Sewing to save the planet

Many young people have started sewing. The hobby gave people a way to help the environment and stay active during lockdown.

Student, Lea Baecker's delighted. Her clothes fit better and are better quality.

Lea Baecker: "My main motivation was not having to buy ready-to-wear clothes anymore because I didn't want to support fast fashion. And also just to fit it better to my body. Yeah, and from then on, I never looked back."

Lea's Instagram followers love her posts of her new clothes.

Rosie Scott owns New Craft Fabric House, a material shop. She says Instagram has helped her business to grow.

Rosie Scott: "Yeah, I think Instagram definitely helped make sewing look more cool. Like you saw a huge range of people on Instagram sewing. And, yeah, it was just like, more visible."

Rosie's business resells unwanted fabrics from fashion designers. This fabric would usually be thrown away. Now, it's helping young people to be green and learn a new skill instead.

Rosie Scott: "The clients, well customers, have changed - they've become younger, definitely. More younger people are getting interested in sewing. And especially with the fabric, we find that, like, we get a lot of fashion students and young people who are really interested in learning how to make their own clothes and make them sustainably."

Sewing patterns help people start sewing and improve their skills. Tara Viggo's a designer who's started pattern company Paper Theory.

Tara Viggo: "It used to have quite a old-fashioned kind of point of view, but more people are realising how accessible it can be, actually. And it's, it's kind of fun, you know, and they're really getting into it."

Sewing benefits the environment in many ways. People rely less on fast fashion. They also learn how clothes are actually made, which brings up questions about cheap clothes in shops.

Tara Viggo: "Letting people know how much involvement goes into making a garment is a really good way to make you aware. Once you know how to sew your own clothes, you can't fathom that a shirt should be £3 anymore."

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