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Ever thought about the plastic content of your self-sewn clothes? To be honest, I haven’t so far, although as co-owner of a plastic-free online store I actually deal with the issue on a daily basis. Somehow I have seen it as inevitable that almost all fabrics contain spandex, sewing thread is made of polyester and buttons are made of plastic. And that my clothes are therefore not completely biodegradable. This is exactly what Maren from Siebenblau didn’t want to put up with, and over the past few months she has banned every shred of plastic from her organic fabric store. Already 12 years ago, she was a pioneer as the first pure organic fabric store in Germany and one can only hope that many will follow this example. I really like this philosophy and was very happy that I could sew the knit jersey in dark bordeaux. By the way, the fabric is also reduced by 20% this week ;).
In any case, this has got me thinking and I noticed while sewing the cardigan, how much plastic is still in my self-sewn clothes. Especially with color-matching buttons or yarns it becomes difficult. I therefore decided to use buttons made of stone nut in the contrasting color anchor. There are now also sewing threads from 100% organic cotton, but with 32 colors, the selection is unfortunately limited and not suitable enough for me as a perfectionist. As sewing thread, I then used a polyester yarn from my stash. In addition, I used polyester overlock threads and a small piece of interfacing, which is also made of synthetic fibers. It does not quite work with the plastic-free sewing yet, but I will definitely try in the future, where possible, to pay attention and use alternatives. The pattern I chose was the Marlo Sweater from True Bias, which I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. Especially if you don’t know how to knit, it’s hard to make your own clothing out of knit that don’t look so homemade. Since the pattern uses cuffs all over, I think it’s a great alternative to homemade knits.
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OUTFIT
Cardigan: me-made, True Bias Marlo Sweater
Midi skirt: me-made, pattern no. 114 Burdastyle 05/2020
Beret: Zara, 2nd Hand via Momox Fashion
Bag: 3.1 Phillip Lim (2nd Hand via Soeur Berlin)
Booties: Ricosta, 2nd Hand via Momox Fashion
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[stextbox id=”grey”]Pattern: True Bias Marlo Sweater
Level of Difficulty: ●●○○○
Size: 4 (usually I sew size 36)[/stextbox]
Pattern modifications: I have not made any changes. I would not change anything for the next version either.
Conclusion: When choosing the right size I have struggled a bit, because my measurements ranged over 3 sizes from size 4 to 8. In the end, I opted for the smallest size, because the finished dimensions were more than sufficient and I wanted to have the cardigan not quite so oversized. Sewing was really fast and the instructions and pattern pieces leave nothing to be desired. It’s the first pattern I have experienced with separate pattern pieces for the interfacing and button position, but it really makes sewing easier. Since I can not knit, I am very happy with the finished cardigan and it was certainly not the last!
The fabric and buttons were provided to me free of charge by Siebenblau as part of a cooperation. All opinions are my own.