Made-May HERE. 

Try a new technique or skill.

Make some eco product swaps.

Try making fabric shopping bags and produce bags, cloth napkins for using at meal times, washable sandwich bags, fabric bowl covers for food storage, washable make-up remover wipes, washable sanitary pads or liners, or period pants. Make pouches to contain cutlery, chopsticks, napkins and reusable straws will help you be less reliant on the disposable versions when you’re out and about.

Tackle your mending or altering pile.

Modern Mending by Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald HERE. 

Mending Matters by Katrina Rodabaugh HERE. 

Mend it, Wear it, Love it! by Zoe Edwards (me!) HERE. 

Rework, remake or upcycle the items in your wardrobe that aren’t working for you. 

Using your existing stash!

Find the Happier Podcast with Gretchen Rubin HERE (abstainers and moderators).

More info on the Make Nine challenge HERE.