Sew Eco
Ruth Singer
In A Nutshell: Highly informative book about the environmental impact of fabrics, but let down by dull, unoriginal projects
This book is all about putting the green into your sewing. The most interesting part is definitely the first few chapters, explaining the impact of various fabrics on the environment. Ruth’s aim is to help you understand all the issues involved to make your own choices for low impact sewing.
I learnt that cotton is from a sustainable source but has a high environmental impact with chemically intensive production and high air mileage. An organic fabric may have little chemical processing but is also high on air miles and not necessarily fair-trade.
There are also other good green sewing tips – try “upcycling”, turning something into a higher value item such as curtains into skirt. Dismantle charity shop buys such as keeping the lining and zip from a skirt for a future projects.
Ruth is obviously very knowledgeable about her subject and communicates the information well. I will certainly be taking the book’s advice into account in future fabric purchases. Yet I think it failed as a craft book. The 20 projects contain several ideas for using up fabric scraps but left me unenthused. Pincushions, felted tea-cosies and curtain skirts have all been done in better ways before. There is a hat which looks much better in its “before” version.
This book informs but doesn’t inspire.
