The Great British sewing bee and other shows have helped to revive the skill of making and mending your clothes. A significant impact on our environment is fast fashion and the wastage from ever-changing fashions. One in four (25%) choose not to mend clothes because ‘it’s easier just to buy something new’ while only a third of the UK (36%) repair their clothes when they break.
I remember my mother and grandmother mending shirts and small holes in dresses as a child. Clothes were treated with respect and not as rubbish to be thrown away at the slightest rip. I also remember receiving hand-me-downs from my cousins and other family members, these would then be fixed to fit or altered so I could fit comfortably. Mending clothes is a huge part of slowing down the fast fashion cycle. Instead of throwing shirts away because you lost a button you could resew the button on, or stitch up a hole that has formed.
Sewing baskets were once a common sight in the house, filled with great colours and hidden treasures. I loved looking through my mother's sewing basket and finding all the buttons of various outfits. There are some key items that every sewing basket needs,:-
Common threads ( black, white, cream, and red)
Pins
Needle
Measuring tape
Scissors
Unpicker
Basic buttons ( small black and white ones)
Needle threader
Pincushions
Just having the basics will allow you to mend any repairs needed. A third of Brits (33%) admit they wouldn’t know how to sew a button back on if it fell off. With the tools, it just takes some know-how. Youtube and Pinterest are wonderful for teaching people the basic skills of sewing. Plus anything can be made into a sewing basket, I have an old sewing basket that I inherited from a family member. These small baskets have great power as they can mend and slow down the rate of fast fashion.
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