Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

Do you fancy coming with me on a little vicarious trip to a fabric swap? A couple of weeks ago I attended the London fabric swap organised by Yvette from Stash Hub app and Tanya from Bornella fabrics. I recorded a bunch of little conversations with both of them and lots of the attendees, so you can get the skinny on what it was like to organise the event and to attend and swap sewing supplies there.

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Organised by Tanya from Bornella Fabrics and Yvette from Stash Hub App:

Listen to previous episodes about fabric swaps: 

Here my previous conversation with attendee Mel Keane:

The fabric swap organised by Surrey Sews (@surreysews on Instagram) is taking place on 8th November. 

Are you ready for a second dose of behind the scenes podcast and sewing chat? Guest interviewer Kat Camfield and I continue our conversation. We get into the joys of Patreon and how it’s evolved for creators, what my own favourite podcasts to listen to are (none of which are about sewing!) and what my favourite sewing snack is (spoiler: it’s actually a liquid!). Plus! Kat has a surprise for me…

Kat Camfield is a sewing teacher and sewing retreat organiser living in Victoria, Canada. You can follow Kat on Instagram @cooperativekatsews. 

Hear Kat on previous episodes of CYT:

Author Mary Morton got in touch with her co-author Jeanna Wigger after hearing her on an episode of CYT. Together they wrote the amazing book ‘Stitch it, Don't Ditch it’.

Hear them talk to me about the experience here:

You can find Check Your Thread on Instagram, @checkyourthread. Please head over and say hi!

Podcasts I listen to regularly:

The sewing machine I have is a Janome DKS30 (in orange):

The previous guests who kindly submitted a comment to celebrate the 200th episode milestone are:

This week’s episode is the 200th episode! To mark this podcasting milestone, I had the honour of being quizzed by previous-guest interviewer, Kat Camfield. This week’s and next week’s episodes are basically a full-on behind the scenes chat about how this podcast gets made and what it's taught me. Today you’ll hear about what I’ve deliberately changed about the podcast since I started it, what I would have been unable to predict four years ago, and what has surprised me about life as a podcaster. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Kat Camfield is a sewing teacher and sewing retreat organiser living in Victoria, Canada. You can follow Kat on Instagram @cooperativekatsews. 

Kat did an incredible job interviewing eco printer Carly:

Hear more about the underlying manifesto of this podcast:

We're talking about the curation of a successful, handmade wardrobe and how to select sewing projects with care so that you’re creating items that reflect who you are and that say what you want them to say. We’ll also consider how style trends factor into creating a more sustainable wardrobe, and how to make sure your garment projects will be suitable for the life you really lead. This episode has been taken for the talk I gave at the Fold Line’s Sewing Weekender earlier this year, and it aligns so well with the goal of this podcast that I wanted to give it an airing here too. 

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Image by Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash

For more guidance on garment fitting, please listen to the following episodes:

If you’ve somehow missed what the wardrobe challenge Me-Made-May is all about, here’s a super quick explainer:

You can access Love to Sew Podcast’s free Design Your Dream Wardrobe Worksheet when you sign up to their newsletter. 

Hear about Judith Staley’s discoveries when she tracked her wardrobe for an entire year:

Clothing tracking apps include:

You probably think that working with a stylist, particularly once you’ve had your colours analysed, would involve them then trying to convince you to buy, or in our case make, a load of new clothes. That’s what I’ve always assumed. But over the summer I got to catch up with previous guest, stylist Numba Pinkerton, in real life in her home in Scotland. Our conversation proved that my assumption, at least as far as she’s concerned, is wrong. We start our conversation back where we left off previously, talking about colour analysis. Numba offers something of a cheat sheet for working with your colours, including how and when to ignore them. We then move on to talking about shopping strategically, and all her advice translates so well to sewing strategically; it’s super useful stuff. Her ultimate message: it’s ok to pass!

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Find out more about Numba’s work at her website, and you can follow her on Instagram (@stylemeflawless). 

Learn more about Numba’s community, The Style Circle. 

Hear Numba’s previous previous appearance on CYT:

This episode is from Zoe’s other podcast: Can I Dig It? - Food Growing for Busy People. If you’ve grown, foraged, bought or received a large amount of fresh produce, here’s how to deal with it and not let it go to waste!

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by: 

If you’re in the UK and have a TV licence, you can see Pippa’s appearance on Gardener’s World via iPlayer. 

Pippa uses an Excalibur dehydrator, specifically the Excalibur 9-tray Dehydrator With Timer In Black

Fermentation expert, Sam Cooper, is @chef.sam.black on Instagram. His book, The Fermentation Kitchen, is on Zoe’s Christmas list. 

‘Slow Bolt’ AKA ‘Long-Standing’ and ‘Santos’ are coriander varieties that are slower to go to seed. 

‘Green Aroma’ is Pippa´s favourite variety of coriander 

Great sources for fruit trees are:

You are probably aware of natural dyeing, but have you heard of eco printing? As we’ll hear in this episode, eco printing comes under the umbrella of natural dyeing but the process involves taking botanicals in the original form and using them to print onto fabric in patterns created according to how they’re arranged. This episode has been made for CYT by friend of the podcast, Kat Camfield, who is a sewing teacher and sewing retreat organiser living in Victoria, Canada. Kat spoke to Carly, an eco printer and natural dyer who creates amazing handmade garments and accessories using secondhand textiles. They talk about the hows and whys of eco printing, its role in more sustainable clothing communities and lots more. 

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Kat and Carly.

Kat Camfield is a sewing teacher and sewing retreat organiser living in Victoria, Canada. You can follow Kat on Instagram @cooperativekatsews. 

Kat interviewed Carly from Lorelei Textile Design. You can follow Carly on Instagram @loreleitextiledesign. 

Carly with her stunning market stall.

Maiwa is a source for dye stuffs and printing supplies based in Vancouver, Canada. 

Carly teaches workshops at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific in Victoria, Canada. 

Carly’s book recommendations:

Botanica Tinctoria sell natural dyed trims and threads:

Green Matters Natural Dye Co. is a US-based dye house that has scaled up the process. 

Have you ever tried pattern hacking? By which I mean, making changes to a sewing pattern to create a garment that looks slightly, or wildly, different to the original design. This episode is a wide ranging introduction to the topic. Whether you are new to this practice, or are a more seasoned ‘hacker’, by the end of this you should feel emboldened by the infinite possibilities!  

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One way of thinking about pattern hacking is by breaking it down into these three approaches:

My Fibre Mood Ermine/Norma Franken-garment is an example of taking the sleeve piece from one pattern and the bodice from another to create a new look.

Suggested equipment for pattern hacking:

Could you sew only with second hand fabric? No more fabric shopping, only thrifting and receiving donations. Would that feel frustrating, or would it unlock some inner creativity and resourcefulness? Space scientist and passionate maker, Rachel Kirby, sews almost exclusively within this limitation, and she shares how and why it works for her. 

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Rachel Kirby can be found on her website, @fibre.and.space on Instagram and @GeoPlaneteer on Twitter. 

Rachel’s self-designed Solar System jumper went viral!

Rachel was inspired by Samantha @pippy_eve on Instagram to try her hand at sewing her first garment by using the Justine skirt pattern by Ready to Sew and some cotton fabric she found at an op shop.

The only piece of from-the-bolt fabric Rachel has used for herself was to make some Arenite pants, pattern by Sew Liberated. 

Image source: Rachel Kirby

Listen to Episode 69: Making Mindfully with Judy Williment-Ross.

Rachel’s TNT (‘tried and tested’, or ‘tried and true’) patterns:

Image source: Rachel Kirby

A garment project that fails because it’s made from unsuitable fabric is both heartbreaking and costly. But navigating the selection available in fabric shops and online can feel overwhelming, particularly if you’re new to garment sewing, or have recently returned after some years. So in this solo episode, we’re going back to the basics of fabric. We’ll be laying the foundations on which to build our knowledge of fabric types, and what garment styles each fabric is suitable for. 

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The downloadable PDF version of this episode, which includes lots of additional information, tips and images, can be found in the CYT online shop.