Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

For Episode #32 of Check Your Thread, I got to talk with textile activist Shams el-Din Rogers. For me, this is the most powerful and thought provoking conversation I’ve had for the podcast to date. Shams shares her thoughts and perspective as an activist, advocate, teacher and campaigner. We get into the sources of Shams’s frustrations, altering patterns of consumption, her experience as a black m...

For this episode, #31, I got to speak to Liz Haywood, a very talented designer who creates zero waste sewing patterns. After a 20 year career in clothing production, and writing and self-publishing a book called The Dressmaker’s Companion, Liz discovered ZW design and started making her own patterns using this approach. Two years ago, she committed to only producing patterns that are zero waste, a...

This is the third and final instalment of my mini series about the Make Do and Mend campaign. We pick up where we left off in the second episode and explore some more themes and lessons from the 1940s that really resonate today. In the second half of this episode I then leave the big-picture ideas to zoom right in on the topic. I share some of the practical tips and advice that I found in the repr...

This is the second instalment of my mini series about the Make Do and Mend campaign. As I was reading and writing about that era, I couldn’t help but think about the situation we find ourselves in today with the climate crisis. There was so much relating to the use and reuse of materials that felt so familiar to what a lot of us have been thinking and talking about more recently. Many of us are tr...

This is the first episode in a mini series I’ve made about a topic that fascinates me: the Make Do And Mend campaign of the 1940s. ‘‘Make do and mend’ is a phrase often used today to refer to the ethos of repairing something over throwing it away. Sometimes it’s used in direct reference to the campaign that took place during the second world war, when materials were scarce and repair was essential...

This episode follows myself and friend-of-the-podcast Julia Hincks as we attend a workshop and try our hands at rag rugging! We were invited by former guest and rag rugging expert Elspeth Jackson to attend one of her in-person workshops. If you can’t attend one of her workshops yourself, Elspeth’s company Ragged Life sells books and kits, and produces online courses and YouTube videos, so you can...

For Episode 26, I had the pleasure of talking with Eliu Hernandez, a quilter and maker whose work focuses on reclaimed denim. Eliu has developed an approach to deconstructing unwanted jeans that allows him to harvest as much as possible to reuse again, including the belt loops, pockets, leather patches and even the thread! I loved nerding out about denim with him, and even if denim isn’t your jam,...

For our quarter-century episode, I’m having a deep dive into the topic of handmade period pants with lingerie and pattern designer, Yelena Buck. If you’re a period haver, or there’s one in your close family, this episode might convince you to try making some if you haven’t already. We talk about the benefits of period pants in general, and self-made ones specifically, plus the ingredients that go...

Welcome to Episode 24 with the wonderful Rebecca Evans-Merritt, a maker that I’ve long admired for both her gorgeous makes, AND her intelligent, thoughtful approach to making. Last year she created a talk for the Fold Line sewing weekender event entitled Slow and Conscious Making that included suggestions on how we can improve the sustainability of our sewing. Finally! I thought, a reason to get i...

Happy New Year! Episode 23 is a solo one made with a helpful dose of listener feedback. The start of a new year is a great time to think about new habits you’d like to implement going forwards. I’ve collected a whole heap of goals related to sewing more sustainably that listeners intend to focus on during 2022, and I’ve thrown in some additional suggestions of my own. If you like the idea of setti...

It’s the last episode of CYT for 2021, and a first for the podcast: a conversation involving three people! I talk to Carla Bruni, the founder and organiser of Community Glue Workshops which are regular, free mending events taking place in Chicago, and Megan Grandstaff, who is one of the talented and dedicated volunteers, who specialises in fixing clothing and textile items. We get into the origin...

It’s Episode 21 of CYT, and today we’re busting a big myth: that you have to be completely serious and joyless to be passionate about the environment, or to have any impact. I’m chatting with New Zealand based sewing teacher, maker and sustainability phenomenon, Sarah Lancaster, AKA Sarah Sew Love. (You can also hear her cat, Forest, in the background!) She shows us that having a vibrant aesthetic...

Welcome to Ep. 20. In this solo episode, we literally check our thread! Of course, what fabrics we sew with is a big factor in the impact our garment sewing will have. And, increasingly, there are more and more options available to us to express our values and preferences in our thread choices as well. I break down the thread options for making our own clothes, then  offer up some criteria on...

Welcome to CYT! This episode (Ep.19) features a fascinating, wide-ranging and inspiring conversation with quilt-maker, Shelly Sommer. I thought we were going to be mainly discussing quilting, potentially as a way to use up fabric scraps and unwanted clothing, however Shelly is such an intelligent, thoughtful maker and human that our conversation ended up going off on a whole heap of interesting ta...

Welcome to Episode 18. As you may have noticed, I’ve always got my eyes peeled for interesting and useful ways to use up fabric scraps. In this episode I’ve got for you a conversation with author and rag rug expert Elspeth Jackson, to coincide with the release of her new book Rag Rug Techniques for Beginners which is out this week. Elspeth has carved out a career for herself based on teaching and...

Welcome to Episode 17! So whilst clothing made using zero and low waste practices is as old as clothing itself, zero waste patterns available for home sewing is a relatively new phenomena. This episode is an introduction to the topic, and I plan to build on it in the future with conversations with zero waste designers and practitioners.  The Zero Waste Fashion Design book by Holly McQuillan and Ti...

It’s Episode 16 of CYT, and the second that features my conversation with Louisa Owen Sonstroem. Last week we heard about how Louisa embraced and became an expert in hand sewing clothing. This week we talk about a different, but equally fascinating topic: a project Louisa started in 2019 called Patternmaking in Public Places. PIPP aims to democratise access to patternmaking, by bringing it out fro...

Welcome to Episode 15! Have you ever considered sewing a garment entirely by hand? I must admit that it had literally never occurred to me until I got to speak with today’s guest, Louisa Owen Sonstroem. This is the first of two Check Your Thread episodes with Louisa, and in this one we learn how a trained pattern cutter who works in the NY garment industry became an expert in this slow-sewing prac...

Let’s be honest, for those of us who sew, spending a couple hours at our sewing machine is probably preferable to the same time spent wandering around the shops or trawling websites trying to find someone the perfect gift. In this solo episode, I’m sharing heaps of ideas for presents we can create for our loved ones that won’t take an age or cost us a mint. All these ideas should take no more than...

I’ve been promising to cover natural dyeing techniques for a while now, and I’ve made good on that promise with this episode! I got to speak to a talented and experienced natural dye expert, Amy Taylor. A practitioner and teacher based in Chicago, Amy shares so much information in this extended episode of CYT. We go into the history and techniques, plus she busts some myths and tells us some fun s...

Judith is the creator of, and one of the main driving forces behind, the biggest sewing community on Instagram, SewOver50. Whilst providing a virtual hub for conversation and inspiration for everyone, SewOver50 also pushes for the increased visibility of older people within sewing related industries. In our conversation, Judith tells me about the rapid creation of that community and the goals behi...

In this solo episode of CYT, we’re taking the definition of sustainability in a different direction from the usual environmental meaning. I’m talking about how to sustain your sewing life when you are a parent, particularly of younger kids. It’s basically all the points that I eventually figured out for myself, but wish I’d heard when I first became a parent. If you aren’t a parent of young kids,...

It’s Episode 10 of the CYT podcast! We’re into double figures now! I’ve got a super interesting conversation for you today with Guy from The Light Touch London (soon to be Bristol). He’s a really thoughtful maker with heaps of fascinating ideas and projects, many of which we touch on in this episode. His investigations into clothing systems, and tracking your outfits enthralled me in particular, a...

Welcome to episode 9 of Check Your Thread. In this one, I chat to my friend and colleague Julia Hincks, who just so happens to be a sewing expert and author. She has written two amazing sewing books, The Overlocker Technique Manual (published in 2014) and The Coverstitch Technique Manual (which has just been released). If you already own an overlocker (AKA serger) or coverstitch machine, or you’re...

It’s episode 8 of CYT, and in this solo episode I’ve posed myself the question: is sewing sustainable? I share my musings on the concept of sustainability, particularly as it relates to sewing, and how we need to be wary of over simplification and greenwashing. Plus I discuss what I consider to be the overarching goal for sewing in a more sustainable way, and ideas for how we can achieve it. Makin...