#Sustainable Crafting

[fantasticfibers]

[kaasi-legacy-designs]

Sewing on buttons while troubleshooting some 20+ year old computers.

[handymasc]

Currently working on a drowned river witch costume for the Ren faire. So far I only had to buy the dye new: the dresses are made from old curtains, a scrap of fabric left over from another project, and wool that was gifted to me by someone who wasn’t using it. We love saving up ‘waste’ to make new stuff from here!

[dresshistorynerd]

The Morrisian case against fast fashion

Today I discovered that H&M made a William Morris collection some years ago. The heath death of the universe can't come quickly enough. We can stop now. Satire is dead and we killed her.

It's not just the whole concept of H&M using William Morris' designs for their fast fashion which is insanity inducing, but also the critical response it garnered. Like sure, people did realize this is insane and there was a lot of think pieces about it at the time, but I read several of them and they all seem to still miss the point in spectacular way.

The basic premise of these think pieces go along the lines of: "Would William Morris spin in his grave with a speed of light because of the H&M collection of his designs? A difficult question indeed. William Morris was a complicated man. He wanted art to be affordable to everyone. Isn't H&M affordable? That kinda fits. Though probably he would have some concerns about H&M's practices."

On the surface - yes - but like in reality - fuck no. There's no nuance in this particular issue. He talked about many times what he though of the H&Ms of his time, the retailers selling poor quality industrially produced "fashionable" bullshit. We know exactly what he would have thought of H&M. Here's couple of quotes from his 1884 lecture "Art and Socialism", which makes it very clear.

"It would be an instructive day's work for any one of us who is strong enough to walk through two or three of the principal streets of London on a week-day, and take accurate note of everything in the shop windows which is embarrassing or superfluous to the daily life of a serious man. Nay, the most of these things no one, serious or unserious, wants at all; only a foolish habit makes even the lightest-minded of us suppose that he wants them, and to many people even of those who buy them they are obvious encumbrances to real work, thought and pleasure. But I beg you to think of the enormous mass of men who are occupied with this miserable trumpery, from the engineers who have had to make the machines for making them, down to the hapless clerks who sit day-long year after year in the horrible dens wherein the wholesale exchange of them is transacted, and the shopmen, who not daring to call their souls their own, retail them amidst numberless insults which they must not resent, to the idle public which doesn't want them but buys them to be bored by them and sick to death of them."

He is describing the birth of consumerism, which was taking form during his lifetime in the late Victorian Era, which fast fashion is the extreme logical conclusion of, and he fucking hated it. He specifically railed against endless consumerist products, which H&M is the perfect representation of. It was definitely not the art and beauty he believed everyone required and deserved. He makes the distinction often.

"Now if we are to have popular Art, or indeed Art of any kind, we must at once and for all be done with this luxury; it is the supplanter, the changeling of Art; so much so that by those who know of nothing better it has even been taken for Art, the divine solace of human labour, the romance of each day's hard practice of the difficult art of living."

"And here furthermore is at least a little sign whereby to distinguish between a rag of fashion and a work of Art: whereas the toys of fashion when the first gloss is worn off them do become obviously worthless even to the frivolous—a work of Art, be it ever so humble, is long lived; we never tire of it; as long as a scrap hangs together it is valuable and instructive to each new generation. All works of Art in short have the property of becoming venerable amidst decay: and reason good, for from the first there was a soul in them, the thought of man, which will be visible in them so long as the body exists in which they were implanted."

When he thought of popular Art he thought of the craftsmanship of the common people. The art people have made from useful everyday objects with skillful handicrafts. This is what he means by "divine solace of human labour". It's not reverence of Puritanical work ethic, on the contrary, it's the reverence of creation, of the earnest joy people feel when they get to express themselves through their creative pursuits. He certainly didn't believe in work for work's sake, work needed to be worthwhile and enjoyable. He summarized his own position on what labour should be thusly:

"It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should he done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious."

He urged his middle class audience to reject consumerism (the lecture was for a very much middle class atheist society):

"For I say again that in buying these things: 'Tis the lives of men you buy! Will you from mere folly and thoughtlessness make yourselves partakers of the guilt of those who compel their fellow men to labour uselessly?"

I think it's glaringly obvious H&M and fast fashion in general is what he would consider luxury. Rags of fashion that are just churned out and discarded without thought and produced by compelling people to labour uselessly. It's not popular art that's made by workers and craftsmen, who are able to express themselves through it. There's no agency for the abused workers in H&M's sweatshops, they are not expressing their joy of creation, they are simply labouring uselessly.

Morris didn't shame workers for buying affortable things even if they weren't Art with big A, because that's the problem he despised the whole economic system for, for taking away the popular Art from people, making it inaccessible, and selling back mass produced products with very little practical or aesthetic value. So I don't think he would have problem with people who can only afford fast fashion today. They are the victims of capitalism too, because Art has been taken away from them. But the idea that some of these think pieces had that perhaps the H&M's Morris collection can be good actually if you squint, that H&M has the capacity to bring the art and beauty Morris advocated for for the people, is level of stupidity that's hard to express in words.

Morris didn't believe anything made with exploited labour could be truly beautiful, truly art. In his 1879 lecture "The Art of the People" he put it like this:

"That thing which I understand by real art is the expression by man of his pleasure in labour."

The way I understand this, is that art is communication. Through it we communicate feelings, ideas and thoughts, that is it's purpose. So for that communication to work, for it to be imbued with message, the person making it needs to feel passion and love for it's creation. How can there be love and passion if the hands making the garment belong to a tired exploited worker who has no agency what so ever in their work and can only think about survival to the next day?

Beyond the fundamental exploitativeness of H&M and fast fashion, this collection would still get zero points on aesthetic values from Morris even with his own designs. Because the work itself was such an important part of art for Morris, good design was nothing without good craftsmanship. Good design in his mind was always relative and dependent on it's purpose.

"For everything made by man’s hands has a form, which must be either beautiful or ugly; beautiful if it is in accord with Nature, and helps her; ugly if it is discordant with Nature, and thwarts her; it cannot be indifferent." (The Lesser Arts, 1877)

Here when he says nature, he means the nature of the thing that is made - basically it's purpose and function - and the nature of the materials it's made from. Basically, the design must always be made to bring out the function of the art and the qualities of the material it's made from, not fight against them. This is because he believed handicrafts were uniquely suitable for expressing the love of creation, therefore superior labour, and to really bring out the qualities of the craftsmanship and enjoy the creative process, the design should be suitable for that craft. The other side, which was the joy of using and experiencing art, required the craft to be selected for the suitable purpose. Using poorly functioning furniture for example is not very enjoyable, nor is using clothing that's made from materials that are not suitable for the climactic conditions it's supposed to be used in.

H&M of course utterly fails in this. They use Morris' designs in fully unsuitable ways. They print patterns made for example for wall papers on poor quality fabrics with synthetics dyes they weren't made for. This line from one blog post I came across really got me: "Therefore, without cheapening the artistic value of Morris’ designs, H&M’s collection offers an unparalleled potential for accessibility to them." No. Fuck no. They do in fact cheapen Morris' designs in every single way possible. Literally this is atrocious.

Despite the popular depiction, Morris wasn't in fact against industrial machinery or industrial art even, or at least he wasn't once his views on art and politics matured. He did think technology was useful, but he thought the people should use industrial methods for the benefit of all, not be enslaved by the industrial machine.

"I have spoken of machinery being used freely for releasing people from the more mechanical and repulsive part of necessary labour; and I know that to some cultivated people, people of the artistic turn of mind, machinery is particularly distasteful, and they will be apt to say you will never get your surroundings pleasant so long as you are surrounded by machinery. I don't quite admit that; it is the allowing machines to be our masters and not our servants that so injures the beauty of life nowadays. In other words, it is the token of the terrible crime we have fallen into of using our control of the powers of Nature for the purpose of enslaving people, we care less meantime of how much happiness we rob their lives of." ("How we live and how we might live", 1887)

However, he thought that the designer should approach it the way they approached any craft, by designing for the strengths of the machine work.

"But if you have to design for machine-work, at least let your design show clearly what it is. Make it mechanical with a vengeance, at the same time as simple at possible. Don't try, for instance, to make a printed plate look like a hand-painted one: make it something which no one would try to do if he were painting by hand..." ("Art and the Beauty of the Earth", 1881)

He did use some machinery for fabric and wall paper printing, but he was very intentional about their use. Still his designs weren't made for the type of methods these modern H&M machinery uses and he did for example use natural dyes. Particularly insulting is that some of the H&M clothes are made from viscose, rayon made with viscose method. Viscose method is extremely toxic and is known to cause long term health consequences for the workers and the people in surrounding areas. This has been well proven knowledge for ages. William Morris' wall paper factory in the beginning used the typical method used at the time which involved arsenic, but once he learned this could pose risks for the workers, he changed the method. Many of the new synthetic dyes were toxic at the time, which is the major reason he so favoured natural dyes, known to not cause health issues for workers or pollute the environment.

The question many of these think pieces about the H&M Morris collection posed was, would Morris disapprove and should we care? The first part of that is very easy to answer. Yes. Of course Morris would disapprove. He is currently powering the whole of British Isles with purely the kinetic energy his grave-spinning produces. Should we care though? If you care about Morris' art, if you want to see more of that kind of art in this world, you should care. Morris' art is not about the superficial qualities. Copying his designs and aesthetics and styles, will only lead to hollow imitations, that are exactly what he described the rags of fashion to be; as the shininess of novelty wears off they will reveal themselves to be soulless, useless and utterly empty. This collection is just that. To see more of the kind of art that makes you feel like his art makes you feel, not just something that reminds you of that feeling, you should focus more on the way the art is made and less on the specific aesthetics. If his vision of labour and art was realised, all art produced of course wouldn't be loved by every person, but all of it would be loved by someone, even if that someone was just the maker. And that would be more worthwhile than every single rag of fast fashion.

I will stop William-Morris-posting now and return to my thesis.

The full texts I quoted here:

Art and Socialism The Art of the People The Lesser Arts How We Live and How We Might Live Art and the Beauty of the Earth

[zephyrchama]

I don't think anyone in the Obey Me! cast can be trusted with going into MC's home. Especially not the brothers. They might act normal about it, if a bit giddy, but you know they have ulterior motives. They're not leaving until they get what they want.

Childhood photographs. Home videos. Old yearbooks. Baby pictures.

As soon as MC leaves the room unattended, they're making a beeline for the bookshelves. Grabbing anything that looks like an album. Hunting for any signs of a scrapbook. They probably planned a fully detailed heist before even stepping foot in the human world. A group of them will do something distracting while one of them sneaks off alone to see if there's an attic, a basement, a closet used for storage where old memories might be stored. If they can't go through all the files on a computer in time they'll just attempt to take the whole thing with them.

Will they be discovered? Probably, yeah. Will they start pleading their case and try to persuade MC to give them some old pictures? Signs point to yes.

[jasperthehatchet]

my bag 🌿⛓️🌻⚙️ more details in the image ID and more pics below

I found a small plain black leather backpack at the thrift store for $6 and made it my own :) I used silver sharpie for the swirls and made the buttons all myself with the exception of the metal ones

[Image ID: a small black leather backpack covered in patches, buttons, safety pins, studs and silver and metalic green spirals in the spaces with no patches. There are four patches on the front, an orange patch with a white trans rights symbol sewn on with white thread, and a circular green patch with a simplistic sun and moon drawin on it in black (a mirrormask patch) sewn on with black thread. And on the front pocket on the bottom, theres a dark green band patch with white lettering that says "she past away" sewn on with white thread and a black patch next to it with a red anarchy symbol sewn on the bag with red thread. There are silver spike studs lining the edges of the bag along the zipper and on the front pocket as well as soda tabs sewn onto the front pocket flap with off-white thread. And on both sides of the pocket there are safety pins decorating the empty space next to it. There are four pins on the side of the bag, a light green and white spiral pin, a light green and white "eat the rich" pin, and a metal fairy pin on the top half, and theres a metal frog with an umbrella pin on the front pocket in-between the two patches. Theres also a small orange carabiner on the pocket zipper.

On the left side of the bag, there is a patch on the bottom where a side pocket would normally be. An off-white band patch that says "bauhaus" in black lettering and it's sewn on with black thread, and there are silver spirals around it filling the space. There are some areas I left blank to make the swirls/spirals look like they're hanging down or growing up the bag like vines. There's a horizontal seam above all this that makes the area look like a pocket, and above this seam there's a metal pin with a sun, moon and stars on it.

The right side of the bag, there's no patch where a pocket should be, I instead filled this space with some spirals and more handmade bottle cap buttons. Two buttons, a larger type o negative band button that's black with white thorny vines, and a smaller red band button that says "doom scroll" on it in off-white lettering. Above the seam on this side I drew a bunch of silver spirals that look like they are growing out from behind the seam.

All thread mentioned in this post is embroidery thread, and some groups of spirals drawn on the bag are metallic green. End ID]

Here's the top of the bag as well as the straps that hang down

[Image ID: the bag has a rounded arch shape, and across the top of the leather I drew a cluster of green spirals in between the silver spirals I drew on the sides. There are some blank spots to avoid making the bag look busier than it already is. The loop at the top for hanging the bag is embroidered with a green leafy vine pattern. The same pattern is embroidered on the right strap that hangs down from the bottom of the bag, and on the right one, a gray barbed wire pattern is embroidered. I plan on sewing some more soda tabs onto the top of the bag at some point for the sake of adding more shiny things and also fill up some of that space I mentioned because while I don't want the bag to be too busy, I think the blank space i left on the top is a little too much blank space. End ID]

[scribblesandknots]

10. Pincushions!

11. Ornaments or other decorations

12. Embroidery practice

13. Smol bags for smol treasures

14. Fabric baskets

15. A thread trashcan/trashbag (Google for tutorials, I have one that has a stiff ring and a stiff bottom and then collapses into a disc for storage)

16. Use really small bits as stuffing for stuffed animals or whatever else

17. Add contrast pockets or pocket linings to your clothes

Some ideas for using up those scraps

Crumb quilts - just make a bunch of blocks, set them aside with no plans, and at a later date join them together in rows to see what happens. It may result in a very large scrap quilt

Crazy quilting - seriously, go absolutely bonkers. Look up crazy quilts and see what madness can be made.

Dear Jane quilt - the most impressive sampler quilt made with small blocks and learning new techniques as you go.

Coasters, hot pads, and mug rugs - I use crumb and crazy quilting to make a lot if my coasters and mug rugs, never following a pattern and just making it up as I go.

Pins and magnets - I make little 1.5x1.5 inch foundation paper piecing quilt blocks and turn them into magnets and pins.

Scrap rag dolls - instead of one fabric for making the body, sew a bunch together and them cut the finished blocks to the shape and size needed for the rag doll. Follow up with making clothes for the dolls, and use up those scraps.

Mending/darning - visible repairable to clothing can look really cool, and those patches of scrap fabric add a little something to the clothing. Oh, and you save lots of money and throw away fewer clothes.

Hair decorations - scrunchies, head bands, whatever. Look up tutorials. You can make some AMAZING things!

Quilted clothes - I've seen quilt jackets, and they look AWESOME. Now imagine making all sorts of clothes with quilt blocks. Just make sure you line then so the seams don't feel funky against the skin.

Reblog to share any suggestions you may have.

[thedimelion]

The results will be a unique and slightly rustic flag. In general, I want people to be aware of their impact when it comes to buying textiles, and that there is alternatives when wanting new clothing or similarities.

[froggyforest]

The top is pretty much done. I may add more blank patches in the future

[queer-ecopunk]

After:

Before:

Fuck tiny pockets!! I finally got around to extending the pockets on these corduroy pants I thrifted over a month ago! My handsewing looks like shit but they're functional

[belligerentbagel]

suffuse

[kaasi-legacy-designs]

More Crazy Quilt stitching to do.

[thackeroy]

This project...oh boy this project. So. I hate the yarn I used, it was an odd cotton yarn and my fingers did NOT like the texture of it, it almost felt like knitting with cotton wool which I also do not enjoy the texture of and makes me want to crawl out of my skin suit. But, despite my obvious dislike of touching this yarn, I do love this project because of what it is.

I did not make this as a wearable scarf, my point in making this was more as a teaching tool, as a physical and visible example of climate change. Every four rows, (every two garter bumps?) is representative of one year. The colours, starting with the blue, represent the average global temperature starting from 1922 all the way to 2021.

[ninamation]

Sweater collar mend

Thrifted this sweater for $3 and immediately ripped the back of the collar when I washed it. There are probably better and prettier ways to mend this, but I just ironed on some interfacing and secured it with a few stitches.

Current works in progress:

Tons of origami roses for the wedding

Make up bags for my bridesmaids

Painting a thrifted coat hook with folk art inspired designs

Knitting a hat for my fiancé

Lots of mends for other people that I put off

[kvroii-arts]

I finished sewing my second sealskin capelet!

As well as dark green dyed sealskin, it has a rabbit fur lining and trim, as well as an arctic fox tail as the collar. The strap is genuine leather and adorned with a mother of pearl button.

It is entirely sewn by hand.

[jasperthehatchet]

Made more bracelets 🌿🧷🌿

Working on embroidered ones atm

[Image ID: 5 images of hand stitched fabric cuffs with studs and spikes. They are various sizes and all adjustable. The first one is made from the collar of a blue and white flannel shirt and it has messy frayed edges and 0.75 inch long spikes. The 2nd bracelet is made of the sleeve cuff of a light green shirt with cleaner edges and 1 inch long spikes. The third cuff is made of the sleeve cuff of a black and white flannel shirt with 1 inch long spikes and one row of black and white checkerboard pattern ribbon stitched along both sides of the row of spikes. The next two sleeve cuff bracelets have the same design, but one is dark red with smaller 1 centimeter spikes and the last one is dark purple with studs and no spikes. All checkerboard cuffs are my widest ones. On the bracelets with the checkerboard ribbon, I used white thread, but colored in the stitches over the black squares with a sharpie so it doesn't distract from the already busy pattern.

End ID]