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Betz White - Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made With Repurposed & Organic Materials Plus Tips & Resources for Earth-Friendly Stitching
pambo's Full Review: Betz White - Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made With R...
I'm not that big on sewing, but thanks to "Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made With Repurposed & Organic Materials," I can claim one small success.
Plastic sandwich bags, with all their convenience and reliability, are a huge waste of money and contributor to the overload of trash we all experience. With two of us taking lunches every day, we needed a new idea, one that proved more popular with one of us than the other.
Author Betz White's "reusable sandwich wraps" is an ideal little project. She proposes using polyurethane laminated fabric, which we happened to have around the house in the form of a tablecloth that was the wrong shape for our table. In five relatively easy steps, we were able to cut, hem, attach flaps and tape, and wrap. While PUL, as it's known, may not sound all that great as a green product, it certainly doesn't hurt to repurpose it. And it cuts down on the 20 or 30 bags we use for sandwiches, chips and other snacks for long commutes and even-longer school days.
What the book offers is great advice on obtaining recycled goods at thrift stores (watch for resistant stains, smells or moth problems), preparing them (check care labels assiduously), and keeping them for later use (store properly, save buttons, etc.)
She shows us how to do projects as easy as the reusable sandwich bags to trivets and coasters, vintage napkin rings, organic baby quilts, door draft busters and more. We don't get a lecture about the need to think about the environment; rather the idea is sprinkled throughout the book and wrapped inside advice about saving money or simply not wasting resources.
One of the quirkier projects is the auto sunshade: She explains how to make shades to cool the car with used juiceboxes, collected from leftovers at soccer games or birthday parties, for example. The Mylar wrapping is the key, apparently. She does warn that this is a big project, one requiring a strong sewing machine with a heavy-duty jeans machine needle, and powerful and patient human operator. This one's out of my league.
But her projects are well thought out, with information on the materials needed, patterns and step-by-step guidance.
This is a smart book for the true craftsy person who also keeps an eye on environmental issues and the pocketbook.
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