If you haven’t seen this video (opens in new tab) by now, you should go watch it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
I recently sold my internal-combustion-engine (ICE) car and bought a used 2014 Nissan Leaf from a friend, because I was getting tired of burning dinosaurs every time I had to pop out to the grocery store. That feels good but the world is still in crisis, so I want to do more.
As I looked around at my home this morning, I thought about what kind of action I could take. And then I looked at the stack of fabric beside me which includes several pieces I have recently acquired, as well as pieces I dragged out from the stash to consider using. So much fabric. So much polyester in that fabric, too. Sewing is not an environmentally-friendly hobby, although it does divert my funds away from the fast-fashion industry. It still supports the fabric production industry which is incredibly damaging to the environment.
So here’s my proposed sewing climate action: for every 1m of fabric I buy, I will PREVIOUSLY have used 10m in garments for myself or others. I will also look into low-waste designs to reduce the scraps that end up in third world countries.
My goal is to reduce the size of my stash, and to stop myself from getting sucked into the “new pretties” that catch my eye at the fabric store. I think I probably have enough fabric right now to last me a year of sewing. Possibly more. In fact, the only reason I’m giving myself the 10:1 ratio is to allow for things like linings (though I think I am well equipped). Also, there’s that fun fur I saw last weekend which I really really am jonesing for… but 10m must go out of my stash before I can indulge myself.
Hopefully this will encourage me to do more planning and less impulse fabric buying. And maybe it’ll save a few pounds of carbon from going into the atmosphere.
I’ll be adding a block to the sidebar of this blog to try and track my commitment.
