Your periodical reminder that all clothing is hand made by humans, usually underpaid!
Polyester doesn't breathe and sheds microplastics when manufactured, worn and washed!
Cotton farming takes immense amounts of water and pesticides!
Viscose can be made from recycled fibres & waste cellulose, but it's a fairly toxic process!
Linen is more ecological to grow but expensive!
"But what do I wear then, Sini?"
The garments you already own, until they fall apart or someone else needs them!
#Sustainability #FastFashion #WorkersRights
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The #RSS spec was released 25 years ago on this day. Happy birthday, RSS! 🎂 🎉 🎁
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and this morning I successfully prepared my #tea
and then left it in the kitchen (luckily I had to go there some 10 minutes afterwards, so it didn't cool down too much)
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e stamattina son riuscita a prepararmi correttamente il #té
e poi l'ho dimenticato in cucina (per fortuna ho dovuto tornarci 10 minuti dopo e non si era raffreddato troppo)
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And I think it's time for a new #sewing update.
The shift is progressing nicely, I'm quite happy with the way the sleeves look, and it's getting close to being all assembled together.
In the weekend I've finished the market bag, which means that in category “long straight seams” I've started to work on a corded petticoat.
I've worked on it for more than one hour, and I'm about half through the first seam.
Maybe I should have done it by machine? But at least it is nice and relaxing work, even if it's going to take forever.
As for the lining of the stays… look! a squirrel!
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two rows of cording done.
3 + (5 + 1) + (4 + 1) * 2 + (3 + 1) * 2 + (2 + 1) * 2 = a positive integer number
of 3 meter long rows of (thankfully) running stitch remaining.
due cordoncini inseriti.
ora rimangono solo
3 + (5 + 1) + (4 + 1) * 2 + (3 + 1) * 2 + (2 + 1) * 2 = un intero positivo
di cuciture lunghe 3 metri (per fortuna) in punto filza.
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first section of cording finished!
it wasn't the longest one because it doesn't have a bottom seam, but it was the biggest because I've used thicker cord than I'm going to use for the next sections.
A picture from two days ago:
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Prima sezione di cordoncini finita!
Non era la più lunga da cucire, dato che non c'era una cucitura sul fondo, ma era la più grossa, dato che ho usato dei cordoncini più grandi di queli che userò nelle sezioni successive.
Foto di due giorni fa:
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Also, have I ever mentioned that I have the Italian translation of the famous Reader's Digest sewing book, and that when I write these posts I often have to go through it to find the Italian terms I need for the translation?
Yes, I have learned the basics of #sewing in Italian, but everything else in English on the internet, does it show? :D
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Ah, e ho mai detto che ho la traduzione italiana del famoso libro di cucito di Selezione dal Reader's Digest, e che quando scrivo questi post spesso lo uso per trovare i termini italiani che mi servono per la traduzione?
Sì, ho imparato le basi del #cucito in italiano, ma tutto il resto in inglese su internet, si nota? :D
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@ashneehs
Ditto for me with machines like lathes etc.
It took me a lot of time to discover that a gib is called "lardone".
https://yt.cdaut.de/watch?v=jRTHjP0sC-o
Matching Dovetails - Adding a Gib
In this video I will mill down the male side of the matching dovetail and add a gib.MrPragmaticLee | Invidious
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Avresti dovuto vedere la faccia della commessa a cui ho chiesto dell'interfaccia fusibile 😂 tutt'ora non mi ricordo come si dica in italiano
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Low Fat, No Eggs, Lasagna-ish
Posted on March 10, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:cooking
A few notes on what we had for lunch, to be able to repeat it after the summer.
There were a number of food intolerance related restrictions which meant that the traditional lasagna recipe wasn’t an option; the result still tasted good, but it was a bit softer and messier to take out of the pan and into the dishes.
On Saturday afternoon we made fresh no-egg pasta with 200 g (durum) flour and 100 g water, after about 1 hour it was divided in 6 parts and rolled to thickness #6 on the pasta machine.
Meanwhile, about 500 ml of low fat almost-ragù-like meat sauce was taken out of the freezer: this was a bit too little, 750 ml would have been better.
On Saturday evening we made a sauce with 1 l of low-fat milk and 80 g of flour, and the meat sauce was heated up.
Then everything was put in a 28 cm × 23 cm pan, with 6 layers of pasta and 7 layers of the two sauces, and left to cool down.
And on Sunday morning it was baked for 35 min in the oven at 180 °C.
With 3 people we only had about two thirds of it.
Next time I think we should try to use 400 - 500 g of flour (so that it’s easier to work by machine), 2 l of milk, 1.5 l of meat sauce and divide it into 3 pans: one to eat the next day and two to freeze (uncooked) for another day.
No pictures, because by the time I thought about writing a post we were already more than halfway through eating it :)
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/drafts/low_fat_no_eggs_lasagna_ish/index.html
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Elastic Neck Top Two: MOAR Ruffles
Posted on March 9, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear
After making my Elastic Neck TopI knew I wanted to make another one less constrained by the amount of available fabric.
I had a big cut of white cotton voile, I bought some more swimsuit elastic, and I also had a spool of n°100 sewing cotton, but then I postponed the project for a while I was working on other things.
Then FOSDEM 2024 arrived, I was going to remote it, and I was working on my Augusta Stays, but I knew that in the middle of FOSDEM I risked getting to the stage where I needed to leave the computer to try the stays on: not something really compatible with the frenetic pace of a FOSDEM weekend, even one spent at home.
I needed a backup project1, and this was perfect: I already had everything I needed, the pattern and instructions were already on my site (so I didn’t need to take pictures while working), and it was mostly a lot of straight seams, perfect while watching conference videos.
So, on the Friday before FOSDEM I cut all of the pieces, then spent three quarters of FOSDEM on the stays, and when I reached the point where I needed to stop for a fit test I started on the top.
Like the first one, everything was sewn by hand, and one week after I had started everything was assembled, except for the casings for the elastic at the neck and cuffs, which required about 10 km of sewing, and even if it was just a running stitch it made me want to reconsider my lifestyle choices a few times: there was really no reason for me not to do just those seams by machine in a few minutes.
Instead I kept sewing by hand whenever I had time for it, and on the next weekend it was ready. We had a rare day of sun during the weekend, so I wore my thermal underwear, some other layer, a scarf around my neck, and went outside with my SO to have a batch of pictures taken (those in the jeans posts, and others for a post I haven’t written yet. Have I mentioned I have a backlog?).
And then the top went into the wardrobe, and it will come out again when the weather will be a bit warmer. Or maybe it will be used under the Augusta Stays, since I don’t have a 1700 chemise yet, but that requires actually finishing them.
The pattern for this project was already online, of course, but I’ve added a picture of the casing to the relevant section, and everything is as usual #FreeSoftWear.
- yes, I could have worked on some knitting WIP, but lately I’m more in a sewing mood.↩︎
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/03/09-elastic_neck_top_two_moar_ruffles/index.html
Augusta Stays 1775-1789
The Augusta Stays are the perfect foundation to any late 18th century wardrobe. Choose between detailed instructions on how to make the stays with period accurate materials and construction methods, or equally detailed instructions on making a simpli…Scroop Patterns
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Denim Waistcoat
Posted on March 8, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear
I had finished sewing my jeans, I had a scant 50 cm of elastic denim left.
Unrelated to that, I had just finished drafting a vest with Valentina, after the Cutters’ Practical Guide to the Cutting of Ladies Garments.
A new pattern requires a (wearable) mockup. 50 cm of leftover fabric require a quick project. The decision didn’t take a lot of time.
As a mockup, I kept things easy: single layer with no lining, some edges finished with a topstitched hem and some with bias tape, and plain tape on the fronts, to give more support to the buttons and buttonholes.
I did add pockets: not real welt ones (too much effort on denim), but simple slits covered by flaps.
piece; there is a slit in the middle that has been finished with topstitching.
To do them I marked the slits, then I cut two rectangles of pocketing fabric that should have been as wide as the slit + 1.5 cm (width of the pocket) + 3 cm (allowances) and twice the sum of as tall as I wanted the pocket to be plus 1 cm (space above the slit) + 1.5 cm (allowances).
Then I put the rectangle on the right side of the denim, aligned so that the top edge was 2.5 cm above the slit, sewed 2 mm from the slit, cut, turned the pocketing to the wrong side, pressed and topstitched 2 mm from the fold to finish the slit.
other sides; it does not lay flat on the right side of the fabric because the finished slit (hidden in the picture) is pulling it.
Then I turned the pocketing back to the right side, folded it in half, sewed the side and top seams with a small allowance, pressed and turned it again to the wrong side, where I sewed the seams again to make a french seam.
And finally, a simple rectangular denim flap was topstitched to the front, covering the slits.
I wasn’t as precise as I should have been and the pockets aren’t exactly the right size, but they will do to see if I got the positions right (I think that the breast one should be a cm or so lower, the waist ones are fine), and of course they are tiny, but that’s to be expected from a waistcoat.
The other thing that wasn’t exactly as expected is the back: the pattern splits the bottom part of the back to give it “sufficient spring over the hips”. The book is probably published in 1892, but I had already found when drafting the foundation skirt that its idea of “hips” includes a bit of structure. The “enough steel to carry a book or a cup of tea” kind of structure. I should have expected a lot of spring, and indeed that’s what I got.
To fit the bottom part of the back on the limited amount of fabric I had to piece it, and I suspect that the flat felled seam in the center is helping it sticking out; I don’t think it’s exactly bad, but it is a peculiar look.
Also, I had to cut the back on the fold, rather than having a seam in the middle and the grain on a different angle.
Anyway, my next waistcoat project is going to have a linen-cotton lining and silk fashion fabric, and I’d say that the pattern is good enough that I can do a few small fixes and cut it directly in the lining, using it as a second mockup.
As for the wrinkles, there is quite a bit, but it looks something that will be solved by a bit of lightweight boning in the side seams and in the front; it will be seen in the second mockup and the finished waistcoat.
As for this one, it’s definitely going to get some wear as is, in casual contexts. Except. Well, it’s a denim waistcoat, right? With a very different cut from the “get a denim jacket and rip out the sleeves”, but still a denim waistcoat, right? The kind that you cover in patches, right?
And I may have screenprinted a “home sewing is killing fashion” patch some time ago, using the SVG from wikimedia commons / the Home Taping is Killing Music page.
And. Maybe I’ll wait until I have finished the real waistcoat. But I suspect that one, and other sewing / costuming patches may happen in the future.
No regrets, as the words on my seam ripper pin say, right? :D
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/03/08-denim_waistcoat/index.html
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Jeans, step two. And three. And four.
Posted on March 7, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, FreeSoftWear
I was working on what looked like a good pattern for a pair of jeans-shaped trousers, and I knew I wasn’t happy with 200-ish g/m² cotton-linen for general use outside of deep summer, but I didn’t have a source for proper denim either (I had been low-key looking for it for a long time).
Then one day I looked at an article I had saved about fabric shops that sell technical fabric and while window-shopping on one I found that they had a decent selection of denim in a decent weight.
I decided it was a sign, and decided to buy the two heaviest denim they had: a 100% cotton, 355 g/m² oneand a 97% cotton, 3% elastane at 385 g/m²1; the latter was a bit of compromise as I shouldn’t really be buying fabric adulterated with the Scourge of Humanity, but it was heavier than the plain one, and I may be having a thing for tightly fitting jeans, so this may be one of the very few woven fabric where I’m not morally opposed to its existence.
And, I’d like to add, I resisted buying any of the very nice wools they also seem to carry, other than just a couple of samples.
Since the shop only sold in 1 meter increments, and I needed about 1.5 meters for each pair of jeans, I decided to buy 3 meters per type, and have enough to make a total of four pair of jeans. A bit more than I strictly needed, maybe, but I was completely out of wearable day-to-day trousers.
The shop sent everything very quickly, the courier took their time (oh, well) but eventually delivered my fabric on a sunny enough day that I could wash it and start as soon as possible on the first pair.
The pattern I did in linen was a bit too fitting, but I was afraid I had widened it a bit too much, so I did the first pair in the 100% cotton denim. Sewing them took me about a week of early mornings and late afternoons, excluding the weekend, and my worries proved false: they were mostly just fine.
The only bit that could have been a bit better is the waistband, which is a tiny bit too wide on the back: it’s designed to be so for comfort, but the next time I should pull the elastic a bit more, so that it stays closer to the body.
I wore those jeans daily for the rest of the week, and confirmed that they were indeed comfortable and the pattern was ok, so on the next Monday I started to cut the elastic denim.
I decided to cut and sew two pairs, assembly-line style, using the shaped waistband for one of them and the straight one for the other one.
I started working on them on a Monday, and on that week I had a couple of days when I just couldn’t, plus I completely skipped sewing on the weekend, but on Tuesday the next week one pair was ready and could be worn, and the other one only needed small finishes.
And I have to say, I’m really, really happy with the ones with a shaped waistband in elastic denim, as they fit even better than the ones with a straight waistband gathered with elastic. Cutting it requires more fabric, but I think it’s definitely worth it.
But it will be a problem for a later time: right now three pairs of jeans are a good number to keep in rotation, and I hope I won’t have to sew jeans for myself for quite some time.
I think that the leftovers of plain denim will be used for a skirt or something else, and as for the leftovers of elastic denim, well, there aren’t a lot left, but what else I did with them is the topic for another post.
Thanks to the fact that they are all slightly different, I’ve started to keep track of the times when I wash each pair, and hopefully I will be able to see whether the elastic denim is significantly less durable than the regular, or the added weight compensates for it somewhat. I’m not sure I’ll manage to remember about saving the data until they get worn, but if I do it will be interesting to know.
Oh, and I say I’ve finished working on jeans and everything, but I still haven’t sewn the belt loops to the third pair. And I’m currently wearing them. It’s a sewist tradition, or something. :D
- The links are to the shop for Italy; you can copy the “Codice prodotto” and look for it on one of the shop version for other countries (where they apply the right vat etc., but sadly they don’t allow to mix and match those settings and the language).↩︎
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/03/07-jeans_step_two_and_three_and_four/index.html
Jeany - Denim da 12,5 oz - Nero
Tessuto denim di alta qualità da 12,5 once in 100% cotone twill con un bel lavaggio. Il classico per pantaloni, giacche e altri capi.Tessutoattivo
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/me rants at aspell for daring to suggest “sexist” as a correction for “sewist”
sewist. it's a word. learn it.
and no, it's not “sewer”. I'm not a sewer, ok.
(go and suggest a patch for the dictionary file rather than ranting on the internet? naaaaaa, too much effort :D )
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/me gesticola col bastone contro aspell che suggerisce “sexist” come correzione per “sewist”
sewist. è una parola inglese. imparala.
e no, la parola giusta non è sewist. non sono una fogna, ok?
(alzare il culo e preparare e suggerire una patch ai file del dizionario, anziché lamentarsi su internet? troppo sbattito :D )
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Vendo macchina da cucire Singer 8280 usata
Chiedo 100 euro trattabili, consegna in zona Varese / Como (se proprio
proprio necessario si può organizzare per zona Milano).
Mi pare che sia stata comprata nei primi anni 2000, il modello era in
vendita e presente sul sito singer fino all'anno scorso.
Ovviamente è ancora presente il manuale originale, completo di istruzioni di
manutenzione base.
Non la uso da qualche anno, ma era perfettamente funzionante e ad una prova
veloce mi pare che lo sia ancora.
Ulteriori dettagli nei commenti
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Ero un po' impensierita, perché a marzo inoltrato non mi si era ancora palesata "la cosa da imparare a fare quest'anno"¹, ma ieri @valhalla e @mercatino credo mi abbiano risolto il problema 🥰
¹ anziché fare i "buoni propositi" d'inizio anno, che tanto poi restavano propositi, da qualche tempo ho iniziato a provare a imparare una cosa nuova ogni anno.
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Avviso contenuto: toot fondamentali
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@LaVi 🕊️📚🐈I think I know somebody else who could use that excuse :D
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Ehm…
https://www.livescience.com/39418-millipedes-caused-train-wreck.html
Slimy Suspects: How Millipedes Likely Caused a Train Wreck
Hundreds of small black Portuguese millipedes (Ommatoiulus moreletii) are the likely culprits in a train collision in Australia that injured six passengers.Marc Lallanilla (Live Science)
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I was luceting and suddenly my mother put To Tame a Land (Iron Maiden) on her phone, and my hands tried (and failed) to get into the rhythm of the song, and the rhythmic movement attracted a worm… er… and my hands stumbled because I'm not that good at luceting and I was trying to go too fast, and then my hands tried to pick up the rhythm again and… it was intense.
I need to train and try it again. But not this close to bedtime.
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Stavo usando il lucet e senza preavviso mia madre ha messo To Tame a Land (degli Iron Maiden) sul telefono, e le mie mani hanno cercato (invano) di prendere il ritmo della canzone, e il movimento ritmico ha attirato un verme… volevo dire… e le mani hanno inciampato perché non sono *così* brava con il lucet, e stavo cercando di andare troppo veloce, e poi le mie mani hanno cercato di riprendere il ritmo e… è stato intenso.
Devo allenarmi e riprovarci. Ma non quando è ora di andare a dormire.
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@Diego Roversi > the only thing? what about wet and cold feet?
/me, wearing woolen socks and hiking boots> what wet feet?
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@Diego Roversi > l'unica? e i piedi che si bagnano e prendono freddo no?
/me, con addosso scarponcini da trekking e scarpe di lana> quali piedi che si bagnano?
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The #sillyDream of tonight was finding and buying a #metal LP¹ from the band Iridium, titled of course Iridium, with a big *shiny* #FountainPen nib on the cover.
And now I have a voice in my mind that sings
♫ Iridium point / on a nib of steel / workers in a German plant / laying down iridium points ♫
to the tune of Medieval Steel (by Medieval Steel, from the EP Medieval Steel, of course)
¹ or maybe it was an EP? something round, 12 inches in diameter, and in a square cardboard sleeve anyway :)
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Gattone comasco se ne va a zonzo, piantando i propri bipedi umani nella disperazione. E io mi gioco ancora la carta del #PersoETrovato che più volte ha funzionato.
Confido in voi e nel vostro prezioso passaparola. Grazie!
#CercoTrovo #mastodonperilsociale #mastodoncats #gattidimastodon
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@LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 @rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua magari invece se vede un umano che gli parla in gatto si avvicina spontaneamente e si fa anche prendere in braccio
meglio ancora se l'umano parla in gatto *e* offre un tributo in croccantini, ovviamente
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#sewing update
the drawers have been finished. I haven't worn them yet.
the binding on the bottom of the #AugustaStays is done, that on the top is almost all attached, and then I need to sew it to the back. I'm procrastinating the cutting of the lining.
I've cut and started hemming the shoulder sack / marked bag. Wait, have I just started a new #handsewing project before finishing the ones in progress? Who does that kind of things (me. the answer is me. :D )
this morning I finished the last machine seams on the denim vest and attached the buttons, I need to to the buttonholes and then it's wearable.
the pieces for the shift have been cut, except for the fact that the side gores are still attached to the main body. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to sew everything together (and that may change the exact size of the gores).
And I've realized that I've probably done one of the seams of the drawers wrong¹: I can fix the instructions I'm writing, but then they won't have a picture of that step until I do another pair of drawers. it will have to be.
¹ as in: perfectly serviceable, but not the way the book I was following probably intended.
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Aggiornamento sullo stato dei progetti di #cucito
I mutandoni sono finiti. Non li ho ancora indossati.
L'orlo inferiore delle Augusta Stays è stato ricoperto, su quello superiore ho attaccato quasi tutta la fettuccia, ma devo ancora fissarla sul retro. Sto procrastinando il taglio della fodera.
Ho tagliato e iniziato a cucire la borsa a sacco. Un momento, che borsa a sacco? Per caso ho iniziato un nuovo progetto di #cucitoAMano prima di aver finito quelli in corso? Chi è che fa queste cose!?! (io. :D )
Questa mattina ho finito le ultime cuciture a macchina sul gilet di jeans e attaccato i bottoni, mancano gli occhielli e poi è indossabile.
I pezzi della sottoveste sono stati tagliati, tranne il fatto che i godet laterali sono ancora attaccati al davanti e al dietro. Sto cercando di capire come assemblerò il tutto, e a seconda di come li cucio cambiano leggermente le misure.
E mi sono resa conto che probabilmente ho cucito parte dei mutandoni nel modo sbagliato¹: posso sistemare le istruzioni, ma vuol dire che per quel passaggio non ci sarà una foto fino a che non farò un altro paio di mutandoni. è così.
¹ funziona perfettamente, ma probabilmente non è il tipo di cucitura che intendevano nel libro che sto seguendo.
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Today we could see the yellow ball in the sky!
So in the afternoon I went on a frenzy of doing part of a seam, taking pictures, then doing another bit of a seam elsewhere, more pictures, rinse, repeat on the shift.
I hope I have enough half-done seams (and repeats of the same seam in a symmetric position) for the next few days of rain :)
Oggi si vedeva la palla gialla nel cielo!
Quindi nel pomeriggio ci ho dato dentro nel cucire una parte di una cucitura, fare foto, fare un altro pezzo di cucitura da un'altra parte, ulteriore foto, eccetera eccetera sulla sottoveste.
Spero di aver abbastanza cuciture a metà (e ripetizioni della stessa cucitura in una posizione simmetrica) per i prossimi giorni di pioggia :)
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time required to carefully measure and pleat two sleeves: X¹
time required to:
a) pin an approximation of the pleating pattern on half of one sleeve, to see whether it fits
b) make a custom pleating board with a precise version of said pleating pattern
c) pleat two sleeves using said pleating board
probably at least 4 × X, if not more.
Can you guess which option I've just chosen?
Can you guess that I'm a programmer? :D
¹ I don't know exactly know how much it would be, but I'd estimate a few tens of minutes
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tempo necessario per misurare con precisione ed effettuare delle pieghe su due maniche: X¹
tempo necessario per:
a) appuntire in modo approssimativo le pieghe su metà di una manica per verificare che la misura sia corretta
b) realizzare un ausilio per pieghe su misura con la versione precisa di quello schema di piegatura
c) piegare le due maniche usando il suddetto ausilio
probabilmente almeno 4 × X, se non di più.
Si indovina facilmente cosa ho scelto di fare?
Si capisce che sono un programmatore, vero?
¹ non so con precisione quanto sia, ma stimerei qualche decina di minuti
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And I've just realized that if I had done one of the seams in a slightly different way it would have been more accurate to the description in the book.
I've changed the instructions I'm writing.
Do I want to unpick the seam and do it again to take pictures?
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E mi sono appena resa conto che facendo una delle cuciture in un modo leggermente differente sarebbe stato più accurato rispetto alla descrizione data nel libro.
Ho corretto le istruzioni che sto scrivendo.
Ho voglia di disfare la cucitura e rifarla per fare foto?
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the custom pleating board was in the wrong size. It results in pleats that aren't deep enough to manage all of the fullness.
I could measure directly on the fabric, or I could use the second half of the poster paper sheet and make another one.
On a more positive note: the vest is wearable (not done. I have ideas.), and one half of the top binding of the #AugustaStays is done, and I'm on the way to finish the other half!
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l'ausilio di piegatura era della misura sbagliata. Fa delle pieghe che non sono abbastanza profonde per gestire tutta l'abbondanza di stoffa.
Potrei misurare le pieghe direttamente sulla stoffa, oppure potrei usare la seconda metà del foglio di carta da poster per farne un'altro.
Passando alle buone notizie: il gilet è indossabile (non finito. ho idee.) e metà dei margini delle Augusta Stays sono finiti, e sono ad un buon punto con l'altra metà!
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@rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua eh, ma per stirarci sopra stoffa bianca (e anche abbastanza trasparente) è meglio se non è ancora stampata, prima che con il caldo e il vapore si trasferisca qualche pezzo della stessa.
e poi dovrei andare tipo nella sede della lega? quelli che mettono in giro manifesti (e che spediscono volantini cartacei) qui da noi sono loro…
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@Carlo Ricchiardi @rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua la lettiera non è compostabile?
il manifesto di salvini credo che vada nell'indifferenziato, e poi ti fa alzare il prezzo della tassa dei rifiuti
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binding done!
I should really cut the lining pieces now
(instead I'm currently hemming the market bag)
margini rifiniti!
adesso è decisamente ora di tagliare la fodera
(invece sto facendo l'orlo della market bag)
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The second attempt at a custom pleating board worked just fine, I'm currently working on the sleeves of the shift.
I still haven't cut the lining pieces for the #AugustaStays
And I've made myself a new sashiko thimble, and patched the old one which was failing, because I'm using it on the market bag (and will need to use it for the next task in the “40s underwear” project)
Not historically accurate, I know. But much faster, and gives exactly the same result.
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Il secondo tentativo di ausilio di piegatura ha funzionato perfettamente, sto lavorando alle maniche della sottoveste.
E ancora non ho tagliato la fodera delle Augusta Stays.
Però mi son fatta un nuovo ditale per sashiko, e riparato quello vecchio che si stava bucando, perché lo sto usando per la market bag (e lo userò nel prossimo pezzo per il progetto “biancheria anni 40”)
La tecnica non è storicamente accurata. Ma si cuce molto più rapidamente, e il risultato è esattamente lo stesso.
Vi 💙 likes this.
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yesterday evening there was a salamino on the dinner table.
apparently, one grain of pepper from it ended up on the bread.
the same bread I had this morning for breakfast.
in the last bit of bread I was having.
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La(L)colazione dei campioni
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Tranquill* tutt*, quei giorni sono più che passati... Comunque sì, sto bene e durante la settimana non bevo mai prima di sera
Hey #knitting folks: what books/resources do you recommend for making clothing items based on your measurements, and then using gauge in your chosen yarn/stitch from there? Any type of garment or accessory is fine, but bonus points if you know of something that guides you on making tights/stockings (leggings with feet?)
Thanks in advance, everyone!
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@Ashley Reynolds This is the first sock pattern I've ever used and has been my sock pattern since then, some times extended up the leg by taking measurements and winging it :) https://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTuniversalsock.html
however it's just a socks pattern, afaik most other things on the site are regular knitting patterns with precalculated numbers
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Unfortunately I don't remember which book. She also invented the sweet tomato heel, my favourite. Very smooth, easy to do.
no, un momento. siamo al 24 febbraio.
perché sta facendo un temporale *estivo* con grandine?
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Jeans, step one
Posted on February 19, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear
CW for body size change mentions
Just like the corset, I also needed a new pair of jeans.
Back when my body size changed drastically of course my jeans no longer fit. While I was waiting for my size to stabilize I kept wearing them with a somewhat tight belt, but it was ugly and somewhat uncomfortable.
When I had stopped changing a lot I tried to buy new ones in the same model, and found out that I was too thin for the menswear jeans of that shop. I could have gone back to wearing women’s jeans, but I didn’t want to have to deal with the crappy fabric and short pockets, so I basically spent a few years wearing mostly skirts, and oversized jeans when I really needed trousers.
Meanwhile, I had drafted a jeans pattern for my SO, which we had planned to make in technical fabric, but ended up being made in a cotton-wool mystery mix for winter and in linen-cotton for summer, and the technical fabric version was no longer needed (yay for natural fibres!)
It was clear what the solution to my jeans problems would have been, I just had to stop getting distracted by other projects and draft a new pattern using a womanswear block instead of a menswear one.
Which, in January 2024 I finally did, and I believe it took a bit less time than the previous one, even if it had all of the same fiddly pieces.
I already had a cut of the same cotton-linen I had used for my SO, except in black, and used it to make the pair this post is about.
The parametric pattern is of course online, as #FreeSoftWear, at the usual place. This time it was faster, since I didn’t have to write step-by-step instructions, as they are exactly the same as the other pattern.
Making also went smoothly, and the result was fitting. Very fitting. A big too fitting, and the standard bum adjustment of the back was just enough for what apparently still qualifies as a big bum, so I adjusted the pattern to be able to add a custom amount of ease in a few places.
But at least I had a pair of jeans-shaped trousers that fit!
Except, at 200 g/m² I can’t say that fabric is the proper weight for a pair of trousers, and I may have looked around online1 for some denim, and, well, it’s 2024, so my no-fabric-buy 2023 has not been broken, right?
Let us just say that there may be other jeans-related posts in the near future.
- I had already asked years ago for denim at my local fabric shops, but they don’t have the proper, sturdy, type I was looking for.↩︎
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/02/19-jeans_step_one/index.html
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I haven't finished my Augusta stays yet.
The Cassandra Stays pattern has been released.
https://thedreamstress.com/2024/02/meet-the-cassandra-stays/
what is going to happen?
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Non ho ancora finito le mie Augusta stays
È uscito il cartamodello delle Cassandra stays
https://thedreamstress.com/2024/02/meet-the-cassandra-stays/
che cosa succederà adesso?
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snac2: a minimalist ActivityPub server in Debian
https://jvalleroy.me/wordpress/?p=67
#Blog #snac2 #Debian #ActivityPub
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TFW it's the last day of carnival, and as you get dressed with your perfectly normal dress to go outside for mundane reasons you worry that people may ask you what you're dressed as
(which is not a big problem, as long as they don't decide that I'm dressed as something and so I'm fair game for being covered in nasty plastic foam from a can)
Patrick likes this.
LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 likes this.
Avviso contenuto: sogno, canzone che rimane in testa
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@Elena ``of Valhalla'' "LAA LA LAAA LALALA'.... ODINO! LAA LA LAAA LALALA' VALHALLA!"
...mo' chi me lo toglie dalla testa?
(corretto per una maggiore aderenza al materiale originale... gh.)
And with the jeans almost¹ done, I've cut a vest out of the leftovers, using a block² from a victorian manual (that I want to check for fit), but to be made with no regard for historical accuracy.
I've also cut three (3) small pockets, to test their positions and size, but I'm not going to do welt pockets on jeans, I'm also going for a simpler method for those.
¹ one pair fully done and worn yesterday for the whole day with success, the other pair is still missing some handsewing and the belt loops
² https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/historical_womenswear/drafting_methods/cutters/index.html#vest
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Avendo quasi¹ finito i jeans, ho tagliato un gilet dalla stoffa rimanente, usando un modello base² da un manuale dell'ottocento (del quale voglio controllare le misure), ma realizzato senza la minima attenzione all'accuratezza storica.
Ho anche tagliato tre (3) taschini, per provare le posizioni e dimensioni, ma mi rifiuto di fare una tasca profilata sul jeans, userò un metodo più semplice.
¹ un paio completato ed indossato ieri tutto il giorno con successo, all'altro paio mancano ancora delle rifiniture a mano e i passanti.
² https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/historical_womenswear/drafting_methods/cutters/index.html#vest
To celebrate Conversations being back on the Play Store and to deny Google their 15% cut I made the app free for the next ~48 hours. 😜
If you are new here: Check out #XMPP. It's federated, provider and vendor independent instant messaging. It’s great!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations
Or get it from #fdroid - That version even has address book integration and public channel discovery! 😂
Conversations (Jabber / XMPP) - Apps on Google Play
An encrypted, user friendly XMPP instant messaging client optimized for mobileplay.google.com
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I think people who write concise posts they want to go viral never actually want replies.
So why not create a social media that doesn't have a reply feature, just people posting and sharing is they want to?
It could be a platform full of viral-wannabe bores, all lumped together.
Me, I want replies.
Unless they go on too long and I can't be bothered to read them.
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After years of sewing together this morning my sewing machine told me her name!
It happened while she was going through too-many-to-count layers of denim while hemming over a flat felled seam.
I supposed I should respect her privacy and avoid telling which name it is to everybody on the internet.
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A bit of a #sewing update.
Last weekend I was sewing the Augusta Stays, but I knew that while watching fosdem videos I could get to a point where I needed to do a fit test, which is not really compatible with fosdem, so I got ready for it by cutting a new top for myself in cotton voile, like the one at https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/contemporary_unisex/tops/low_waste_elastic_neck_top/index.html but with a bit more fullness and an attempt to give a ruffle look to the neckline and cuffs.
I started sewing on Sunday afternoon, and during the week it has progressed nicely, I've now reached the approximately 10 km seams around the neck (then there will be 5 km of seams around the cuffs, and it's done, I have already hemmed the bottom.
However, this meant that I procrastinated starting the binding on the stays. I hope that next week I'll find the courage to do them.
On the machine-sewing side, instead, I've been working on the jeans, but there were a couple of days when they just weren't working, so I stopped and did something else, and they are still stuck with the front and back assembled, and they need to be sewn together, and then finished with the waistband and hems. Next week, too.
OTOH, on the living room table there is now the last bit of elastic denim leftover with a pattern for a vest on top: it's a block from a victorian book, but I'm going to make it very simple, as a sort of wearable mockup for the pattern block.
https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/historical_womenswear/drafting_methods/cutters/index.html#vest
I'm not going to actually cut it until I've finished the jeans, so that I'm 100% sure I don't need any more pieces for them, because the vest will use most of the usable leftovers.
Oh, and the distractions when stuff wasn't working involved reading the Workwoman's Guide and taking notes for more handsewing stuff for the near future. A hint on what may be had by looking at my openclipart account :) https://openclipart.org/artist/valhalla
Basically, I didn't do what I had planned to do, but it still wasn't that bad of a week.
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Un aggiornamento sul #cucito.
Lo scorso weekend stavo cucendo le Augusta Stays, ma sospettavo che guardando i video del fosdem sarei arrivata ad un punto in cui serviva una prova, che non è molto compatibile col weekend del fosdem, per cui mi sono portata avanti tagliando una nuova camicetta in voile di cotone, tipo https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/contemporary_unisex/tops/low_waste_elastic_neck_top/index.html ma con volant su collo e polsi.
Ho iniziato a cucirlo domenica pomeriggio e nel corso della settimana è andato avanti, adesso sono al punto in cui devo fare circa 10 km di cuciture sul collo e poi circa 5 km sui polsini, e a quel punto è finito (ho già fatto l'orlo sul fondo).
La cosa però ha comportato il procrastinare il rifinire gli orli delle stays, spero settimana prossima di trovare il coraggio.
Quanto al cucito a macchina, stavo lavorando sui jeans, ma ci sono stati un paio di giorni in cui le cose non funzionavano, per cui mi son fermata e ho fatto altro, e sono ancora fermi al punto in cui i davanti e i dietro sono assemblati, ma vanno cuciti assieme, e poi mancano cinturini e rifiniture tipo orli. Settimana prossima.
D'altra parte, sul tavolo della sala c'è l'ultimo pezzo di jeans elasticizzato con sopra un cartamodello per un gilet: è un modello preso da un libro vittoriano, ma ho intenzione di realizzarlo in modo molto semplice, come mockup indossabilke per il cartamodello.
https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/historical_womenswear/drafting_methods/cutters/index.html#vest
Prima di tagliarlo però voglio aver finito i jeans ed essere 100% sicura di non aver bisogno di altri pezzi, perché con il gilé userei la maggior parte dei ritagli di dimensioni significative.
Oh, e tra le distrazioni di quando le cose non funzionavano c'è stato leggere la Workwoman's Guide e prendere appunti per altre cose da cucire a mano nel prossimo futuro. Un indizio su cosa potrebbe essere sul mio account openclipart :) https://openclipart.org/artist/valhalla
Fondamentalmente, non ho fatto quello che mi ero ripromessa di fare, ma tutto sommato non è stata una cattiva settimana.
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The top is finished!
(don't mind the fichu-like scarf which may or may not be there to cover the thermal underwear I was wearing under the top)
And I've also had @Diego Roversi take pictures of most of the jeans, so that in the next couple of weeks or so I can hopefully finish and publish the blog posts for them.
As for binding the stays. we don't talk about binding the stays :D
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La camicetta è finita.
(ignorate la sciarpa che potrebbe essere stata infilata a coprire la maglietta termica che stavo indossando sotto alla camicetta)
@Diego Roversi si è anche prestato per fare foto alla maggior parte dei jeans, per cui nelle prossime settimane spero di riuscire a finire e pubblicare i post relativi sul blog.
Quanto agli orli delle stays, quali orli delle stays?
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Comunque un giorno o l'altro potrei regalarti un'intonacata al muro 😄
two tabs of the stays have been half bound (i.e. I've sewn the tape from the front, not yet from the back).
tooManyToCount remaining
𝔄𝔤𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔞 likes this.
due cosi¹ delle stays sono stati mezzi-ricoperti (ovvero ho cucito la fettuccia sul davanti, non ancora sul retro).
ne mancano… TroppiPerEssereContati
¹ termine preciso di sartoria storica, eh :D
Katy B. :debian:📚 🥛 likes this.
all of the bottom edge of the stays have been half bound.
I hope that sewing the tape from the back will be less fiddly than doing the first seam on the front (I hope), and then there is the top edge, which is significantly longer, but also much easier (I hope)
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Tutto l'orlo inferiore delle stays è stato rinifito a metà.
Spero che cucire la fettuccia sul retro sia meno incasinato della prima cucitura sul davanti (spero), e poi c'è l'orlo superiore, che è decisamente più lungo, ma dovrebbe essere anche più facile (spero).
You learned how much a shirt cost in the the middle ages! And how much a linen tunic cost in the Roman Empire. This week, find out how much a garment cost in the Late Bronze Age https://www.bookandsword.com/2024/02/10/how-much-did-a-garment-cost-in-the-bronze-age/ #histodons #egyptology #amarnaAge #materialCulture #cuneitoot
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If your site has RSS, people can view and interact with your site via an RSS reader, which may include accessibility features that your site does not.
For instance, maybe the RSS reader has a dark mode that your website lacks.
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Sini Tuulia
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •There are some garment making processes that can be automated most or all the way through, like knitwear and socks, but most will still be finished, assembled and/or packed by hand. Crochet is always human work.
Wool is pretty good to wear and when certified and from a good source, can be pretty sustainable if you wear it until it stops existing. This can take decades. Yarn can be recycled, mending is great!
There are fabric recycling initiatives, but the best option is to not buy it if you don't need it. Secondhand is more expensive than it used to be, but you can find older, better quality garments than the crap of today!
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Sini Tuulia
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Punkt 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Punkt 🏳️⚧️ • • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Sini Tuulia • •Sini Tuulia likes this.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
JoeP
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •@sinituulia @punktrock
Sini Tuulia
in reply to JoeP • • •JoeP
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Aral Balkan
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Laundry tips and opinions which were requested:
Using fabric softener will make cotton feel clammy and greasy, and give it a mildewy smell. Fabric conditioning helps with staticky plastic fibres but isn't necessary for natural fibres! Just wash without. Never put it on towels, it stops their absorption powers. You can use a little bit of vinegar instead of fabric softener, it will have a mild smell when wet, dries odourless.
Line drying is less wear on clothes than dryer but live your life if you have no place to dry them!
Bedding needs to be washed super hot occasionally! Towels, too!
If your shirts smell terrible because you've been sweating into them, soak them in the sink with a cup of vinegar in room temperature water, rinse, wash normally. This kills a lot of mildew and helps break apart organic residue.
Liquid laundry detergent is silly! Just get detergent in powder form, you're spared the plastic bottles and no heavy liquids are ferried around.
Soap nuts are great if you're allergic to everything but soap nuts. They're not even nuts and are compostable!
A lot of the washing instructions are LIES. You can literally boil 100% cotton and it's fine! You'd be amazed how much dry clean only is not! Polyester and cotton will be just dandy in 60 Celsius - the manufacturers play it safe because some dyes fade in hotter temps. Cheaply made clothes may shrink, but if it's stinky, take the risk!
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
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Esther is studying
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Esther is studying • • •If you're washing something with long ties, like an apron, you can just loosely tie them in a simple knot and that will stop them from tangling up with everything else. If you don't pull it very tight, the hot water will permeate and sanitise that tiny bit of fabric just fine.
Lotta
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Lotta • • •econads
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to econads • • •@econads @1Atalante1 For me, it ends up being less laundry by weight and less wear on the things I care more about: The top layer is heavier and takes ages to dry, whereas the thin cotton short sleeved shirt is fairly insubstantial and thin.
I'll wear the undershirt for 2-5 days, depending on what I physically do and what the weather is like - and the cardigan on top for 3-10 days, depending on if I get it dirty or it starts bothering me. (Of note, I don't use "normal" deodorant with a scent, your mileage will vary!)
I can shove six undershirts in one machine load and a bunch of other stuff without issue, but only four cardigans before I have to think about what else fits. It all evens out!
Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to econads • •@econads @Lotta @Sini Tuulia it also depends on the materials: there are top layer garments made of wool that I only wash once at the end of the season (admittely I don't wear them every day, they get aired between wears, and I often have at least two washable layers under them)
things that are worn in summer tend to be washed more often, of course.
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Raff Karva
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Raff Karva • • •ink and yarn
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to ink and yarn • • •In unhelpful but still somewhat nice news, there's a new Finnish brand of vinegar-based cleaning products and detergents. A lot of them have perfumes and a lot of additives, but it's still quite pleasing that they use a locally produced vinegar in them instead of just the usual coconut or palm oil derived soap compounds. More of this, please!
Naomi P
in reply to ink and yarn • • •ink and yarn
in reply to Naomi P • • •Naomi P
in reply to ink and yarn • • •ink and yarn
in reply to Naomi P • • •Naomi P
in reply to ink and yarn • • •@emery Well, I will suggest Charlie’s Soap, which doesn’t make anyone in my family break out in a rash. It’s worked well enough for us, but we don’t have any specific exercise clothes, so I can’t speak to that.
I try to make a point of buying multiple bags when it’s on sale, but I can’t always count on that.
Linza
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Linza • • •ttk✔️ (DO1TTK)
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to ttk✔️ (DO1TTK) • • •Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Joanna Holman
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Joanna Holman • • •If you want them to last, wash mild to moderate heat with a delicate spin cycle.
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Re: stink, it's also worth periodically cleaning your washing machine - you can get cleaners that run through most of the mechanism, though discouraging mould and mildew on seals is a constant battle and why I hate front loaders. (Most mould killers - including stuff like white vinegar - will ruin the rubber of the seals, so it's hard to completely kill. You can use cloths or paper towel to soak up any excess water after you've used the machine so it dries faster, but then you have to remember to remove them...)
I used to clean mine every 6 months, or after washing anything particularly badly soiled or stinky.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] • • •Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Ah, yeah, I'm in a city with extremely hard water so that's probably why it's recommended here to do it more often.
I don't know if it's part of older washing machines, but I've never had a machine that had a hot setting higher than 60C. (I've also never had a brand new washing machine though.)
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] • • •I have the vague memory that in Japan most machines only go up to 50C, to save energy with that many people using them? A native Japanese person moved to Finland and reported that for the first time ever, his laundry always smelled fresh after washing!
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] • • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Sini Tuulia • •@Sini Tuulia @Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] mine also goes up to 90°C (specifically the cotton cycle goes 60° 50° 40° 30° 20° -- 90° — I suspect that they don't want you to really use the 90° too often :D )
Usually I don't use it on clothing, but I do a 90° empty cycle every now and then to clean the washing machine
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Magnus Ahltorp
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •@dartigen All washing machines I’ve had in Japan haven’t heated the water at all. Sometimes there’s been a hot water pipe that you can switch to and in that case you set the temperature on the the water boiler. Great for wool, but not so energy efficient to rinse in warm water for all other clothes. They’ve all been top loaders.
Front loaders have started to be popular in Japan as well, but if you just rent a less than a year each time you can’t invest in your own washing machine.
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]
in reply to Magnus Ahltorp • • •Magnus Ahltorp
in reply to Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] • • •@dartigen All washing machines I’ve owned or used in Sweden have gone up to 90 or 95, but the washing machines I’ve used in Japan had a rating of maybe 50-60, despite not having a heating element.
So in addition to being able to produce the heat, the parts in the machine have to tolerate the heat, and not melt, deform, or age quickly when subjected to almost boiling water.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Magnus Ahltorp • • •I have the vague idea that it's common to air dry laundry outside, which helps a little bit, but definitely explains that one dude's laundry gripes.
soil gremlin
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to soil gremlin • • •@tefferbear We don't have that here, so I looked up what's in it: "The formulation is a combination of ingredients, the key ingredient being sodium percarbonate, sodium carbonate, surfactants and polymer."
So it's Super Soda, which definitely sounds like it works! You can use all kinds of household soda concoctions on laundry and even household cleaning.
Nicolai von Neudeck 🤒🤕
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Major washing and drying tip for people outside of Europe (especially the Anglo settler colonies):
Get a washing machine that turns around a horizontal axis. AKA a front loader. Not only do they consume much less water, they also clean much better (letting gravity work for you is just smart).
For drying get a washing machine that spins at 1600 rpm and if you dry on a clothing rack, put it under a DC (low energy) ceiling ventilator to speed up the process using very little energy.
Marion Grau
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Marion Grau • • •It's been a while since I knit or did crochet, but there's at least a couple of kinds of 100% wool that has been felted and treated in such a way that the fibres become harder, denser and more durable. "Superwash" or something, because they can also be machine washed after without shrinking. Will wear down eventually, of course, but. 🤔
I've handled some sheep wool yarn with linen, hemp, ramie, alpaca, nettle and/or silk mixed in, which apparently makes the yarn more abrasion resistant, but never worked with them! I know my mother has a wool & nettle jumper that is close to 20 years old and is in perfect condition and feels only slightly rougher and squished together than "normal" wool.
Worth mentioning is that you rarely wash woollen things, so they shed a lot less microplastics into the ecosystem even if there is polyester or acrylic in them!
Michael Klepacki :kare_bomb:
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Michael Klepacki :kare_bomb: • • •@kleypack Short answer, it can be, but shouldn't significantly be.
Long answer: Liquid detergent for white laundry usually only contains optical brighteners, which is blue pigment to make the white fabric look less yellowed. Powder detergent for whites contains an oxidiser, which gradually physically bleaches the fabric back to a crisp white. This does oxidise the fabric a little bit. 😄 Which will damage it somewhat! But on the other hand it also sanitises it as plenty of microbes do not enjoy being minutely bleached. The laundry does smell fresher and I haven't noticed any wear on any of my stuff.
Powder detergent for coloured laundry does not contain the whitening agent. The ingredients themselves vary across them, but it's sodium laureth sulfate, soap and enzymatic cleaners for the most part, in both liquid and powder.
I feel like I have to use not even half of the recommended dose of powder versus the full amount of liquid for the laundry to *feel* clean. Your mileage may vary!
Katherine W
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Katherine W • • •@FiddleSix I'm genuinely glad you asked! It's most to do with the water temperature and the amount of agitation needed.
Cotton in general washes better when the water is hot and when there's a bunch of agitation, so a longer program. (On my machine the suggested program is 2h 20min at 60C, for example.) This is fine. Spin cycle it as harsh as you want to, too, as a plant fibre it soaks up a lot of liquid and dries slowly.
But when you wash synthetics, often containing elasthane and spandex etc, those do degrade very fast when the water is hot and there is a lot of agitation. Hot and long also leads to more microplastic shedding, I'm fairly sure! You may also want to use a different detergent for the two, or different amounts. They also dry faster, so less spinning required, less wear on the clothing and washing machine, and less energy expended.
Katherine W
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Willow, Venus Pirate 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Willow, Venus Pirate 🏳️⚧️ • • •@Willow Oh yes, it's basically my nemesis. It depends on how much is on there, and what it smells like, sometimes the only thing that works is washing it 5-12 times and suffering.
But! I've found that Marseille soap works pretty well. (It's a type of traditional olive oil based block soap. As soap as you can get, really. I assume Castile soap works similarly.)
First I'll reaaaaaaally lather the garments in the sink with the soap and some comfortably warm water, mostly rinse that off, lather again, rinse it again... You can sort of tell when gunk stops coming off, when it feels less slippery, or the smell changes?
Then you just need to rinse it really really well, because bar soap isn't super good inside a washing machine in large quantities, though a little doesn't hurt. Put in like double the detergent you'd usually use, wash normally.
If that didn't do it, or it feels fine but smells bad, wash it with a cup of table vinegar, or 3 tablespoons of white vinegar.
Willow, Venus Pirate 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •ND Dev
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •I can confirm that fabric conditioner is a con. I haven't used it for years, and the clothes come out just fine. Our towels are like sandpaper, because I used to use fabric conditioner on them, but clothes we bought since I stopped using fabric conditioner are absolutely okay without it.
Bedclothes really want to be washed at 60°C because it kills house dust mite. Underwear needs 60°C because it kills germs. I've done that for years, for Helen's undies as well as mine, ignoring the care labels, and it's been fine.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to ND Dev • • •@nddev Yes! To both dust mites and bacteria. But also the higher temperatures kill the yeasts from human skin, which are generally not harmful or rot the fabrics, but can transfer between people using the same laundry: everybody can get itchy feet if somebody has cursed socks.
Some people are also deeply allergic to fabric softener and there's residue flaking off of people wearing conditioned clothing that gets on everything as a very fine dust, not to mention the VOCs that get breathed in. Please everybody stop using fabric conditioner!
eena meena me
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to eena meena me • • •@meena Yes!
The smell is either mildew and/or bacteria, both of which thrive on the wet human matter left on the textiles and the fibres themselves.
Depending on how long it's been and how much has grown, you might be able to get away with putting it to air out and dry in bright sunlight: UV radiation kills a lot of microbes and ozone breaks apart the organic compounds that produce the smell.
If it's been a *while* or the laundry has been left wet and smelly enough times for it to permeate the seams etc., the simplest option is to wash it very hot - 60C and up, preferably 70C. (140F to 158F)
These temps kill most microbial life. Though bacteria starts going at lower temperatures mildew, mould, yeasts take hotter. The detergent washes the broken down organic compounds away.
If it can't be washed hot, there's always acid or alkaline/base! Soaking it in a white vinegar solution (a cup per bucket) or with soda or borax (half a cup in a bucket? Somebody else might know). I just use vinegar since it's technically safe to eat. 😄
You can also just pour two cups of table vinegar in the washing machine and wash it all cold if you don't want to mess around with a bucket or the sink. And then wash it another time with normal temperature and detergent.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Amber Alex, Mx.
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •we wash everything at 40°C, everything hygiene-related (bedsheets, underwear, towels, etc.) at 60°C. I was despairing over "30°C gentle machine wash, no tumble dry, careful dry cleaning only" clothes just earlier today, too: 97% cotton, 3% elasthane chinos that were labelled as 30°C, no tumble drying, and loads of them in all sorts of colours, even "basically the natural colour of cotton" off-white.
I had half a mind to buy them, throw them in at 40°C and tumble dry, and see what comes out, but I couldn't afford sinking that money down the drain if it does damage them.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Amber Alex, Mx. • • •@amberage Yeaaaaah, my bullshit senses are tingling with the "30C only" label on plant fibres at the best of times. At the very least it should take 40C without issue! There's no good reason why cotton (+elasthane) shouldn't withstand 60C! If they cut corners and didn't prewash and thus pre-shrink the fabric, it can shrink, but this really shouldn't be an issue.
I read somewhere that some percentage of human yeasts survive the 40C wash and may give you foot problems, so you should probably chuck socks into the hotter wash sometimes, too. 🤔
cuan_knaggs
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •sabik
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to sabik • • •Funnily enough you can 3D-print weird garments (I doubt they're comfy), and programmable knitting machines have been a thing for centuries! But sewing is VERY complicated to do well.
sabik
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Helen LH
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Helen LH • • •@Research_FTW Yes, the quality of just generic things has gone really downhill. Make it as cheap and as fast as possible, it doesn't matter if it doesn't last because all you want to do is sell even more of the same anyway. It's a race to the bottom and it makes me furious!
(Even the "luxury" options are nearly as bad, it's the same stuff with a more expensive label. Certifications for Fair Trade, union work or organic materials and Öko-Tex for non-toxic materials do help discerning when the manufacturers gave half a shit, but yeah.)
Melissa Madsen
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Wool is great! There are quite a few niche producers in Australia and New Zealand making good quality, machine washable, sustainable wool garments, including underwear. New Zealanders specialise in blended merino and possum wool garments. Lightweight but incredibly warm, and low pilling. (Possums are a feral species in New Zealand.)
#recycle #rewear #repair #resell
Samuel Hautamäki
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Samuel Hautamäki • •@Samuel Hautamäki I know of a place that sells kevlar reinforced fabric to end consumers, so I think that *is* actually an option.
the fabric is quite expensive, and they also sell kevlar-specific tools (mostly for cutting), and I believe they are really needed, which would add to the expense, so I'm quite sure it would be significantly more expensive than buying one, and not just because the bought one is made by underpaid labour (also that, but a lot is also economy of scale).
I believe it's probably also significantly harder than making a regular jacket, especially a non-tailored one, so it would take significant time and skill.
But it is an option, if one wants and enjoys it.
Raff Karva
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •I stopped buying new clothes years ago.
I learned that there is a huge number of people who buy really good (and expensive) clothes, wear them once and sell on eBay.
I got a Goretex Pro (I know it’s not sustainable but please read on) jacket designed for the most extreme weather on earth, RRP £480, I got it for £40.
Because it’s a REALLY good product, I’ve had it now for 5 years and it still looks new. I am certain it will last me another decade if not longer.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Raff Karva • • •I've made mine for a while now, and have reached a point where I have enough until a lot of it falls apart. 😄 Good for the environment, bad for making cool and informative sewing posts online!
You can find all kinds of treasures in the second hand sphere, it might take a lot of time and luck, but there's Good Shit on there. Using a garment that has already been made is always for the better, at least until we can make recycling them profitable - it's already possible but because it doesn't make money and isn't mandated, the industry doesn't. If we don't wear it, it ends up in landfill or nature and slowly breaks apart there. Yay capitalism. 🙃
Raff Karva
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Raff Karva • • •Raff Karva
in reply to Raff Karva • • •Saying that, I also build my own furniture, grow my own food, and as a skilled engineer, I repair every piece of equipment rather than replace (until I can’t repair any more).
Unfortunately, enshitification means that humanity stopped producing good quality items that can be repaired, instead creating planned obsolescence, forcing repeat purchases of the same product, which could have easily been designed to last a lifetime but wasn’t due to capitalism and greed.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Raff Karva • • •@RaffKarva I love that the Right To Repair movement is making headway in the EU but it's too little and too late for a lot of created and accumulated trash. I've been happy to see even modular laptops and smartphones being made! But because worker's aren't paid enough anywhere, they can't afford the nice and sensibly made more durable things even if they exist. (Citing the Vimes Boot Theory, once again.)
A lot of people don't even know there are other options to spending on trash! I suppose the best we can do is yell about it so people find out.
pgcd
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to pgcd • • •pgcd
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Liminal witch 🧙♀️ Sarah
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •can we make repairing clothes normal again?
There's no one stopping us. #RightToRepair for clothing is fairly easy.
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Liminal witch 🧙♀️ Sarah • • •The Binh
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •@xgebi this is such a great thread. And yes: where if not here on masto?
Thanks for all the insights.
#mending related: a sticker i felt the urge to create (pro mending and repairing).
masukomi
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •@xgebi How bad/good is hemp? My impression was that it was significantly better for the soil (overall) than cotton but I dunno about how bad it is to harvest & turn into fiber.
I heard that hemp jeans tend to last longer than cotton, but don't know how true that is.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to masukomi • • •@masukomi Hemp is much more ecological to grow than cotton, which isn't a very high bar but there it is! The plant also has other uses, so there's some synergy with other production.
There's viscose made from hemp cellulose, because it's a pretty plant-agnostic process: put cellulose in, out comes viscose.
I think when used "raw" hemp is a slightly rough but very durable fabric, similar to linen? I've read about it being used for yukata etc.
I've mostly handled hemp viscose, and blends, so I don't know what it's like on its own as fabric. Most ropes used to be hemp, so the fibre has been use for millennia, but the War On Drugs made farming even the non-entertaining kind much more difficult in the US. But it will grow pretty much anywhere, as far as I remember!
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •masukomi
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to masukomi • • •Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Sini Tuulia • •@Sini Tuulia @masukomi I think that chemical retting of linen and other baste fibers is also pretty bad, and of course it's faster, easier and cheaper than the other alternatives (dew and water).
I thought that most commercial linen these days was chemically retted, but a quick internet search gives hopes that it's not necessarily so, which is always nice to find out.
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Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Sini Tuulia • •@Sini Tuulia @masukomi I don't remember where I've read that most archeological fiber remains that are listed as linen have a good chance to be another bast fiber, including hemp or nettle because they look very similar and nobody bothers doing the detailed tests for the difference.
I think in recent times (say 1800s or early 1900 :D ) hemp was more likely to be used for coarse products and linen for finer ones, but I'm not sure whether it was related to some intrinsic quality.
My mother still has a few vintage cotton/hemp towels and they don't feel significantly different from cotton/linen.
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Sini Tuulia
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Amethyst witch lunya :neocat_floof_flag_trans:
in reply to Liminal witch 🧙♀️ Sarah • • •y'all don't constantly repair?
The only clothes I've ever thrown away are a uniform that split in fucking halves and a pair of socks cos 1 had a hole the size of my heel
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Amethyst witch lunya :neocat_floof_flag_trans: • • •Amethyst witch lunya :neocat_floof_flag_trans:
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Amethyst witch lunya :neocat_floof_flag_trans: • • •@sleepybisexual I keep making 18th century petticoats out of old bedding and am wearing one as a house skirt even as I type this. 😄 They're just rectangles pleated onto waist ties and really very comfy! The one I'm wearing is a decades old half of a duvet cover!
(Image is an older gif of me wearing it in my living room.)
TransitBiker
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to TransitBiker • • •TransitBiker
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Dilman Dila
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Dilman Dila • • •Dilman Dila
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Dilman Dila • • •@dilmandila
"Across the tropics, people worked out long ago how to transform fig tree bark into comfortable cloth—the practice could even predate weaving." Neat, hadn't heard of it.
"The colonial rulers had little use for the industry. They compelled farmers to produce cotton for English mills instead, stopped the practice of paying taxes in barkcloth, and banned traditional religion.'" of course. Of fucking course!
(source Atlas Obscura article)
movation
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Dilman Dila
in reply to movation • • •@movation I remember one editor telling me to change bark cloth for something like leather in a short story set in the far future. I did, because I was just starting out and didn't know how to fight for my ideas, but I keep putting bark cloth in the future as the dominant material whenever I get the chance. Someone saw this in my film and they said "oh, so even in the future Africans are backward?"
I guess colonialism did a good job!
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Dilman Dila • • •@dilmandila @movation Just because something has been done for a long time doesn't mean it's inferior! Often the opposite! Colonialism go in the bin, please. 😂
But yeah. Ramie is lovely to work with and feels quite nice. It has slightly different properties than cotton or linen, so somebody not familiar with it might be puzzled by the things it does, but it is very very comfortable to wear when it's nice quality.
BjoernAusGE
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to BjoernAusGE • • •BjoernAusGE
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to BjoernAusGE • • •@bjoern Fully ignoring the cultural and social significance of dress, we ALREADY produce clothing for a very small group of people.
Most of the manufactured clothing is made in countries where it's easier to skirt all labour and safety regulations (if they exist), and is sold to the West, where a very small margin of all the people on Earth buy it by the truckloads, wear it rarely if ever, and then donate it to "charity" when it's time for another closet purge, or they age or change size - whereupon it often gets shipped way back across the world and piles up by the bales in Africa et al where it makes financial sense to sort through it, and then gets carted to rot in a desert or landfill if it doesn't get picked up by anyone because it's such fundamentally poor quality.
In short, we should stop producing shit that is only good for the landfill in the end, and fast fashion needs to go die in a bin! Making regular quality clothes with moderation, to last, and out of reasonable local materials is how humans used to do it!
kechpaja
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to kechpaja • • •@kechpaja Jeans used to be a working person's garment that would last for decades (or years of hard work) but now they're made of paper and elasticised in such a way that the material disintegrates when you properly wash it enough. I used to find some success with different ripstop-fabric cargo pants, but that's a very specific look and not for everybody!
I mostly wear skirts these days because they're much easier to make than trousers and my knees hate extra pressure on the kneecap. 😄
Aleksi Stenberg
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Praetor
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Sini Tuulia
in reply to Praetor • • •But polyester is cheap and most people don't know any better, so here we are.
Praetor
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •krumminell energi
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •What about hemp clothing?
I try to thrift most of my clothes since buying new at least somewhat sustainable stuff is expensive but that hinges very much on things being available in my size, I can only assume this issue is aggravated for people who have even more have trouble finding clothes in their size even when not buying second-hand.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to krumminell energi • • •@krummi Yeah, I originally started sewing by modifying thrifted clothes and then making them from scratch because I'm shaped so that it's impossible to find things that fit. So I know how rough it can be if you're even slightly different from the "standard human" the manufacturers pretend exists! Every penny to an inclusive shape, size and/or style clothing line means more will get made, but they tend to be expensive in comparison.
I replied to someone about hemp and would be repeating most of it, so here's a link to that reply. 😄 https://eldritch.cafe/@sinituulia/112117144341322568
Sini Tuulia
2024-03-18 14:24:15
krumminell energi
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Haha same, I'm not so great at sewing but I do occasionally modify clothes I thrift, mostly to make sleeves or pant legs shorter (there are other modifications that could be made but spoons are a bit limited and I don't have a machine).
Really wish to see more variety in sizes in the future for all shapes of bodies so that having sustainable clothes that fit doesn't hinge on personal crafting skills or money for additional modifications!
Also thanks for the link, I had missed that reply! And thanks for the overall very informative thread, another thing that immediately came to my mind was the fake-"sustainable" bamboo clothes that are seemingly everywhere now too but are really just viscose in disguise.
Do you have any info/thoughts on lyocell and similar materials?
Sini Tuulia
in reply to krumminell energi • • •@krummi You're welcome, it was pretty deep in the thread! If you missed it, @valhalla replied with additional hemp thoughts below it - I'll probably add more thoughts tomorrow but it's late and am out of spoons. 😅
It's been a bit, but we did go through all the different man-made fibres at school materials class, like cupro, modal, rayon, Tencel... Most of them are a trade name for the chemical bath and process they use when making viscose, Lyocell as a product name wasn't around back then. They all have slight differences and some of them are super bad to produce, most are quite nice to wear and drape.
Lyocell is supposed to be more green, but my personal experience of it is that it feels like nice cotton but doesn't hold up to washing and cat claws like cotton! Can be made from recycled fibres though, so there's that.
krumminell energi
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •No worries and take your time, conserving spoons is important! 🥄
Either way thanks for your insights! I was somehow under the impression that lyocell was less toxic to produce than viscose but maybe that was just marketing information, I should probably research more.
Also, including information on how fabric feels is super valuable for texture-sensitive folks. I find that softness is an increasingly important criterion for me as I get older, sadly some knitted stuff from pure wool has to be ruled out because it feels too scratchy on my skin without extra layers (which isn't always possible due to easily feeling too warm ).
Sini Tuulia
in reply to krumminell energi • • •@krummi Lyocell is less toxic than viscose but this is also not a very high bar! I think there's been new process patents floating around where they take in an reuse the chemicals and the water in a closed loop... But because it's expensive to retrofit existing factories, it's not always done, and there's generally very little oversight. Having an Oeko-Tex label (Öko-Tex 100, also) on it means it's AT LEAST had the eyes of somebody on it at some point.
Half of sewing for me is Fabric Sense, sensory information is extremely important! I've handled some bamboo viscose knits that are the softest thing I've ever touched, even though they're not the most durable option out there.
Gabriel N
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •I’ve been following Avery Trufelman for a long while, and her newsletter on fashion is great. This one may interest you:
Radical acceptance an thrifting, Articles of Interest > https://articlesofinterest.substack.com/p/what-to-do-with-all-the-clothes
What to do with all the Clothes
Articles Of InterestJames
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •I got a Russel Athletic hoody on my 12th birthday and wore it until I was 38. I regretfully let it go after doing a Hell & Back in it, when it was soaked in cow dung and rat piss.
Point being: clothes *will* last if give them a chance. Use a tailor or repair service to help keep them together.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to James • • •@chongliss I love that there are Right To Repair laws and repair cafes popping up! People do care, they just might not know what to do. But if they're taking their temperamental vacuum cleaner for a tune-up and notice that the cafe also does textile repairs? They're gonna come back with a bag of clothes they love and don't want to throw away. There used to be a tailor or seamstress on every block, according to some older people.
There are people who think it's easier to just buy a new shirt instead of sewing a button back on, but I hope more people realise how much effort and resources that new shirt was!
Morpheus Being
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •eena meena me
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •ND Dev
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Cher Tailor
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •looking at my one friend with holes in all his socks
The sustainability king...
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Cher Tailor • • •Just Bob 🇺🇲♒🐧
in reply to Sini Tuulia • • •Then, there is hemp 😁
Growing hemp cleans the soil, if the garment is no longer usable, drop it in a field and it adds nourishments...
Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Just Bob 🇺🇲♒🐧 • •Sini Tuulia likes this.
Sini Tuulia
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •@valhalla @bob Yes, we should definitely be growing more hemp and less cotton, hemp is a pretty good plant... But it's not going to magically fix the exploitative, resource intensive and wasteful nature of the garment industry of the present day!
The simplest and cheapest solution is just wearing the things that already exist for longer. This doesn't benefit the shareholders, but that's an added bonus. 😄
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