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| Selection of 'rescued' fabrics |
Pinch, Punch 1st of the month!
1st Feb 2022
Today I went out on a jolly with Steve, to source fabrics from The Green Sewing Shop located on Northbrook Street in Newbury, where we live on our boats. Steve, lives a bit further down the Kennet and Avon Canal from me in the west end of Newbury.
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| The Green Sewing shop, Newbury |
Who is Steve? Steve Masters, has been a friend of mine for a good few years now, since we met at an Anti-Fracking Demo I had organised in Newbury. Since then, we have been heavily involved in environmental campaigns around the country; so much so, Steve ended up living in a tree to stop the beautiful Jones Hill Woods, in Buckinghamshire from being destroyed for the HS2 Line.
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| Steve in his tree house at HS2 site,Wendover |
Steve recently approached me about collaborating together for a project that aims to stop vintage and pre-loved haberdashery items going to landfill, with the focus mostly being on textiles. He has started an online shop in order to sell a large stock of old buttons he acquired, which has expanded to other products that can be re-used, please check out the website Button Boatique
For those of you that have followed me for a while, you will know this is one of my biggest passions in life, but due to personal reasons, and something called the Coronavirus, made me put a hold on this area of my life for a couple of years.
Apart from the environment, Steve and I share great compassion for mental health wellbeing; Steve is a trustee of Newburys mental health charity 8 Bells, and I have spent the last couple of years training to become meditation and mindful facilitator. Steve knows me well, and approached me with this idea for an e-commerce business, so I can sell my stock, and in his words 'help get my mojo back', for creating textile products. Our project is about having some fun, helping the planet, and working at our own pace, for a bit of financial reward too.
So, on Tuesday we found ourselves browsing the Green Sewing Shops sale, the store opened just before Christmas 2021, as a pop up shop. I got to know some of the staff, and I suggested that they should have a formal opening ceremony, and suggested that our local Green Party councilor (aka Steve), could be a guest for the launch.
Prior to this the fabrics were sold from the National Needlework Archive at the old Greenham air base. I have mentioned them many times on social media and in blogs, because it was my Alladins cave for purchasing all manner of textiles and notions, at charity shop prices (because they are a charity). The goods are all donations, and of good quality, often vintage, and the monies keep the National Needlework archive going.
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| Steve and staff on the launch day of the shop |
We had a budget to stick to, but only actually spent half of it, and bought everything we felt would be useful to make desirable garments, accessories or homewares.
We were lucky to get some vintage gems from the 1970s mostly, it was great that Steve and I had similar tastes (we bought quite a bit of orange fabric). We took the fabric back to my boat, and I then set too, identifying the cloths and their potential age. Some of this was done by touch and feel, and knowing the different styles from eras, or using reference books such as Naturally '70s Fabric by Constance Korosec . Some of the cloths I had to burn, in order to detect what they were made from e.g Polyester, its good fun, but you need to be careful so as you don't get hot plastic on yourself, or indeed, burn your home down.
A lot of vintage fabric you find is made from synthetics, which as you may know is not good for the environment. I have discussed this in various blogs, as to why I think its ok to use it. In a nut shell, rescuing as Steve and I like to put it) these fabrics, and making them into something desirable and useful stops these plastic fibres are being saved from entering landfill and polluting it. Back in the day these fabrics were made to last, and they certainly do, they often don't require ironing, and are durable enough to be given a good scrub if stained. If you own synthetic clothing, my advice is to wash it less, and on lower temperatures to help protect the planet.
Here are some links to previous blog posts of mine Slow Fashion Plastics and Fashion and Washing tips
Our next job is to decide what we are going to make them, whether it be clothing, cushion covers or bags, it all depends on how much we have of a particular fabric, and what its weight is, will determine its uses.
Find out next time what our plans are.. one stitch at a time
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