Online Sewing Circle: Don't Buy It Make It
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 04.14.07
I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing ... that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.
Take the pledge today. Everyone's doing it! Sewing is undergoing a big revival right now, the thrifty desire to recycle, concerns about sweatshop labour and over consumption, as well as a growing online 'craft' community have fueled sites like 'Wardrobe Refashion', a community blog, based in Australia, with participants worldwide. Wardrobe refashion community members have all taken a pledge not to purchase any new manufactured clothing for a set period, instead all clothing must be recycled, renovated, pre-loved, or handmade.
All sentiments that we at TreeHugger applaud, check out some of our recent stories and DIY tips ont-shirt surgery, and refashioning the sweaters, check out (trash fashion and re-fashion then get sewing!
What sort of outfits are people making? Here is a taster from The Wardrobe Refashion Flickr pool.
Online sewing resources ::craftster ::whipup ::CRAFTzine ::SuperNaturale ::burda style
This is a perfect example of how we will not shop our way out of GW - these types of actions (while meritorious at heart), and I'm including both recycle and new work, cannot possibly be a net energy saver vs manufactured goods. And if such activity where to actually become some major movement then a "feel good about myself cuz I show I care" could have great impact on efforts to combat GW. Clothing factories (social issues aside) are to home sewers as mass transit is to the automobile. And how did photo #2 get through editing? Scary.
No we can't shop our way out of Global Warming. Of course if we purchased higher quality goods in the first place they might last longer, be repairable or reusable and therefore save energy.
For starters returning the primary fabric of the billions of pairs of jeans made yearly to hemp would quadruple the life of fabric while reducing greenhouse gas inputs from fertilizer and pesticide applied to cotton crops.
Likewise we could return to making shoes with soles that can be replaced so that the uppers could stay in use. Currently americans throw away an enormous tonnage of clothing each year that has usable cloth on it. If a higher percentage of that cloth were natural fibers it could be re-used, re-cycled or repaired. Hand sewing works perfectly fine and most sewing machines use tiny amounts of power.
Quality counts when you have to purchase something.
David, you are missing the point. Global warming isn't the only issue that reusing clothes addresses. Besides GW, it reduces unnecessary waste when usable cloth ends up in a landfill, reduces pollution created by bleaching and dyeing processes (very toxic), reduces the pollution of shipping cloth to a third world country for sewing and back, not to mention that most of the labor is done in unfair conditions (unless you buy fair trade). Besides, it is a creative act that gives you, in the end, really cool personalized duds. So even if everyone uses a sewing machine and no net energy is saved on that front, there are many other steps in the manufacturing process that are bypassed. Though I also disagree that no net energy will be saved. I re-make clothes sometimes, as do some of my friends, and we all hand sew.
i hadn't even thought of it as a cure for global warming. it does seems to re-tap into industry and clever re-use making not only a personal statement but putting the re-use back into recycle. plus i'm a sucker for craftsy things.