Reduce, reuse, recycle
When I heard this figure I was on the fence about whether or not that's the truth. On one hand, there have been plenty of articles online about how the textiles industry is one of the most polluting, unethical and wasteful industries on earth and with the rise of fast fashion the estimated value of clothing that we Brits send to landfills each year is around £140million. That’s an estimated 235million items. I really dread to think about how much the US wastes.
Sewing was the answer for me to almost stop buying clothes. Yes there are items that I still buy because I currently don’t have the materials to make them or they’re things I have no interest in making, like socks.
I usually buy 3 meters of fabric, unless a specific pattern requires more, and for me this length is perfect for getting two garments out of with little waste. Sometimes, if I’m lucky and I play pattern piece tetris, I can get an extra garment or sometimes get to use my leftover fabric for detailing on another project. What I’m trying to say is that 30% waste has nothing on me! With the cost of fabric ranging between £ and £££, not including any additional haberdashery, I want to be able to use as much of that fabric as I possibly can. So in this post, I’ll be attempting to use up the last bit of my navy polyester sweatshirt that I bought from Fabric Galore. I originally bought 3 meters in 2018, when the weather was taking a turn for the worse, and have made a Named Talvikki and a Helen’s Closet Blackwood Cardigan from it. This has left me with an uncut piece of 80x80cm, almost 30% of my original fabric. Because the fabric is actually quite thick in comparison to other fabrics, and is also fleece backed, there is only so many things that I can make out of it. I’ve not been able to find any stash buster patterns that use thick fabric, and I really didn’t want to make a bag out of it.
After hacking patterns around for a couple of hours, and playing tetris with the fabric, I eventually managed to get all my pieces out of that tiny, tiny amount. My plan was to make a bolero,or cropped jacket, with full length sleeves. I must confess I did cheat a little and sewed up the scraps from the previous two projects for the front bodice piece of my pattern. Usually I save all my scraps of a specific material, until I use all of it, so I can test the tension on my sewing machine and overlocker. Originally I was going to put darts at the back, similar to Named’s Tavikki, but the front had become rather exciting with all of these joined seams.
From making a Blackwood cardigan I learnt that there wasn’t enough stretch in this fabric to really pull off a smaller size, so I opted for a bigger size to allow more ease around the arms and shoulder area.
The sleeves are the only pattern piece which remained untouched by additional seams and I feel like it gives the garment a polished look. They are extra long and have cuffs at the ends not because I felt that they needed it to finish the look, but to stop the fabric curling. Even though it is 100% polyester, over time the ends of the sleeves would be stretched out of shape. I learnt from making the Talvikki Sweater in this fabric that without the additional material for cuffs or bands the finished edges wouldn’t be as crisp as I would like them.
By this point I had completely used up my fabric and was left with a little clump of tiny strips cut from my overlocker and pieces that, even if I sewed them all together, wouldn’t be able to make anything more. To finish the edges I decided to once more have a go with bias binding; my previous attempts didn’t end well but as I couldn’t see another way I just had to make it work. I used PRYM 100% Cotton Bias Binding in black from Weaverdee to prevent any further stretching of the material and took the whole process nice and slow. I know that you can do all the edges in one go but I was uncertain about the sharp edges, so I did each of the 4 edges individually. Anyone have tips or tricks to make it easier? Or is it just one of those skills that comes with great practise?
Now that I had finished binding my raw edges I decided to finish off the bolero with some black Chinese button frog fasteners from Minerva Craft. Originally I wanted metal fasteners but as the front doesn’t have that much structure I think the metal would have been too heavy for the fabric without any interfacing.
I am really pleased with how it all turned out, there is plenty of room for shoulder and arm movement and it really goes to show that tetris and a lot of pattern hacking can help create something new and wonderful. Despite pre washing the fabric I had noticed that it had fluffed quite a bit and I did have to spend a while afterwards cleaning up both my machines and sewing area. If there was more fabric left over I would have liked to include a mandarin collar, but maybe that would be something for the next time I want to use every little bit of another piece of fabric. I think this is a great little number for those late summer nights without needing to bring out a full light jacket or shawl.
