Tag: fabric

Back to the fabric stash

3/5/14

So, I’ve been writing recently about mindful consumption and buying handmade shoes. A few years ago I wrote about Value versus Cost, and sneaked inside a post on vintage sewing patterns, I wrote a mini essay about ethically-produced jeans.

I’m trying very hard to be as responsible in my own shopping as I possibly can. My trousers are ethically produced. My yoga pants are organic cotton. My shoes are handmade. I try, as much as possible, not to support mass production in terms of clothing.

But, like everyone, sometimes I fail. I got very, very excited about these Yellow Submarine Vans, so I “treated myself” and bought them. (Ten months later, they’re sitting on my shoe rack having been worn only about half a dozen times because they don’t fit right and they’re not comfortable, so there’s a lesson for me!)

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Shortly after I’d bought them I got very excited about some almost-matching fabric, so I “treated myself” to that too. It’s cotton, but it’s not organic, and I had it sent over from America. I’m currently sewing it into a shirt that I can wear with the Vans. (Hopefully the shirt will actually fit, at least!)

I’m always a sucker for a novelty print, and in fact I’m currently waiting for the arrival of a parcel containing a shirt’s worth of this Lorax-print fabric. It’s coming all the way from America again, and at least it’s organic cotton this time. But while I was shopping I popped in a couple of other half-yards “for Milly”, and “to make the shipping costs worthwhile”.

That’s when I realised that I was basically making excuses to myself, to justify the purchase of cute things that I liked the look of, rather than thinking about what I actually needed, or how it was made.

Bishopston fabrics - straight out of the box

Given that I still have metres and metres of this lovely handwoven organic cotton sitting in my sewing room (bought all the way back in 2008, before Bishopston Trading closed down), I really have absolutely no excuse for buying any more fabric right now. Okay, so plain colours of cotton are not as fun and exciting as hilarious novelty prints. (And you know I do like a certain amount of my wardrobe to be hilarious!) But I can make up for that by printing simple designs myself… over-dyeing the fabrics… adding embroidery or lace… wearing lots of jewellery or knitted accessories… or just enjoying the nature of the hand-woven, hand-dyed material.

After that it’s time to go on a different kind of shopping spree I think – doing some research into what lovely new ethically-produced fabrics have become available since the last time I looked. Now that does sound exciting!

The Lorax meets Simplicity 1755

This is Simplicity 1755, which I had every intention of beginning to sew this morning. I want to wear it to a wedding next month, and my extra hours at work are continuing, so I need to get a move on in any spare time that I do have. The illustration to the right shows roughly how it will look in the lovely organic cotton and bamboo fabrics that I bought a little while ago.

This morning I received a comment on my post about making a Dr Seuss dress, which sidetracked me a little bit into thinking how good Simplicity 1755 would look in a combination of novelty print fabrics. A little look on eQuilter revealed that lots of Dr Seuss prints are still available…

…as are several Beatles prints – although Sea of Holes is sadly gone.

But I’m trying ever so hard to only buy organic or recycled or ethically produced fabric for the clothes that I make for myself, so I was just about to sigh wistfully and close my browser when I noticed something exciting.

The Lorax prints are all on organic cotton!

Wouldn’t this dress look absolutely amazing in a Lorax print?!

And by “absolutely amazing” you know, of course, that I mean “utterly ridiculous”. In a good way.

A further search reveals that eQuilter actually has hundreds of organic cotton fabrics, which is fantastic! Of course there’s then the issue of the airmiles involved in shipping them over from America, but at least there’s only one journey, from their country of origin to me, and the same applies to the (mostly) Indian fabrics I buy.

Uh-oh.

If Simplicity 1755 goes together easily, and it’s comfortable to wear, I can feel a fabric shopping spree coming on…

Nuno Felting

Nuno Felting

Hello! I feel as though I’ve been away for ages. I’m so busy at the moment I’ve barely had time to breathe, never mind blog, but I made this yesterday and I thought it would be a nice little something to show. It’s a somewhat experimental piece of nuno felt, about the size of a sheet of A4. As you can see, I’ve felted a little bit of merino onto a backing of muslin.

Nuno Felting

When the wool starts to felt, the fibres contract and matt together. The cotton muslin doesn’t shrink, so you get these lovely textures coming through.

Nuno Felting

This is the back, with its lovely rivers of ruching, and the wool fibres just poking through.

Not bad for a first attempt, I think!

Organic Cotton Skirt Ideas

Skirt ideas

Starting to work with the organic cottons again reminded me that I’d already put together some designs for skirts that were very similar to the blue cotton tunic dress. Large pockets and a ruffle, although I think I’d go for an elastic waistband rather than darts and a zip.

I drafted these little sketches way back in 2008, when I was also going through a phase of buying lots of recycled fabrics, mostly in the form of duvet covers. I thought I could use the matching pillowcases to make the ruffles and pockets, and do you know what? I think that might just work! Why it’s taken me three years to get around to doing anything with this idea, I’m not so sure.

I have four colours of organic cotton left in the stash – blue, green, pink and cream. My favourite place to buy organic cottons has a special offer on pot-luck remnant pieces, so I might buy a bundle and see what turns up. That, along with the Kaffe Fassett fat quarters, should give me plenty of choices for contrasting waistbands and pockets.

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.

Dr Seuss Dress?

It has to be said that I’m well known for making ridiculous dresses from quilting fabrics with completely inappropriate prints. So when I discovered that eQuilter were stocking Dr Seuss fabrics, my heart leapt!

There are seventeen different prints, but I think that these two are the most suitable least inappropriate best ones for making a dress.

The sketch above is Simplicity 2307, the same as the fish blouse I made the other week. The version with the hem band provides the perfect opportunity for using a novelty print fabric without the garment being too overwhelming or “cartoony”. I hope.

I have a couple of fabric combinations already lined up for this dress, so I’ll make a version with the hem band and see how it looks. Then I need to decide whether a thirty-seven-year-old woman should really leave the house wearing a dress with a Dr Seuss print.

(I think we all know that the answer’s yes.)

Off to Oxfam

Off to Oxfam Reworked

One of the dangers of working in a fabric shop is that you collect fabric. Lots of fabric.

Ideas, plus staff discount, equals a Shed full of fabric that I’m probably never going to use.

So, this is the ten carrier bags that Paul and I cleared out of the Shed last week, and took down to Oxfam Reworked.

Lyndsey Clark runs the new shop in the Harris Arcade. She and a team of volunteer designers take garments that are not suitable for sale in a regular Oxfam shop, and re-work them into unique pieces of clothing.

Hopefully Lyndsey can put all this fabric to better use than leaving it piled up in a Shed for years on end.

Traditional English Summer.

Victorians in the rain

Last weekend we paid a visit to Broadlands, where there was a multi-period historical re-enactment weekend going on. As you can see, the weather was absolutely ideal for a British summer’s day out.

As it turned out the Victorian Redcoats didn’t have to shelter for very long, but it was certainly very wet while it lasted!

Professor Leonidas C. Grymm and his Mermaid

This is Professor Leonidas C. Grymm, and his Mermaid. He represented part of Grymm Tooms Travelling Museum, which I very much enjoyed. The gentleman above represents a Victorian explorer and collector, and he told us about various famous collections and artifacts. His colleague, Doctor Lazarus Tooms, demonstrates a history of the advancements made in medicine, including surgery and anatomy.

I only took a few photos – partly because of the rain, and partly because I accidentally became increasingly laden with shopping as the afternoon wore on. I picked up two large felt hat blanks for steaming into shape (one black, one bright pink), and was very restrained at the fabric stall. I came away with just five metres of a lovely woven wool fabric in cream and brown, with a little blue spot running through the diamond pattern. That will be perfect for a pair of trousers and a jacket, and I rather wish I’d bought some more!

Spring Cleaning – Part 1

Wine crepe-backed satin

I used to work in a fabric shop, and the result is that I now have metres and metres of fabric that I’m simply never going to get around to using. My business has changed, and my personal tastes have changed since I started collecting all of this fabric, so now it’s time to have a bit of a clear-out.

Here are the photos of stage one of the clearing-out.

Still stashed away I have crepe-backed satins, chinese brocades, more recycled bedding, a box full of organza, and a huge black sack full of fabric scraps. Those will be donated to the Museum for craft workshops.

Now that I’m doing less sewing, I should be trying to stockpile less fabric “just in case”, and trying to buy only pieces which match up with specific projects. Easier said than done, of course, but I do want to give it a try!

Planning a jacket.

Remember the amazing psychedelic twill that Chloe sent to me?

We had an excellent barter agreement, whereby Chloe’s payment would be a hand made garment made from the fabric. We’d originally talked about a skirt and a bag, but when Chloe saw a jacket that I’d made, we decided that it had to be a coat!

Here’s an artist’s impression (aka Photoshop mock-up) of what it’s going to look like. It’s a very loose style of jacket, with three-quarter length sleeves. It’ll have two large pockets on the front, and the lining will be bright orange!

We haven’t found the perfect orange buttons yet, but we’ll keep looking…