Slow Fashion Season and #MeMadeMay Goal

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Recently, I've been making more of a concerted effort to be more sustainable in my clothing choices, and given that I'd say I make 95% of the stuff I wear, fabric inevitably plays a massive role in this. I, like so many sewists, like to buy fabric, to the extent that it's pretty much a hobby in its own right. It's filling up my wardrobe, in boxes under the bed, in my desk drawers, spewing out of hat boxes, and I'm pretty sure there's some in the garage I've forgotten about. And then there's all the projects abandoned halfway through (that's a separate box), and all the clothes I made when I was still a novice sewer, that either don't really fit, don't suit me, or are just so haphazardly put together they'll probably fall apart if I try to put them on. Basically, I have a lot of fabric in my house that's currently serving no purpose other than to take up highly valuable storage space.

(Butterick B6882 dress made from old curtains)

Add to that the whole quarantine thing and the mounting pressure to spend less money due a to significantly reduced workflow (*tries not to stress*), I've come to the conclusion that I really don't need to be buying any more fabric. Instead, I'm actually, finally, going to tackle the mountain of doom that is my fabric stash. I easily have enough project potential in here to last me through the lockdown, whether the lockdown lasts another three months or another three years (again, *tries not to stress*). So for this year's Me Made May, my goal is going to be to only make things from my fabric stash, with an emphasis on upcycling and using up fabric remnants. I'll barely have made a dent in my stash by the end of May, so this is going to need to be a longer term commitment.

(Lamour Dress made with secondhand sari)

Which is why I've decided to participate in Slow Fashion Season, a group created to raise awareness on the terrible environmental impact of the fashion industry by encouraging people to only make "conscious" purchases between June and September by supporting sustainable labels and cutting out fast fashion spending. They suggest doing this through clothes swaps, upcycling, buying second-hand/vintage, and buying from ethical companies (though simply not buying anything, I'm sure, is also an option). I don't really buy clothes anyway, so I'm just going to use this to apply to fabric instead, and not buy anything unless I feel it's necessary, and if so, only purchase sustainably-sourced materials. But the main way I'll be taking part is, like with MMM, by working through my stash of hoarded materials.

(Vogue 1321 coat made with same old curtains)

 With a lot of my main fabric stash, I do actually know what I want to use them for, I've just never got round to doing it. I generally prefer to make clothes that work for the time of year it is when I'm making them so I can start wearing them straight away, which would mean I'd ordinarily be wanting to make warm weather clothes right now and putting off all my heavier weight fabrics until early autumn. But I feel like, if I'm not going outside anyway, this makes less of a difference right now, so I may as well just get on with a project if I already have something in mind. Same for projects meant for wearing on holiday - just because I'm not going on holiday in the near future doesn't mean I can't sew them up now and be prepared for when that day arrives.

(Pearl Sunglasses made with secondhand shades)

The true challenge comes from all the other components that make up my stash - the remnants, the WIPs, and the clothes waiting to be upcycled. The remnants are generally less than 1m, so I'm not expecting it to be easy to come up with different and exciting ways for how to use them, but I do have a few ideas that I'm looking forward to cracking on with. The unfinished clothes, I'll be honest, I'm kind of dreading. Some of them have been there so long I've changed style, and probably even changed shape, since I started, and even when that's not the case, there's something about restarting abandoned projects that makes me feel irate. So that's gonna be fun.

(Steampunk boots made with secondhand shoes)

I am actually quite excited about the upcycling projects. It's not something I do much - the photos I've put in this post are pretty much the only examples - but I have often thought I should try to get into it (hence the ever increasing pile of clothes for upcycling). A couple of these are old evening gowns I made for various events while at university, which I have absolutely no reason to ever wear again, and were handsewn in a hurry when I didn't know how to hand sew, so have some pretty weak, wonky seams going on. I'm very much looking forward to completely destroying them by ripping out all those seams, and then hopefully having metres and metres of fabric to play with.

(Butterick B6882 dress AND Vogue 1321 coat, both from curtains)

As always, I'll be keeping you updated here and on Instagram on all my projects, and maybe I'll even attempt a tutorial or two (*gasp*) if I find something worthy (and if my photography skills are up to the job). And if you'd like to take part in Slow Fashion Season, you can sign up here. Well, that's it for now. See you next time!