5 Tips to Make Your Sewing Hobby More Environmentally Friendly
Hey y’all, today I’m sharing some of my favorite tips for sustainable sewing, to make your hobby more environmentally friendly. As is my philosophy in most of life, I think moderation is key. I don’t expect most people to only sew sustainably sourced secondhand fabric or never throw a scrap away. What I do think is that being conscious of your choices and choosing more environmentally friendly options when you can helps. And bonus – the more sustainable choices are often less expensive, which is not the case for every environmentally friendly choice.
5 Tips for Sustainable Sewing
If you’d like to lessen the environmental impact of your sewing hobby, here’s a list of tips to help:
- Learn how to mend. Mending allows you to wear your clothes longer.
- Find fabric in re-use centers or thrift stores. I love Austin Creative ReUse in my area.
- Use old clothing as your fabric. This can be your own old clothing, or clothing from thrift stores. Upcycling clothing into new things keeps that fabric out of the landfill longer.
- Check out antique stores and estate sales for fabric and notions. Make sure to consider textiles like tablecloths and sheets and what they can be made into.
- Use up your scraps. Fabric scraps can be made into reusable “paper” towels, makeup remover wipes, quilts, small accessories, etc.
I talk more about the points above in the video below, which you can also watch on YouTube here, and show examples of some of the projects on this site that are more sustainably sourced and made.
Projects shown in the video above:
How to mend jeans by hand
Sew pajamas top from sheets
Sew pajama bottoms from sheets
Tablecloth skirt
Reusable “paper” towels
Sabrina
Another environmentally friendly tip is to switch to cotton thread instead of polyester, as the former is biodegradable whereas the latter is not!
Louise
Thank you! I am going to go through the tablecloths from mom-in-laws estate and spend some social distance time making myself some PJ’s. Also, it’s easy to use the quiet time as you sew to remember and give thanks. Thanks again for sharing with us. You’re keeping us oldies up to date with the new and creative things. Hugs and safe keeping to everyone.
Gwen
This is my favorite stash to sew from, so much that I had to delete the book of a comment I wrote! When I was sewing to sell, the items that I made and labeled what they formerly were, got the most attention and the highest sales, online and face to face. Granted, I had fun with the descriptions and often wrote an entire story behind the whim and how the fabric probably had been used by the former owners. (Describing the outfit of the hound mod newlywed that owned the (now) mid century hand-me-down tablecloth from her mom, for example)
As with most environmentally conscious acts, if one thinks about the story of old versus new, where it’s been and where it’s going-it becomes and adventure and not an extra chore. Then again, I’m one of those granola/eco-friendly/neuvo-hippie people from California…
Anne Traver
I have been using thrift shop clothing, barely worn t-shirts & other knit fabrics that I wash in the hottest water I have, & dry on the highest heat setting on my dryer before I use them. If they do not come thru that in an acceptable manner, I do not use them. But if they do, I have made everything from quilts, to clothing for newborn babies, toddler & young children thru size 5, & donated the clothing to our local Mom Center.
I am a retired Home Ec teacher & have been sewing since I was 11. I have used some of your free patterns & so thankful for them!
Anne Thevenot
I teach sewing to homeschool and elementary school students, teens and Adults. We use all cuttings for stuffings (pillows, stuffed animals, etc.) and we use larger scraps for making little useful items, like crazy quilts, scrunchies, bags, purses, trim on clothing, even whole garments can be made from scraps (we have a lot of them). We call it ‘free sewing’. It’s really fun. You will surprise yourself at how creative you can be.
Alex
A good use for scraps is also filling up toys and pillows.
Sewmygawsh
I often wonder how previous generations managed when disposable income could be low and resources scarce (e.g. Great Depression, WWII), and research has led me to repurposing and I’ve become obsessed! I use denim as interfacing in hats and bags, sew tiny fabrics together to make new fabric and love using sheets and quilt covers to make shopping bags, oven mitts and scrap quilts.