How to make your sewing practice 10x more sustainable
From fabric shopping to washing day, these are the small swaps that actually make a difference
One of the things I love most about the sewing community is that so many of us came to it because of sustainability. Learning to sew forces you to reckon with how clothes are made, and it’s one of those things that once you know it, you simply can’t unknow it. But having a sewing practice doesn’t automatically make you a sustainable sewist!
That’s why I wanted to do some research into how I can make my sewing practice more sustainable.
So! I dove into the topic properly, and now I’m sharing it all with you! Here are all the ways we can do our bit for the planet, from the fabrics we buy, the notions we choose, how we deal with our offcuts, and even how we wash the things we make. Let’s get into it!
Buying more sustainable fabrics
I have to admit that I’m a chronic fabric hoarder, and one of my biggest joys in life is buying more fabric. This means I have an out-of-control fabric stash! If you’re like me, fabric is where the majority of our sewing budget is going, which means it’s also where we can have the biggest impact.
If you want to make more considered purchases, here are some questions worth asking yourself before you buy new fabric:
Can I trace the origin of this fabric? Look for shops and brands that clearly display where their fabrics come from.
Was the crop farmed organically? Lower pesticide use is better for the planet and the workers. You can look for a GOTS label (Global Organic Textile Standard — the most common organic textile certification).
How far has this fabric travelled to reach me? And how did it travel to me? Emissions from air travel are usually higher than those from other forms of shipping.
Is this a natural or synthetic fibre? Natural fibres are generally more sustainable at end of life because they’re biodegradable.
What crop was this made from? Cotton, for example, has a notoriously high water footprint; linen uses far less.
Can I use something I already have in my stash rather than buying new?
That last one is a pointed attack on me, but it’s the easiest win for both my bank account and the planet. So it’s a double win!
The most sustainable fabric is one that already exists!
There’s already so much fabric in the world, and it’s just waiting for you to give it a second life! So, where do I source fabric that’s not from a fabric store?
Charity shops are genuinely one of my favourite places to source fabric. A damaged or unloved garment is essentially a fat quarter waiting to happen. You’re often paying a fraction of what the fabric would cost new, and you’re keeping something out of landfill. It takes a bit of a mental shift to walk into a charity shop and see the rails as a fabric stash rather than a wardrobe, but once you make that switch you’ll be unstoppable!
Facebook Marketplace and Vinted are worth a regular browse too, especially if you’re after something specific. People sell fabric remnants, unwanted stash fabric, and curtains and bedding all the time. It often costs next to nothing too because they just want it gone. Searching terms like “fabric bundle”, “material offcuts”, or even just the fibre you’re looking for can turn up some brilliant finds. Vinted in particular has become an amazing way to source second-hand clothes that are cheap enough to buy purely for the fabric.
If you don’t want to buy anything at all, then look to your old bedsheets! A good quality cotton or linen bedsheet gives you an enormous amount of fabric in one go.I managed to make a matching top and shorts out of a single sheet! They’re obviously perfect for toiles if you don’t want to cut into your good fabric straight away. But honestly, a good quality sheet can make a beautiful finished garment too! The same goes for curtains, tablecloths, duvet covers… anything large and relatively flat is fair game!
A note on printed and dyed fabrics
Something that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough is how bad the process of dyeing fabric is for the environment.
A conservative estimate is that 10% of fabric dyes end up washed into wastewater during manufacturing. Because it’s more cost-effective, most fabric dyes are synthetic and can contain chemicals like azo (a known carcinogen), formaldehyde, and heavy metals. These are obviously incredibly harmful to the humans dyeing our clothes and the aquatic life affected by any runoff. So, when you think about it, this is a pretty alarming statistic for anyone who cares about the health of humanity and the planet that keeps us alive.
If you’d like to learn more about how fabric dyes are impacting our health, you need to read Alden Wicker’s book To Dye For. The blurb describes it as a ‘a jolting exposé that reveals the true cost of the toxic, largely unregulated chemicals found on most clothing today.’ It left me freaked out but educated!
What you can do: Look for OEKO-TEX certification as well as GOTS, which covers not just the organic growing of the crop but the processing of it too, ensuring the chemicals used don’t harm workers or waterways.
If you’re drawn to printed fabrics and want a sustainable option, you should look for digitally printed fabrics. This is because digital printing applies colour directly to the surface of the cloth rather than soaking the fibres through, which means it uses very little water compared to traditional dyeing methods and is, therefore, a lot more sustainable!
Easy swaps for your notions
We agonise over fabric choices and then grab whatever thread and zip is closest on the shelf. I’m as guilty of this as anyone! But notions add up!
When I saw how the brand Kowtow had changed their production process so that all of their clothes are 100% plastic free (and then released an open-source guide to share exactly how they did it), I realised that surely I can do this with my home sewing practice too!
So, I’ve rounded up some ways I can make my notions more sustainable, and there are some really easy swaps here!
Thread is almost always 100% polyester by default, but organic cotton thread, silk, and even thread spun from recycled plastic bottles are all out there. I saw some recycled polyester Gutterman thread in a haberdashery a few days ago, so these are definitely out there and could be worth looking for!
But at the same time, I prefer working with polyester thread. It gives me a smoother sewing experience, and my seams feel a lot stronger, meaning my clothes will last longer. So, to be honest, I’ll probably keep using polyester thread and make sustainable swaps with my other notions.
A bonus tip! The plastic cones or spools that your thread comes on can be recycled. However, don’t put them with your household plastic recycling! You’ll need to take them to a dedicated ‘hard plastic’ recycling point. Just collect them up and after you have enough to make the trip worth it, drop off them off and pat yourself on the back for being better than all of us putting our thread spools straight in the bin.
I will warn you now, though, finding a place to recycle hard plastics can be a nightmare! So if you know a place, please share in the comments!
Buttons might be my favourite sustainable swap, mainly because it involves zero compromise! Wooden, shell, resin, and vintage buttons are all more sustainable and way lovelier than their plastic equivalents.
You could also go a step further and use only second-hand buttons by digging through your button tin, raiding car boot sales, and haunting charity shops.
If you want do want to buy new, look for corozo buttons. They’re made from the nut of a South American palm tree and are 100% natural option with a beautiful hard, dense quality to them.
Zips are the trickiest one to find a sustainable swap for. However, metal-toothed zips are a genuinely great swap for the standard plastic-and-polyester-tape variety. They come in gold, silver, and brass, they’re more durable, and they look incredible. You can also find them with organic cotton tape. If you need a specific colour that only comes in plastic, recycled plastic zips are also becoming more widely available so keep an eye out for those!
You could also ditch the zip entirely and opt for a button fly on pants or rouleau buttons on a dress. Buttons are a lot easier to recycle than zips at the end of a garment’s life!
Stop printing patterns and buy a projector!
This one won’t work for everyone, BUT you can massively cut down on how much waste you’re creating by buying a projector.
Instead of printing, taping and cutting out your paper pattern, you project your digital pattern file directly onto your fabric (or the floor or a table, depending on your setup) and cut around it. This avoids all of the wasted paper that comes with printing out a pattern! It sounds fiddly to set up, but once you’ve done it once, you won’t go back. It’s faster, more accurate, and you’ll never have to print a 47-page PDF again!
The sewing community has done a huge amount of work on projector recommendations for different budgets, so a quick search for “projector sewing setup” will point you in the right direction. This swap is not only better for the planet, but, as a certified pattern-taping-hater, I promise that it will genuinely improve your making process!
Make the most of what you’ve already got!
Offcuts are inevitable, but the amount that becomes actual waste is something we have control over.
The first step to reducing waste is to lay your pattern pieces as close together as possible. While cutting on the fold is tidy, it’s not always the most economical use of fabric. Instead, I cut my fabric on a single layer, which often lets me squeeze pieces in more creatively! Just keep an eye on your grain line, and don’t get so creative with your placing that you’ve cut something that should be on the straight grain on the bias.
What you do with the offcuts that remain is also worth thinking about. Bigger pieces could become baby clothes, scrunchies, headbands, pouches, or zippered bags. If you need project inspiration, I’ve curated a list of over 100 free sewing patterns, and loads of them are for small projects that’d be perfect for scraps!
Donating and swapping your fabric and clothes
If you genuinely have scraps or fabric you won’t use, they don’t have to go to waste. Local schools and colleges with art or fashion programmes often welcome donations. Charity shops sometimes take fabric for stuffing or to sell on to quilters. Women’s shelters and community organisations also accept clothing donations — just keep in mind that charity shops can only accept items that would realistically sell, so be thoughtful about what you donate.
Fabric swaps are another great way to refresh your fabric stash without buying anything new. You can organise your own through social media, a sewing group, or turn it into a picnic with your friends.
If you do bring fabric to a swap, it’s always a good idea to add a little tag with the composition (e.g. 100% cotton) and the dimensions to help people figure out what they could actually make with it.
And don’t overlook clothing swaps for your finished makes or RTW pieces you no longer wear. Many high street shops now also have take-back schemes for recycling clothing, though it’s worth checking your local council’s textile recycling policies too.
How you wash your clothes matters too!
Your sustainability journey doesn’t end with the final stitch. How you care for what you make has a real impact on both the planet and how long your garment will last.
Firstly, cooler washes (20–40°C) are kinder to the environment and your fabric. Hotter temperatures degrade fibres faster and will shorten the life of your clothes. Save the hot wash for bedding when you really need it, and always try to run a full load rather than a half-empty machine.
Before reaching for the washing machine at all, ask yourself: do my clothes actually need washing? Or is spot cleaning okay? Spot cleaning and hand washing are underused tools that can make a huge difference in how often you’re using your washing machine.
If you make with synthetic fabrics like polyester, nylon or fleece, there’s an extra layer to think about when it comes to washing.
Mainly, microfibres. Every wash releases tiny plastic particles that pass through wastewater treatment and end up in rivers and oceans. A microfibre-catching bag or a washing machine filter can help reduce how much gets out. This isn’t a perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing while we wait for more comprehensive systemic changes.
For detergent, reducing synthetic fragrances and harsh chemicals is both better for waterways and, if you have sensitive skin, better for you. Instead, look for fragrance-free, low-impact alternatives.
A final tip: Air dry where you can rather than tumble drying. It’s so much better for your fabric! And if you dry clean, look for a company that has moved away from perchloroethylene, which is the most harmful chemical in conventional dry cleaning.
Sustainability in sewing isn’t about being perfect; it’s about making more informed choices, more often. The fact that you’re making your own clothes at all is already pretty incredible. These are just some of the ways to take it a bit further!
I’d love to know which of these you’re already doing, or which one you’re going to try first — leave a comment and let me know!
And if you have a sustainable fabric shop or notion supplier you love, please share it. I’m always looking for new recommendations!
Thank you so much for reading The Weekend Project! If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, I’d really appreciate a like, share, or comment — it truly means a lot <3
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If you’re a brand interested in collaborating on a future post, please get in touch via email sarah@thweekendproject.com
Love this! 😍 But I wonder if the swap from printing to a projector is really more sustainable. It's more practical for sure - I bought one last year too and prefer it very much over having to tape and cut out the pattern. But I wonder how many sheets of paper you'd have to print to make up for all the material going into a projector. And I imagine recycling a projector also leaves more parts that can't be recycled than what paper patterns do. 🤔
I can see how saving paper for patterns with a projector might be helpful for some but I’m afraid that I can’t envision how to make the many fit changes I need digitally. I actually enjoy the physical pattern manipulation part! Also, I play a game of Tetris with the pieces to find the most fabric saving layout. And that’s often even more fun when cutting 2 different patterns from a longer fabric length. Or making garments from scraps so there’s no large piece of fabric to project a pattern on. It sounds good in theory but I guess not for me.
I do already follow many of your suggestions however! Good to see you don’t avoid polyester thread. In my opinion the negative environmental aspects can be somewhat mitigated by the garment’s longevity. I’ve been sewing forever (over 60 years!) and have seen cotton threads disintegrate over time creating a ridiculous amount of repair. Though I do use them sometimes when sewing something that will be subsequently dyed. Obviously nothing is simple and there’s pros and cons to all our choices! Sew on and sew forth…