St Mary Redcliffe Parish Magazine February/March 2020

WHY DON’T WE MEND, patch
or alter clothes now? As fast
fashion has taken a grip on the
high street it seems our desire to
treasure clothes has declined.
Mending skills used to be handed
down from mother to daughter — I
remember my mother darning socks,
patching trousers and turning sheets
from side to middle. But how many of
us now have these or similar skills?
In the last 10 years the Slow Movement
has affected how we feel about our
clothes. There’s been a resurgence
in people knitting their own jumpers
and socks, making their own clothes
and upcycling unwanted ones. There
have been knitting groups and slow
stitch groups starting all over the
world — people knitting or stitching
together, enjoying refreshments and
slowing their pace of life.
It’s been shown that the slow pace of
hand stitch can calm the mind — with
its in-and-out motion, stitching mirrors
breathing. The process of mending a
loved piece of clothing helps you
remember why you bought or made
it, and deepens your regard for it.
With the rediscovery of mending,
rather than making an invisible mend,
make it a decorative feature of your
— DON’T DITCH IT STITCH IT!
LIZ HEWITT; LENT ECO TEAM
well-loved jumper, and show how
much you treasure it. With this in mind
I’m starting Don’t Ditch It, Stitch It
mending sessions in church on Friday
mornings, from 10am to midday at the
Coffee Club. The sessions start on 7
February. I’ll also be running sessions
at the Eco Fair on Saturday 28 March,
and at Faithspace on 17 March.
So come and learn mending and
darning skills — darn the moth holes
in your favourite jumper, patch those
jeans or make a bag out of that wool
jumper you accidently shrank in the
wash. And I’ll also be showing you how
to make a patchwork memory quilt
from treasured fabrics or clothing.
If you have mending skills you could
share, please come along too. Enjoy a
cup of coffee and a piece of cake and
make new friends while stitching!
AT A GLANCE
Don’t Ditch It Stitch It
Mending cafés:
In church from 7 February
(Fridays 10am–12 noon)
Faithspace 17 March
Eco Fair 28 March
— Liz Hewitt
SMR Eco Team
DON’T DITCH IT TREASURE IT! [RECYCLING INFO SHEET]
SMR Eco Team Info Sheet
Liz Hewitt | Recycling Clothes
DID YOU KNOW that according
to the waste charity Wrap*
more than 300,000 tonnes of used
clothing (worth £12.5 billion) goes
to landfill in the UK every year?
It said that 5% of the UK’s total annual
carbon and water waste comes from
clothing alone. Research shows that
on average each person in the UK puts
8 items of clothing in the bin every year.
More than half of those asked said
that the items were perfectly wearable
and that they hadn’t thought to donate
them to family, friends or charity.
After the Second World War people
regularly made their own clothes,
mended and reused clothing, or
passed it on to family or friends. It
was common to “make do and mend”*
As clothing has become cheaper and
cheaper there has been less incentive
to do so. Our culture has shifted to one
where we simply dispose of unwanted
clothes. Today there are more impulse
purchases made, and most households
have items in their wardrobes
that have never been worn. Fifty percent
of people surveyed didn’t think
they could recycle dirty or worn out
garments, and others didn’t know that
clothing can be recycled. So what can
we do? Read on...
DON’T... don’t put wearable clothes in
the bin as they will end up in landfill.
DO...
• Donate unwanted wearable clothes
to charity shops, family or friends.
• Donate damaged clothes: most
charity shops take them — they sell
them on to companies who turn them
into rags, or shred them to make yarn,
paper, insulation or furniture stuffing.
• Swap new and old: some clothes
shops now provide recycling bins, so
when buying a new item leave an old
one behind in one of their bins.
• Donate or sell: to organisations that
ship recycled clothing to Africa or India,
where it is used to create employment
both in recycling and in shredding to
make yarn, paper and insulation.
• Buy second-hand or vintage: find
bargains online and in charity shops.
• Consider the quality of your clothes:
if possible spend more on quality
items that will last, and less on cheaper,
low quality items that won’t.
• Take the Slow Fashion Challenge:
a growing number of people are trying
not to buy new clothes and instead are
buying second-hand, or altering clothes
they already have. Why not try it?
• Treasure your clothes: Remember
that people have worked hard to create
them; that you loved an item enough to
buy it and have enjoyed wearing it — so
if you suddenly find a tear or a hole . . .
darn it or patch it — don’t ditch it.
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