Tag: bamboo

Organic cotton/bamboo skirt

Cotton/Bamboo Skirt

After years of buying only sample pieces from organiccotton.biz, I finally got around to ordering some yardage. The skirt above is a blend of organic cotton and bamboo, and it’s beautifully soft and drapey.

I don’t believe most of the claims about bamboo fabric having practically magical anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. The plant material (which does have those qualities) needs to go through so many processes before it can be spun, it’s doubtful whether any of its beneficial aspects would survive. However, it’s a very good fibre to use for fabric. It needs no pesticides to grow, uses far less water than cotton, and it grows so rapidly that it’s quick to replenish, which means you don’t need acres of space to plant it. Even better, the fabric it produces is unbelievably soft.

This is my usual ruffled skirt – take one calf length a-line skirt pattern, and stick a ten-inch ruffle on the bottom. Simple! It has pockets in the side seams, and the edges of the ruffle are overlocked with a satin stitch.

Waistband

The waistband I pretty much made up as I went along. It’s based on an old favourite skirt that wore out long ago. The centre channel has a bias tape drawstring threaded through two eyelets. The channels above and below have narrow elastic threaded through.

Things I learnt as I was making it?

  1. Thread the drawstring through before the elastic.
  2. Make absolutely certain that the elastic isn’t twisted.
  3. Whilst the bias tape foot for my sewing machine is a marvellous invention, I need to learn how to make the joins in the bias strip go through it more smoothly.

Leaf detail

The finishing detail is this pair of little leaves on the ends of the drawstring. They each have an offcut of batting inside, making them a little bit textured and squishy. I was torn between overlocking the edges or leaving them raw so that they’d fray a little in the wash. I do like the satin stitch edge, not least because they make the leaves stand out against the skirt, but it isn’t as tidy as I’d have liked. A little more practice needed, perhaps.

I keep going on about the softness of the fabric, but that really is its stand-out quality for me. It’s like the softest sheets you’ve ever slept on, or that favourite shirt you’ve been wearing for years.

I’m working on a set of costumes at the moment, all of which seem to be made with synthetic fabrics and have lots of fiddly little details. It’s been really nice to take a break and sew something simple, that feels like a little bit of luxury.

Organic Fabrics

Organic Fabrics

While I’ve been thinking about making lingerie and slippers, I thought I’d have another look at what’s out there in terms of organic and fair trade fabrics. I still have a lot of my Bishopston Trading organic cottons, but I wanted to find out whether there was anything new and exciting around.

The samples above are from Organic Cotton, who are based in Wales, and it’s just a small assortment of the enormously expanded range I was pleased to find there!

On the left is cotton poplin, which has been dyed with various plants and herbs to achieve the different colours. (The red is madder and the yellow is pomegranate, for example.) The dyes will fade after wearing and washing, but I think that adds to the charm of this type of fabric.

On the right are “colour grown” cottons – did you know that not all cotton is naturally white? There’s no dye at all in these fabrics – just the natural colour of the cotton as it was grown and harvested. These won’t fade either, as there’s no dye to leach out of the fabric when you wash it.

At the top are herringbone woven cottons, heavier weight, suitable for furnishings and definitely good for slippers!

At the bottom is bamboo “silk” – bamboo fabric which definitely feels very silk-like, and would be lovely for underwear. They also stock bamboo jersey, and a mixed cotton and bamboo woven fabric.

I still have mixed feelings about bamboo though, no matter how lovely the resulting fabric seems to be. Although it originates from a natural material, it has to undergo so many chemical processes during its transformation into fabric (as do rayon, viscose and acetate, for example) that its environmentally-friendly credentials are somewhat questionable. There are some cellulose-based fabrics that can be manufactured using closed-loop production methods (ie the chemicals can be re-used rather than discarded), but it certainly isn’t standard practice yet.

Mind you, every fibre used for fabric production has its ups and downs. Whilst organic cotton may not use harmful pesticides, it still requires a huge amount of water in its production. Man-made fibres such as polyester may be derived from petrochemicals but they’re easy to recycle, and can be manufactured from already-recycled materials. Very little fabric of any kind is now made in the UK, so everything’s subject to being shipped halfway across the world before it even gets here.

I suppose it’s a question of deciding what matters to me right now, and making as informed a decision as possible. Easier said than done, I suspect.