The greenest option ever . . .
When recycled textiles are used, the burden on the environment is negligible. No fertilisers or pesticides are needed. No harmful dyes are used. The enormous amounts of water involved in processing new textiles are replaced by the very modest amounts required to launder them. No child labour is exploited. No air-miles or container ships are involved. The greatest environmental burden Make Do and Mend textiles incur is when you drive them home to your house (Rye has a train service which travels through very picturesque countryside. You can connect with it at Ashford, a rapid journey from St Pancras, and then enjoy chugging sedately across the fields of Romney Marsh, watching plovers, hares and the occasional Marsh Harrier).
The textiles used in my designs are laundered by solar power. Ecover products are used, and where bleaching is occasionally required, chlorine is never used. Traditional laundry starch (based on corn flour) gives added stiffness when needed. The use of any other products is kept to an absolute minimum. Once clean, they are line-dried in the open air. Then they are hand-cut to original patterns, sewn either by hand or by solar power, and traditionally hand pressed by solar power too.
The textiles used in my designs are laundered by solar power. Ecover products are used, and where bleaching is occasionally required, chlorine is never used. Traditional laundry starch (based on corn flour) gives added stiffness when needed. The use of any other products is kept to an absolute minimum. Once clean, they are line-dried in the open air. Then they are hand-cut to original patterns, sewn either by hand or by solar power, and traditionally hand pressed by solar power too.
And then we come to labour. Ah. No-one could claim that the labour in producing 'Make Do and Mend' designs is well-paid. How could it be, when you pay so little for a unique one-off item, designed from scratch using the unique vintage fabrics in the best possible way? Fortunately, 'Make Do and Mend' does not employ dozens of exploited grannies as outworkers - just me. My needs are modest and my pay is small. So you don't need to pay inflated metropolitan prices. Enjoy the guilt-free bargain; your inexpensive Make Do and Mend treat is doing it's tiny bit to save the planet.