Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Make It Yourself March, Week 2: Sustainable Making

This week's MIY March subjects are Sharing and Caring:
• Sustainable sewing tips
• Material sourcing
• Our most treasured textiles

I'm going to reminisce on some of my own workshop experiences that fall in the "sustainable" category. These also might give you some ideas for sourcing fabrics, fibers, and even art materials.
The boldface type will link to individual posts.

Slow Clothing and Mending at #CAFAM July 24, 2017
I mentioned Ruth Katzenstein Souza in the previous post. She is the goddess of sustainable practice and mending.
Read her "Original Call to Mending" from 2014!
Seeing these amulets, formed from saved bits of thread ends, fabric scraps, etc sparked my imagination.
[image source]

That time I learned how to make "yarn" from teeshirts.
Which led to turning my old jeans into an art piece (still a WIP)
And my return to weaving.

Fiber Workshop with Carrie Burckle at Otis (no posts!) June, 2018
Experimented with various upcycling techniques, including
• Paper bags into yarn (difficult):
• Weaving warp ends that Carrie collected from Diedrek Bracken's projects that he worked on at Cal State Long Beach upcycled into my own off-loom weaving:
Original cotton, Diedrick dyed it pink.
Mock ikat with poured bits of red dye
Still sewing the squares together.
Note to self: I really need to write up a post or two about that workshop! Even if I have to predate it to get in onto the blog chronologically. 

Upcycling = lots of fun possibilities!