Give your unwanted textiles and furniture a new lease of life with creative upcycling techniques

Textile and furniture waste are a huge environmental problem in the UK. But it can be hard to know what to do with old, damaged garments or pieces of furniture that have seen better days. On the 9^th of September, we welcomed  The Fabric Folk, Jefferson Eco CIC, and Woz Designs to share how they’re repairing, reusing and reimagining unwanted items – and how you can do it too.  

Tackling fabric waste with The Fabric Folk

Our first speaker, designer-maker Marina Balashova, set up The Fabric Folk, Hertfordshire’s first circular fabric reuse hub, to give surplus textiles a new home. Marina explained that textile waste is created at every stage of the supply chain:

• Pre-consumer waste comes from samples, deadstock fabric, and faulty dye baths
• Construction waste in the form of offcuts and remnants
• Consumer waste is created when we throw away clothes because of holes, stains, poor fit, or simply because they’re no longer fashionable

Charity shops are overwhelmed with donations, and many items don’t get resold, so what can we do about it?

The Fabric Folk sees fabric waste as a design challenge. They collect pre-consumer waste by donating it to makers and artists so they have an affordable source for their projects. They also help people learn to repair through mending and upcycling workshops and run fun initiatives like The Mayor’s Bears, which turns damaged baby clothes into creative, embellished outfits for teddy bears in aid of the Mayor of Harpenden’s charities.

How you can get involved:

• Join one of The Fabric Folk’s workshops and flex your creative muscles by learning sashiko denim repair, scrap fabric collage and patchwork upcycling, among others.
• Remember repair doesn’t need to be perfect. Creative darning or patching can add real character to your damaged clothes.
• If you’re a crafter, let the fabric guide your project rather than starting with a fixed idea. You can ask charity shops if they have damaged textiles they’d be happy to sell you for a donation.
• Donate surplus fabric from your stash so artists and students have access to affordable materials.
• If you’re up for a creative challenge why not try your hand at traditional methods like bojagi? In this traditional Korean patchwork technique, small fabric offcuts are pieced into colourful quilts.

Fighting fast fashion with Jefferson Eco CIC

Second to the stage was Sonya Jefferson from Jefferson Eco CIC, who joined us to talk about the damage caused by fast fashion. Fashion accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions, and that’s before you factor in other fabrics like curtains and carpets. In the UK, we throw away 336,000 garments a year – often these are shipped abroad, where they pile up in places like the Atacama Desert. In Ghana, fishermen are now catching more clothes than fish.

Sonya set up Jefferson Crafts to turn unwanted textiles into useful items for the home. This has now evolved into Jefferson Eco CIC, which sells home items and gifts, as well as running workshops, from its premises at 46, London Road, St Albans.  

How you can get involved:

• Avoid fast fashion retailers like Shein, which use chemicals that would be illegal in the UK. Not only do they damage the environment, they can also cause skin irritations.
• Before donating clothes to a charity shop, check if they’re genuinely resaleable. If they have stains or missing buttons, they’ll probably be sold for rag, and end up being incinerated to shipped abroad. Try repair first – it can cut an item’s carbon footprint by 20–30%.
• Remember polyester, sequins and glitter can’t be shredded and usually end up incinerated.
• Learn basic repair techniques at one of Jefferson Eco’s workshops. Popular classes include sewing machine basics, speed weaving and mending your jeans crotch.
• You can also visit The Green House’s Repair Café.
• Donate surplus fabric directly to Jefferson Eco to be reused in projects like bunting.
• Think sustainably about gifts. Support local, sustainable makers or choose items made from deadstock fabric.

Normalising furniture upcycling with Woz Designs

Jacqui from Woz Designs treated us to a live demonstration of upcycling a piece of furniture as she shared her journey. Jacqui began upcycling about 30 years ago, before it was even a word. After a life-changing accident left her unable to walk, she turned to painting as a way to recover. What began with painting plant pots grew into a business and she eventually left her corporate job to concentrate on Woz Designs full-time.

Furniture runs in her family – her great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, and grandfather all worked in the furniture trade in High Wycombe.

During the event, Jackie gave a live demonstration on a small table with beautiful bevelled legs. [FH1] D

How you can get involved:

• Choose upcycled furniture as a fun, resourceful way to add character to your home. You can browse Jacqui’s beautiful pieces, order a commission or try your hand at upcycling your own furniture.
• Look in Harpenden Reuse Centre (next to the tip on Dark Lane) for affordable furniture and wooden items to transform.
• Start small. Try painting wooden bowls or candlesticks before tackling bigger projects.
• ‘Success is all in the prep’. Good prep takes longer than the painting itself but makes all the difference. Get in touch with Jacqui at jacqui@wozdesigns.com for advice on how to upcycle your particular project.

Talking points

Inspired by the presentations, the attendees discussed other ways we could help tackle fabric and furniture waste. Our ideas included:

• Getting social media influencers involved to help shift attitudes towards fast fashion.
• Upcycling tights by turning them into draft excluders, nets for protecting delicate clothes in the washing machine or as plant pot holders.
• Introducing eco labels such as a nationally recognised mark to help consumers make the most ethical choice when buying new clothes.
• Supporting other businesses making use of waste textiles, such as Turtle Doves’ gloves made from old cashmere jumpers.
• Turning old textiles into peg bags, gym bags, dust sheets, lavender bags and even a meaningful quilt made from the shirts of a family member who had passed away.  

Resources

• Last year we discovered some visible mending techniques for repairing garments and ceramic items.

Dates for your diary

• The Harpenden Sustainability Market is back on the 21^st of September. Join us to browse Jefferson Eco CIC and other local eco businesses’ wares. Don’t forget to stop by the Sustainable St Albans stall, where you can drop off or pick up a preloved Halloween costume.
• Join Sustainable X for its popular clothes swap event in St Albans on the 27^th of September. Bring up to 10 clean, undamaged items you’d be happy to receive—and swap them for up to 10 items which are new-to-you (adult items only).
• Browse Jefferson Eco’s upcoming workshops on their website.