IT'S OK TO "WASTE" FABRIC

The fear of wasting fabric. This one keeps coming up again and again. "I’m afraid to start making clothes because I’m afraid to waste fabric."

Look, you can not learn any new skill without wasting something. You might waste supplies (money) and most likely your time (which is a currency too, don’t forget it).

But I really want you to change the perspective. How about this:

You are not wasting fabric, you are gaining experience. You just need to choose the right fabric to waste.

The biggest mistake beginners make is thinking that THEY will get it right from the first try. And they cut into that very complicated, or very expensive, or sentimental vintage fabric and… they waste it. Well, they will still learn something, this will still be a valuable experience but with a bitter taste of ruining THE fabric.

To avoid this and to conquer the fear, you need to practice wasting the fabric. Your old bedsheets are always a great source of free material. If you don’t have any, start asking around all the family members and friends what they could donate for your practicing purposes. If not, charity shops, second-hand shops should have a very cheap selection of bed linen or curtains - it all works. And, you will be surprised how much incredibly cheap if not free fabric there’s in the world. You just need to look for it.

If you are afraid of cutting into fabric, it means only one thing: you are not ready to cut into that fabric. Look, I have this 2m cut of vintage silk that has been in my family since I was little. This fabric is complicated, vintage and very sentimental. And I am not ready yet. I tested different designs for it but nothing felt right. So I put it aside, and let it sit. I need more time to figure out what is it that I would like to make with it. If I touch it now, I’ll ruin it.

I am not ready for this specific cut. And it is ok.

I don’t usually work with silk or extra lightweight fabrics, I need to get more practice for this specific fabric, that’s all. Right now it’s not my priority and it’s also ok.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, it means that you need to keep practicing, keep getting comfortable working with fabric. I’ll say it once again: you are not wasting fabric, you are building up your practice hours.

I always say to our students: make tests.

If you have never done something before, make a test. You do it plenty of times and in the future you won’t have to do it again.

If you are learning how to make collars for example, you don’t need to make an entire shirt for that. Practice making just collars.

Is it a pocket? Practice making this specific pocket, no need to make an entire garment for that.

Let me give you an example from other areas of life.

Cooking, is my favourite one. Clothes making and cooking are very similar in a way that you gradually increase the complexity of projects and the more you do it the better you become at it.

But.

You don’t start making food with the most complex dish that requires 8 hours of cooking on the hob with exotic ingredients that are very difficult to get by. What was your very first masterpiece? I remember mine - it was a fried egg.

And I have burned many eggs after that, and put too much salt into soups, overcooked-undercooked too many meals, chose wrong ingredients  - the list is enormous. But I am a very good cook. And all those failures and food waste taught me a valuable lesson, every single time.

With every mistake made comes experience.

I didn’t stop cooking because that one time I burned a pot. I haven’t burned any more pots ever since, I learned a lesson.

The only shortcut to excellence is shit loads of practice.

There’s a lot of noise about waste in the world and it could be tricky not to take the burden on yourself. But you need to learn to differentiate the waste. Some of you are learning how to make clothes because you don’t want to support the fast fashion industry anymore. You don’t want to buy mixed-blends clothes that will never biodegrade and can’t be recycled. You want to invest into good fabrics, make something that works for you.

Fantastic!

So your goal is to stop creating that bad fashion waste, you want to take responsibility for what you wear and do it in a better and more conscious way. I applaud you and I will be the first one to cheer you on along the way. But to get to your results you need to spend time and materials for learning. Don’t buy cheap polycottons or polyester for practice, again - your old bedsheets are a great practice material!

If you are truly committed to learning the skill, you will find the way to get cheap or free fabric for tests.

And please remember, you’re a grown up and you can allow yourself to be imperfect. There’s no strict teacher standing behind your back telling you how imperfect your test makes are. It’s all in your head. You are not at school, there are no grades, you can take all the time in the world to find your routine and what works for you.

Clothes making is a creative craft, so be creative.

Creativity doesn’t play by the rules book. It comes from setting your imagination free. Go on, now, go waste some fabric!