Category: Sewing

Sewing projects. Clothes for the family and/or eco projects.

Sustainable Fashion

For the past two years, I’ve been teaching myself how to sew. It hasn’t been easy with a baby in the house (I started sewing about a month before giving birth).

I’ve also recently discovered all of the toxic consequences of synthetic fabric (ie polyester, acrylic, rayon). That coupled with the global plastic crisis, I’ve come up with a personal goal to rid our home of plastic (synthetic fabric is just wearable plastic) through sewing. I’m making things like produce bags as well but this post is specifically about the clothing I’m making.

When I’m looking to buy fabric, I first look for organic cotton. Buying organic, in whatever fashion, supports organic farmers and creates a demand for sustainable materials. Non-organic cotton causes a lot of environmental damage but we’ll save that for another post.

My first stop for organic cotton is always organiccottonplus.com.. They have a huge selection and great prices. Not so much prints, but lots of great solids. If I can’t find what I’m looking for there I scour the internet for it. I love to shop local when I can and was happy to find an organic fabric shop just 30 minutes away, monaluna.com. Now they have a bunch of prints. The woman who owns it designs them herself and they’re amazing. I love it.

When I can’t find an organic option I go for 100% cotton and/or hemp. And I do sometimes on occasion buy fabric with a little spandex or lyrca for a great stretch recovery. Great for leggings or sports bras.

The only polyester exceptions I’ve made has been for Halloween costumes and bathing suits. I hate it. The kids were Princess Jasmine and her pet tiger Raja this year, and after months of looking for cotton alternatives I had to finally concede. They were pretty cute though, right?

Working with faux fur was a nightmare, never again. I’m trying to find recycled polyester to make bathing suits in the future. I’ll let you know what I find.

When I first started sewing I ordered a lot of fabric online without thinking about it’s content. Looking back at the website, a lot of the fabric I bought doesn’t even say what it’s made of. I’m assuming it’s polyester. Now I know.

Teaching myself how to sew has been fun but not very inefficient. I’m so excited to start a sewing class in two days. Hopefully it’ll help reduce my sewing times and get more done in a shorter amount of time.

Here are some other outfits I’ve made:

organic cotton from organiccottonplus and maluorganic

organic pajamas from fabricdirect.com

polyester rash guard from Joanns

organic cotton cardigan from organiccottonplus.com

organic cotton jumper from monaluna.com

leggings made from old shirts

solid green fabric is 100% cotton from Joanns, checkered fabric is made from a bag of flour

pants from joanns

cotton fabric from charligirlfabrics

Halloween 2017, all polyester

organic cotton from organiccottonplus.com

cotton from charliegirlfabrics

organic cotton from organiccottonplus.com

charliegirl fabric (this might be polyester)

cotton from charlie girl fabrics

cotton from joanns

I’d love to share my weekly sewing projects on here. We’ll see if I actually do it 🙂