I Made a Dress from Yard Sale Fabric
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I started sewing this dress a year ago, but as it is the most complex thing I've ever sewn, I stopped out of frustration, several times, and then finally finished it up this winter.
My mom got me the fabric from a yard sale, which makes me super happy, because it's scrap leftovers that most people would typically just throw into the trash. And this particular piece of scrap was more than enough for me to sew an entire dress out of.
I looked online, and I saw that annually, around the world, the fashion industry produces about 92 million tons of textile waste. Most of this is either incinerated or it ends up in landfills. But even home sewing produces quite a bit of waste, if scraps aren't saved and used, or sold or given away to others to put to use.
I always save my scraps and use them in other projects, or to mend torn or holey clothing.
Our world has become a place where the majority of people are consumers, instead of creators, so practices like these aren't commonplace like they used to be. And because of that, people have grown used to categorizing perfectly useful materials as trash, and simply discarding them.
I'm a creator though. I know how to sew and to build and repair things, and when I don't know how to do something, I can almost always find a tutorial online to teach me. Because of this, I see potential where many others see trash.
And I really wish more people would start shifting their perspectives to see all the potential that I see. Our beautiful planet really needs it.
Hi, I’m Kristen!
I envision a world where you and I rediscover what it is to be human, through connection with ourselves, each other and the natural world around us.