I have now finished ‘secondhand September’ (more about this in the post here) and have completed my personal challenge to wear thrifted and secondhand clothes every day that month. I’m making a distinction between ‘secondhand’ and ‘thrifted’ because of the various companies who chose to donate surplus garments to charity shops rather than discard them. A number of items I’ve bought over the last few years with high street labels in have definitely been new and un-worn (including a smart navy raincoat seen in the photo below.) To see all the September outfits go to @amanda_jane_textiles on Instagram here)
I hadn’t realised how exposed I would feel. There has been a reaction from a few people along the lines of ‘Ugh, I wouldn’t wear other people’s clothes’ when I explained what I was doing. I do understand that, but if the garments are made of natural fibres like cotton (say), washing a shirt on a hot wash and wearing it is surely not much different from sleeping between cotton sheets in a five star hotel? Like everyone else, I love to buy something (brand) new to wear. I’m tall (about 5′ 10′) and have long narrow feet (8AA UK size). This means that I pretty much have to buy trousers and shoes new and wear them for a long time! (There are a couple of exceptions: extra long white linen trousers and some blue suede shoes, seen below).
By buying from charity shops – choosing very carefully – I can enjoy finding something new to wear, benefit the charity and help reduce the amount of discarded clothing that goes into landfill. By always avoiding man-made fibres I’m making choices that help protect the planet (reducing micro-plastics going into the sea and rejecting fabrics produced from oil which do not bio-degrade). My garments include a vintage silk polka-dot shirt (seen below).
So, then, how about using secondhand fabric for quilting? Like every other quilter in the world, I like buying new fabric (new colours! new patterns!) and I am of course a fabric designer (all my fabric designs are here). However, I don’t keep an over-large collection of fabrics and I do look out for opportunities to use secondhand fabric. It’s important not to use fabric that is worn and for that reason I don’t generally recommend using sheets for quilt-making. Quilts should be enjoyed and used for a long time, so you need the fabric to be reasonably robust at the start.
An exception to this rule was a beautiful vintage cotton sheet given to me by a friend as the backing for my entry to the ‘Sustainable Quilts’ category at the Festival of Quilts this year. The fabric was closely woven, little used and still strong, so it made an excellent back (unseen, of course, in this photo!)
The quilt top and binding were deliberately made entirely from secondhand fabric (more about this in the post here).
Several of my patterns have used secondhand fabric. For example, ‘Funky Flowers’ was inspired by a dress in a charity shop which provided the centre of each block. The pattern is here
‘Forget-me-not’ was inspired by beautiful hand-embroidered tablecloths – and actually, the print fabric using between the blocks was found (as an unused length) in a charity shop. The pattern is here
The small zip-up bags in ‘Pretty Purses’ were made with secondhand fabric. The pattern is here
Finally, the fabric used for the ‘Zip Purse’ pattern was upcycled; it began as a furnishing fabric sample. The pattern is here
Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here and quilts for sale here
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Amanda Jane Textiles 