2020: The Year of Slow Fashion

Ok, so I'm about 5 weeks too late to announce my big plans for 2020 but honestly this year has run away with me already!  I've been setting a new group of beginners free on their sewing machines, and making some plans for future classes and courses - too many plans!  And not enough time!

​Earlier this month I was invited to  Mylor Yacht Club to talk to the ladies there about sewing, learning to sew, and the fight against fast fashion,  and it was a brilliant place to share my personal objectives for my sewing activity this year...

The slide below from my presentation gives you some stat's as to why it is so important to pay attention to our clothes and textiles buying habits…

In the past I have bought things from Primark and the supermarket chains, as a quick pick me up, or in their sales, because I've fancied a bit of a wardrobe lift.  I have never just thrown clothes away, I always send things to charity, but at least two black bags of stuff go to charity from our house every year, and that is with extremely limited buying ( we are a family of four... ) as I have more important things to spend on most of the time!

I really got thinking about this towards the end of last year ... Where I live in Cornwall in the UK we are culturally extremely aware of environmental impact, surrounded as we are by sea on three sides, incredible natural landscapes and all living very outdoors lifestyles.  We see on a daily basis the impact of plastics and other waste on our beaches.  I am so proud to live in a place where every business is making sustained and concerted efforts to improve their environmental footprint, and the cluster of villages where I live is home to environmental campaigners and leaders of textile sustainability Surfers Against Sewage and FinisterreUK.  I can't escape it! 

With a background in fashion design I have always loved clothes, and their ability to shape my mood for a day, but my budget in recent years hasn't allowed me to be much more than vaguely functional in my dress sense, and I really wanted to change that this year, now that the baby producing days are over, and I can start to remember who I was before the girls arrived in my life!

So for me 2020 will be the year of the memade wardrobe.

I have set myself a rule: Thou shalt not buy anything that can be made thyself. Use up the stash and buy more mindfully. 

What I have found already is having this rule is really really making me consider what I make - my time is so limited, and so if I'm going to spend time making something, I really have to either want it or NEED it, which in turn is ensuring that I am creating items which will surely have longevity in my wardrobe...

In addition I want to be more environmentally friendly in my fabric purchasing - I'm a huge fan of viscose, a fabric made as a by-product of the wood industry.  Its production does use up a lot of water, but it is made from otherwise wasted materials as far as I know.  Bamboo is the most sustainable and wonderful fabric ever, but it is expensive!

I'll do a blog post later in the year on more sustainable and environmental fabrics, but for now, I'll stick with using up my stash, buying viscose when I can - and keeping my eyes peeled for bamboo that is an affordable price point for me!  

I'll do a separate post on my 2020MakeNine, which is a super instagram challenge to give you something to work towards but I have already started making the gorgeous winter coat I have been planning since early 2019.... so if nothing else this has given me a boot up the backside! 

Right now that's all on hold as I work on a holiday wardrobe for my trip to Marrakech next week! I have found a FREE pattern that I love so much I want to make in all of the fabric I own.... and I have started cutting the amazing Zadie Pattern by Paper Theory, which has been a dream make of mine for quite some time!

Watch this space for further updates :)