Sustainability - Clothing

[helwen]

When it comes to clothing, what is sustainability? Take socks for instance -- is it the socks you mend so they last a little longer? The ones that cost a little more but are made of more durable materials? The ones made of natural materials? The ones you knit yourself? The mismatched pairs of single socks (hey, at least they're the same style!) ? I haven't knitted my own socks yet, but have all the rest in the current inventory, so I guess I think the answer is "All of the Above". I almost always hang dry them too, so they last longer.

Other clothing's been a little tougher... I started to make some of my clothes a couple years ago and then stopped for various reasons. One is that I've been losing weight and a lot of the stuff I'd like to make is at least partially fitted. But happily I haven't had to buy a lot of clothing in the meantime. Partly I make do with looser fitting clothing, and recently I've been able to fit into a few pieces of older clothing that I'd held onto, but I've also gotten clothes from other people. That last bit's been a little funny this summer, as I've changed a bit more quickly in the past couple of months, so pants have been good for shorter periods of time. Glad I didn't have to buy them new! Suspenders helped the pants to work for me a little longer too :D

Most recently has been a bag of clothes from friend Barbara G in Spfld. She got a bunch from her relatives and picked out sizes she thought were worth my trying. Got 4 pairs of pants for now, although I suspect two pair will be out the door in another few months, and on to the next owner. When I return the rest of the bag to her a couple weekends from now it will include a pair of pants I wore in July, and maybe some other clothing as well.

Our town held a clothing swap in June. We couldn't go because it was the same day as Sommer Draw, but I think it's really cool that people got together to do this. Everything had to be clean and in good repair, and I expect the clothing ran the full gamut of casual to business to "Sunday best". Any leftover clothing went to Goodwill, Salvation Army or similar nonprofit. One lady I talked to beforehand was thrilled to be able to clean out her closet and planned on not bringing anything back -- her gift to herself was more space :D

I'm going to try to start sewing again soon though, at least for Fitzw -- he's a bit more stable size-wise, lol

Comments

[oakmouse]

One of the things we consider when we buy clothing is "What can we do with the fabric after the garment wears out?" So we buy socks and JM's undershirts with an eye to their use as cleaning rags after he's worn them to holes. (And really, he does. Some of his cast-off undershirts look like lacework, they're so thin and holey.) I buy pants and tops with an eye to using the fabric as quilt or rug material, or as mending fabric. Most of my pants get worn until they go to holes and my tops I'll wear until they wear out or, if my size changes, not longer fit.

Anything we stop wearing that's still usable as a garment goes to Goodwill so somebody else can wear it, but that happens less often because we both normally buy garments we expect to wear until they die. Special items like fancy dresses or suit jackets that we need to buy for special occasions get worn once in a blue moon for years and years and years, and in the meantime stored in the closet.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Yes, there's definitely some worn out clothing here too. We only need so many wrags, which is why I came up with the idea of making a kicking/punching bag. I may make more quilts down the line, but we've plenty at the moment -- the thought is there though. Also, some clothing will work for making into strips for rug weaving. Hey, what type of rugs are you thinking of? We have the loom, so likely ours would be regular woven, but I'm curious.

Yes, I have a dress I refer to as my 'go to weddings dress' -- have had it for a decade now, I think. Although now that I'm losing weight, I'm wondering if I still have a couple of other dresses in bags somewhere... I wouldn't mind another dress once in a while :)

New handmade clothing will be of good materials - wool, linen, silk. I figure most anything I make will last longer than most commercially-made clothing. I've been having fun patching a favorite pair of pants this year -- they really are getting on in years and now they're a bit large on me, but they're so comfy I'm not ready to give them up. So the most visible patches are shaped like leaves -- it's a little more work than squares but more fun. And I spotted a new hole in them a week or so ago, so I get to put a new leaf on now.

[oakmouse]

I love the idea of leaf-shaped patches. That's the kind of thing I'm thinking of in terms of using the still good fabric from worn-out garments for mending. I had more in mind the patchwork look, but leaves sound really pretty.

I plan on making the woven rag rugs using strips of rags sewn together as the weft. Our house has hardwood and linoleum floors, so throw rugs are very useful to us. The existing three which came with the house are old, worn, and stained. We'll keep using them for now, but I want to replace them over time and send these down to warm the bare cold concrete basement floors. Also, they're only in three of our seven (not counting the bathroom) rooms.

I hear you about quilts! I need to make a couple as our existing comforters, which Marian made for JM about 35 years ago, are finally getting to the point of seriously wearing out. Once those are made though, we won't need another for years. I'm thinking about whether to make more and donate them to Goodwill or a local shelter or something, because we'll keep generating usable fabric scraps.