Tag: organic

Continental Clothing

Please forgive me while I get a little bit over-excited for a minute.

Way back in the mists of time, I ran a t-shirt printing company. We used the best quality t-shirts we could afford to buy at the time, but I wanted more. I wanted organic cotton. Sustainable production. Ethical business practices. And all of these things were sadly rather hard to find. I did buy some organic cotton t-shirts, and some Fair Trade ones, but most of the inventory I bought all those years ago is still sitting in my Shed. The fit wasn’t right, the colours weren’t right, and they were so much more expensive than ordinary t-shirts that nobody was willing to pay for them.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I was looking again for wholesale suppliers of organic t-shirts that I could use in my dyeing experiments. Imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon Continental Clothing. All of their garments are either organic, fairly traded, sustainably produced or a combination of all three. They have exemplary business practices, and even more exciting, the clothes they produce are so much more than just plain t-shirts!

I have grand plans for the racerback tunic shown above, for example, worn with a contrasting vest or t-shirt underneath. Think how pretty it would look in a patchy natural dye, with hand embroidery all around the neck and armholes…

Even better, and the thing that I’m extremely over-excited about, is the fact that they offer bespoke manufacturing! Okay, so a minimum order of 150 garments per size is out of my reach at the moment, but think of the possibilities! The tunic above would be fantastic as a dress, for example. Continental could make it for me, and I’d add the embellishments myself. It would work out significantly cheaper in the long run than me buying organic jersey at retail prices, making the clothing myself, and then embellishing it.

I’ve applied for an account with them, so I can start by buying a few sample garments for myself. I can then do lots of dye tests, and see how the different styles and fabrics fit, wash and wear. I can already imagine how several of the tops would go with many of the skirts I’ve made.

So, watch this space for hand-dyed t-shirts with added embroidery, lots of pockets and other pretty things!

Onion skin dye

Onion skin dye

This post is for Sarah, who’s very kindly been saving her leftovers! Paul and I don’t eat onions (weirdly, they burn Paul’s mouth – does anyone else have this?), so Sarah’s been hanging on to her onion skins for me. This looked like a lot, but only weighed about 6g, so I only added small pieces of fabric that added up to about 8g. Judging by the colour of the dye bath, I could have added a lot more!

Onion skin dye

As with my previous experiments, I simmered the onion skins in almost-boiling water for about an hour, before removing them and adding the wet fabric. I left the fabric simmering for another hour, then switched off the heat and left the saucepan to cool.

Once again, I didn’t use any kind of mordant for this experiment. The colour of the water led me to hope for some really bright fabrics, but the actual results are a lot more muted. I’m definitely going to need to add mordants to my experiments if I want to explore the full potential of the colours available from plants.

Onion skin dye
Silk dupion, silk paj, silk noil, bamboo, cotton muslin

This time the dye came out rather patchy, and with very marked differences between the fabrics. The silks have once again taken up the colour much better than the vegetable fibres. The bamboo in particular is very pale, especially in contrast to the silk paj!

The next part of this experiment is to keep some of the fabric pieces I’ve dyed so far closed away in a book, and leave others to hang in a window. That will help me to find out how fade-resistant they are. (I suspect not at all.)

Sarah also gave me a big pot full of previously-cooked blackcurrant pulp, which is very exciting! I had intended to try solar dyeing with it, but I don’t think the sun’s come out once today. Maybe at the weekend, when it’s forecast to perk up a little! Failing that it’s back to the big cooking pot, in the hope of coming out with a lovely shade of blue.

Spotty cotton & bamboo

Organic cotton & bamboo

Here’s my latest order from my lovely organic cotton people. Three metres each of spotty and plain organic cotton and bamboo blend. Isn’t it lovely? It’s in the washing machine at the moment, and I’m expecting it to be super soft when it comes out. The almost-matching thread’s organic too, and I’m planning to buy a lot more of this in future.

When the pattern eventually turns up in the UK, I’m going to turn it into Simplicity 1755. I might have let out a little squeal when I saw this dress. It’s everything I usually look for in a vintage pattern – cute collar, raglan sleeves, full skirt, pockets… but in a modern size, which means I don’t have to wear terrifying underwear or spend days re-drafting the pattern only to discover that it still doesn’t fit. Marvellous!

The sample swatches are Texweave, which is a lovely heavyweight woven fabric, perfect for coats or upholstery, and Super Jersey, which is another cotton/bamboo blend. It really does feel super too, so soft, and with just enough elastane to make sure it doesn’t go baggy. I can feel some lovely soft pyjamas coming on, or perhaps a vest or two.

I have a lovely big tin full of their fabric samples now – every time they bring out something new I send off for the samples straight away. This means that any time I want to go fabric shopping, I can simply pull down the tin and look at all the little squares. Much easier than just picking something at random from the website and hoping for the best!

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 Cotton for Sale!

Oh, I have so many things that I’ve made and haven’t told you about yet… and I have a new job, and new ideas and new plans… but first of all I need to do a little bit of clearing out.

It’s more than three years since my order of Bishopston Trading fabrics arrived, and I still have quite a bit left. They’re colours that I was left with when people ordered half a bolt, and they don’t really fit into the scheme of the new things that I want to make. (Nope, not even the pink!)

I have approximately seven metres of green, nine metres of pink and just three metres of blue that need to go to a good home. Or several good homes. So, I’ve set up a Big Cartel shop for the purpose of selling them to you.

The price is £7 per metre, plus a little bit extra for shipping. I’ve also offered the option to buy little sample swatches, so you can see the colours and feel the fabric before you decide whether to order a bigger piece. The green in particular is very difficult to photograph, although the photo above is actually pretty accurate.

Big Cartel only allows for you to order in whole metre increments, but if you did want smaller pieces such as fat quarters, I can do that for you – just leave me a comment or drop me an email. (claire@eternalmagpie.com)

Once I’ve re-homed this little lot, I can then buy some lovely organic cotton jersey and fleece. I’ve just designed a lovely little cropped hoody, and am working on some pretty skirts and tops. Watch this space…

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.

Blue Organic Cotton Dress

Blue organic cotton dress

This is a little tunic dress, from one of my own patterns. The main body of the dress is blue organic cotton from Bishopston Trading. The yoke and assorted other parts are also organic cotton, from Kaffe Fassett’s collection for Rowan a few years ago.

The pockets are set into the side seams, because it seemed like a good way of creating a nice sturdy finish. As the tunic is so full, next time I think I’ll make patch pockets and place them a little further towards the centre.

I’ve worn this with and without the belt, and I think it looks great either way. The belt is made from 5cm elastic, simply covered with matching fabric which gathers as the elastic contracts. The ends are fastened with loops and matching fabric-covered buttons. Next time I’ll add a slightly thicker interfacing, or perhaps a scrap of corset coutil, to make the front panels a little less likely to fold over on themselves. I also need to make another one about two inches longer, as this one’s a bit too tight for my liking!

I’ve been thinking for a long time about what to make with my organic cottons, and I’m really pleased with this tunic and belt. This is going to be the start of some thinking out loud in fabric, as I try to work out which styles might be available for sale.

Purple Organic Cotton Shoes

Laura's Purple Organic shoes

Laura requested that her shoes be a plain, dark colour, such as purple or red. This picture doesn’t really show the depth of colour in this lovely purple organic cotton. I used the same fabric inside and out, and was lucky enough to find a ribbon that matched almost exactly.

T-shirt shrug

T-shirt shrug

I was supposed to be at a barbeque on this gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon, celebrating the success of the Witt Studio Chorus Summer Showcase. Unfortunately my kind husband decided to share his filthy germs with me, and now we’re both too ill to go. Bah.

I’ve spent most of the day sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself, watching Torchwood and Doctor Who, and looking at the internet in the name of research for a new range of clothing that I have in mind. While I was wandering about on Pinterest, I stumbled across this tutorial for turning a t-shirt into a shrug.

Deciding that I couldn’t go a whole day without making something (not even a poorly Sunday), I dragged an old organic t-shirt out of the languishing stash, set about it with scissors, the sewing machine and a bit of ribbon. The whole thing took less than an hour – including taking photos and writing this.

The only thing I did that wasn’t specified in the pattern was to stitch the ribbons into position at the end of the casing. This means that the gathering is no longer adjustable, but it stops the ribbons from disappearing inside the t-shirt.

I have a giant pile of old t-shirts in the Shed, just waiting to transformed into something new. I can feel a few more of these little shrugs coming on, I think.

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.