Peak Textile?

[helwen]

Peak Textiles -- basic descriptions and links to 3 full articles on how cost and type of clothing is being affected by increase in fuel costs. Yes, I know oil is going down right now, and yet the various textile industries are having problems -- like, people are spending more on food and gas so they aren't buying lots of new clothing. And considering the quality of a lot of off-the-rack clothing these days, who can blame them?

First article is on the industry/large scale outlook (int'l). Second is on re-using older clothing to make new clothing (US featured, Orion magazine). Third is also sort of on that, with a view to reducing the amount of clothing that ends up in the dump (UK).

I've done some repairs and patching of work pants of course... around the farm things don't have to be beautiful. But I imagine some more fashionable patching and piecing could be made to work for the office and/or social scene. Meantime, L has a pair of suit pants that got damaged and I'm toying with trying to turn them into a vest... hey, the pockets are already made!

Comments

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

If you want or need specific garments, used and in good condition, let me know. It's almost rummage time.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

LOL, I think I'm all set at the moment, at least for myself -- in fact I may set some more of my clothing aside for future needs and pack it all as tightly as possible to save space, and store it them in the barn. Although no one ever wishes for it to happen, floods and fires occur, so having some extra clothing available is a good thing. I'm slowly working toward more linen and wool in the wardrobe, which is one of the reasons I'm interested in converting L's pants into a vest -- good quality dress wool!

But if you happen to see some nice sturdy suspenders -- clip or button is fine, I think L could use another set. Thanks for thinking of me :)

btw, any chance you'll be coming up for Crestfallen? Small event being held at the farm, Sept. 13.

[loosecanon.livejournal.com]

Highly unlikely, but possible. I'd like to, but may be cooking an event here.
I have suspenders put aside, just need to remember them. I have nearly worthless memory.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Figured you might be, but it was worth asking. Fall is a busy time of year...

We'll work something out :)

[harpnfiddle.livejournal.com]

I am thinking of ways to utilize "Savers" for more than just the sheets I bought there. I have used them for many things (including sleeping on at Pennsic, pattern pieces, lining for a simple item ....). Having grown up as the recipient of very many items from the Wilbraham United Church Rummage sale, I still look to used stuff occasionally. I need to make a commitment to looking for used and thinking about re-purposing before I buy new. Although you can't beat $2 sheets! Some were 100% cotton!

[helwen.livejournal.com]

That's a store, right? In a strip mall? I think I went to it once, years ago. They had a lot of silk blouses there and my friend Katie K and I bought a bunch of them. I hate floppy/fold-down collars for the most part, but I've been working on converting them to short stand-up/mandarin collars. They were $3-6 each, so an excellent buy.

Hard to beat $2 sheets though! And yeah, rummage sales can sometimes have some real gems :) The craft fairs can too, on occasion. One year I got some iron hooks and such very inexpensively at a church fair. They were a bit under-priced and even so some people seemed to thing they were too expensive -- their loss!