Sew for a Change - September Results

This month's challenge was to raise awareness to what we surround ourselves with in our homes and try to change as much as possible for the better.

In this area it was tricky since we had already come a very long way here. There is virtually no bad stuff left (patting myself on the back) but I still went for a big detective hunt and the only thing I needed to change was the cling film department. I recently blogged about making my own Bee's Wraps and now, a couple of days later, I am even more in love with them. They ROCK!! I think I have earned the 10 points despite not having changed a lot. Why should I be punished for already being good, right?

The spending was not too bad either. I love striped simple tops and the ones I have are pretty much worn out so I decided to treat myself to 2 yards of striped fabric for new tops. The only bad thing was that I didn't find anything organic. But still, this was the first month in a long time where I actually come out on the plus - yay!!!

Now - only 2 more star challenges left of this whole year!! Hang in there, people, we are almost there!

The coolest thing EVER - Bee's Wraps!!!

As this month's challenge is about detoxing my home, and I have done almost all I can think of before - I have been searching long and hard to improve the situation even further. One thing I couldn't get my head around was how to get rid of cling film. Although I try to use glass containers for most things, sometimes the convenience of that plastic is just too great.

But, stubborn to find a solution for this, I have indeed been googling my behind off and I came across the absolutely GENIUS Bee's Wraps!! They are simply cotton sheets covered with bee's wax and jojoba oil and the heat from your hands will allow them to form around any item you wish to wrap. And present a perfect food preserving environment! And are reusable again and again and again!

The not so genius thing was the price. Dead expensive if you ask me. There must be a way of making them myself! Again, google was my friend and I found other people that had already come to the same conclusion and found away of making their own!

So, to the works!!!

1) I cut some leftover cotton sheets that had been washed many times. I did a range of sizes since I want to have options :)

2) I put organic bee's wax granulate (that I happened to have around from making facial creams) on top of it and then shoved it in the oven on low temperature until it melted and the cotton had soaked up all the wax.

Out and let dry - it literally takes less than a minute - and they are ready to use. And they cost me close to nothing. THAT, I say, is genius!!!

I just love when things are both clever AND pretty. That brings me sick amount of satisfaction.

Star challenge #8 - The HOME DETOX month!

This month we will focus our energy towards the environment of our homes and making it a less toxic one in which to sew ;) More and more research prove chemical substances to be the most likely armageddon of mankind. And this worries me. The human species has already severe problems in the reproduction department and to be honest, we can be as much eco friendly as we like, but if we aren't able to reproduce in a couple of generations it is game over anyway. We need to protect or children in particular! They are exposed to multiple times more chemical substances every day than we were, growing up in the 70s (smoking mothers during pregnancy included). Of all the challenges so far, this is my personal favourite.

This month's challenge is to raise awareness to what we surround ourselves with in our homes and try to change as much as possible for the better.

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Your 3 improvement areas of the month:

Plastic is not fantastic 

Learn what the different plastic numbers 1-7 mean and go through your home and find+replace the worst ones. Eg plastic shower curtains, food containers, kids toys (throw away all plastic toys made before 2007 and all plastic toys made outside EU), vinyl prints on clothes etc.  

Avoid poisoning your food 

Make a kitchen inventory and replace teflon/non-stick coated pots, pans and trays. Replace cooking utensils out of plastic with wood or metal. Especially if they are made of black plastic or melamine. The old ones can be used for something else than cooking. Plant flowers in them, dig in the garden or whatever - but avoid mixing plastic+heat+food. Try to avoid using plastic bags for food storage; cotton bags, glas jars or bread bins go a long way. Avoid buying food in metal tins (they have a plastic coating with BPA on the inside). Maybe even try to avoid getting your fruit and vege in plastic bags? Buy reusable fabric "produce bags" or sew your own.

Sit nicely 

If you are buying new furniture, be a difficult customer and demand information regarding flame retardants (shall be avoided at any cost!). They are impossible to break down and they are everywhere in the environment now, in the fish in the deep sea and in newborn babies to name a few. Be suspicious of most soft furniture, even mattresses. This is actually an area where buying second hand/vintage is not always best. Many of the really scary flame retardants from back in the day are now banned. 

If you manage this, you'll receive a star and 10 points.

Good luck!

Note! If you are a newcomer who wishes to jump on board the Sew for a change challenge, then you'll start with 40 points instead of 75. Check out all the rules here. Welcome!!!

Sew for a change - August results

This month's challenge was to make 3 improvements to the way you handle recycling!

The three things I decided to do:

1. Talking with the kids about recycling and up-cycling and helping them make stuff out of worn out clothes:

My ten year old needed shorts - a pair of unfitting jeans were cropped to make these:

Then my 7 year old wanted to make a pencil case of the left overs from the jeans and a recycled zipper.

My ten year old were then feeling creative and made this tunic by combining things from a worn out bra, a worn out top and a scarf with holes in it, this is all her own design and doing!!!

She also made a stuffed animal (a dog) out of a worn out hoodie that she really loved and wouldn't give up for recycling.



2. Making it easier to recycle in other rooms; in particular the sewing room. Before the challenge all kinds of bits and pieces went in the same bin, making recycling hard work (nearly impossible at the end of the day. Now I have 2 bins - one for pure textile bits (to be handed in for recycling) and another one with the stuff that needs to go in the trash (such as broken needles, tape, vlieseline etc).

Ok, this pic is a bit messy but the pile of white stuff on the right side of the plastic bag is what would have kept all of the fabric scraps in the bag from being recycled. Oh my, what a waste! Really glad to have made this improvement.

3. Handing in textile for recycling: Larger pieces - given to my youngest kid's daycare to be creative with. Smaller/tiny pieces - given to Hemtex and H&M.

My original plan was to start a new compost. Our current food scraps are being picked up and turned into heat, but since we have a garden it makes more sense to keep it ourselves. We have now started such a compost at our summer house, but one at home is on the todo list.

I think I deserve 10 points.

Now to the spending side.... *cough*

1 pair of cotton trousers (6p)
1 pair of viscose trousers (6p)
1 organic cotton top (3,5p)
1 swimsuit (6p)
3 wool socks (3p)

= 24,5p spent, yikes! (which is now more than I have left....)

A freestyle top that turned out pretty well after all....

A while ago I bought some super soft and lovely organic cotton jersey in a pale lavender sort of color. I had a cowl neck top in mind and since I didn't have a pattern I thought I'd freestyle it. How hard can it be, really? Very, it turned out. At least if you do it late at night, a little stressed and sleep deprived :D

This is roughly what I had in mind:

But I didn't spend more than, say, 20 seconds before I was at it with the knife and it didn't work. Instead of a loose drapey thing I got a choker. So I tried to rescue it by making a more regular top (again without pattern) and I ended up cutting the neckline way too wide.... What on earth to do now????

At this point I got a little stressed out. The fabric was expensive and too good quality to be wasted, plus was bought abroad (i.e. no way of getting more in a flash). Gosh, now I REALLY had to switch on the upper department and do some thinking.

I decided to buy some contrasting fabric - similar colour but different texture. I found some nice woven fabric with a slight sheen to it and then I just went for it. I freestyled a new neckline and sewed it on and voilá - a GLAM top was born!!!! Pretty fine rescue if you ask me!

Learnings: Don't try to freestyle without a rough pattern when you are tired.

/Alexandra