There are thousands of books out there on clothes and sewing. Over the years we have collected lots of them, but these books that are not the usual type of sewing book, they focus the environmental impacts of our clothing purchases as well as the repair and remaking of clothes and some other clothing related subjects where there is an overlap between clothing and sustainability. The top two books revolutionised my thinking about clothing and the environment!
Loved Clothing Lasts – Orsola de Castro – Penguin Random House (UK) 2021 ISBN 978 0 241 46115 0 – If you are interested in clothing issues like fast fashion, clothing repair, maintence and cleaning and sustainable fashion, this book is for you! The book talks about mending being a revolutionary act and why it is a good thing as well as a number of clothes mending in language simple, so that even an idiot like me can understand. When to clean and not to clean clothes is discussed as well as cleaning and stain removal processes. Also covered is various fabrics and yarns, their environmental consequences and how to care for them. Then the book talks about environmental and social justice issues with our current clothing system and how they may be addressed. I read the book cover to cover and love it, it really opened my eyes, along with The Conscious Closet below. Some black and white photos and line drawings.
The Conscious Closet – Elizabeth L. Cline – Plume (US) 2019 ISBN 978 1 524 74430 4 – Like Loved Clothing Lasts above this book changed the way I look at clothing and is well worth adding to your library. Part one of the book covers why you should put together a sustainable clothing wardrobe that suits your style, and put together a clothing re-use plan and a number of ways we can correct the fast fashion cycle. Part two gives the details on setting up your sustainable wardrobe using what you have and art three covers buying extra clothing sustainably to complete your wardrobe. Part Four (titled ‘The Sustainable Fashion Handbook’ covers fabrics, their environmental issues and how to obtain them sustainably and which clothing brands are ethical and sustainable. Part five details how to care for your clothes to make them last including techniques for cleaning and mending to get the most out of them. Part six covers the fashion revolution, ideas and techniques to help solve the root cause of our fast fashion problems. Some black and white photos and line drawings.
Overdressed, The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion – Elizabeth L. Cline – Portfolio/Penguin (US) 2012 ISBN 978 1 59184 461 7 – This was in my library for some time before I read it, and I read it after reading ‘The Conscious Closet’ by the same author. In general terms this book covers the environmental and social issues with fast fashion and what we can do about it. It is USA-centric but still worth a read. The author discusses the how and why of the way the fashion industry (clothes making anyway) is now concentrated in Asia, and what that looks like from her experience. The book has no illustrations.
Kangas: 101 Uses – Jeanette Hanby & David Bygott – Ines May Publicity (KENYA) 1985 ISBN 978 99667 146 02 – This book, or booklet really, of 89 pages takes the idea, developed on the east coast of Africa in the mid-19th century of making a garment (mostly for women) from a single piece of fabric 160cm (62”) by 107cm (42”). This booklet details (as it says on the label) 101 ways that the fabric can be used as a dress, skirt, shawl, swimsuit, headpiece, cape, hood and lots of other (sometimes funny) things. The book is composed almost entirely of line drawings that how the Kanga can be configured into all these possibilities. Fascinating!)
Wear, Repair, Repurpose – Lily Fulop – The Countryman Press (US) 2020 ISBN 978 1 68268 434 4 –This is a great book on how to repair and upcycle your clothing. After an introduction covering the author’s story, fashion sustainability, donating vs recycling and slow fashion, the book is divided into three main parts. Part one gives an overview regarding mending techniques, materials and tools you may need, and fabrics. This is followed by basic sewing skills like needle threading, knot tying and hand sewing. Part two discusses mending projects, that is to say, how to carry our specific repairs like taking in a seam, hemming and patching holes, darning and Swiss darning. Part three talks about upcycling projects, things you can use worn out clothing for like making pom poms or tassels using yarn made from old T-shirts, knitting or crocheting a bag or pillow cover from the same yarn, applique or quilting. The book has lots of line drawing and colour photos.
Mending Clothes – Zera Meyer – Self Published in (AUS) 2022 ISBN 979 8 80767 900 – Chapter one talks about the basics of clothing mending including what it is, why it is important and types of mending. Chapter two covers hand sewing stitches, chapter three is a number of tips to make mending easier, chapter four covers darning, Swiss darning, pattern darning, patching and embroidery. Chapter 5 covers cloth mending projects, specifically repair of jeans using various techniques, and repairing shirts, socks and sweaters. There are a couple of weird bits - specifically a page asking the reader to give a good review on Amazon and how to do it, in two places. I also found some of the wording bit strange and difficult to understand, maybe an editor is needed. The book has quite a few black and white photos. Not a bad book, it is worth a look.
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