FEATURE: CROCHET TO SAVE OUR PLANET
Find out why crochet is the ideal upcycling tool
Clockwise from left: Jane in an upcycled shrug; Emma’s crochet edging hack, and her book
Above left and right: Jane has transformed a jumper and blanket into a vest and jacket. Unpick the arm seams then attach the sleeves to the blanket. Before cutting the sleeve holes, secure with two rows of machine sewing and reinforce again after adding the sleeves
“When we put our own energy into making clothes, we have a connection to them, we want to look after them and keep them in our wardrobe for longer,” Jane says. “As our style, shape and stage in life evolve, we’re then able to adapt our clothes so they can come on this journey with us.”
Emma agrees that upcycling invests us on an emotional level. “When you buy a new garment, the excitement about wearing it fades. I use crochet to change clothes I’ve already got into something I want to wear. If I get bored again, I just rip it back and make something fresh.”
Jane uses crochet for trims and sleeve extensions, but also transforms some unlikely items into clothing. She says that part of the upcycling process is gaining the confidence to play.
“I do a lot of play-based upcycling where I’m reusing existing materials I’ve got to hand,” says Jane. “I’m attracted to texture, and turn crochet blankets and rugs into unique garments by sewing two rows of straight stitches then cutting between those rows and stitching again afterwards to further secure the fabric.”
Unusual items Jane has repurposed include coat hangers crocheted by her mother-in-law for her children. “When they no longer wanted the hangers, I transformed them into memory cuffs on my trousers.”
Emma urges us to have the courage to experiment. “I make lots of mistakes. I spend as much time as ripping back as I do crocheting, but if the alternative is landfill you might as well give it a try.”
THE LOCKDOWN LEGACY
Happily, you don’t need to be an expert crochet designer or sustainability expert to embrace crochet as an upcycling solution. During lockdown, Poppy Fraser decided to crochet a pair of shorts when she couldn’t get to the shops. “At the beginning of lockdown, I made some tops, including one using a granny square sunflower motif I thought would also look groovy as a pair of shorts. I decided to make up a pattern and just kept adding sunflower squares until the shorts were the desired length!”
Making and wearing the shorts she has made herself has provided Poppy with a huge emotional boost. “Knowing that nobody else has a pair of shorts like the ones I’ve made gives me more self-confidence in my abilities. Now I’m crocheting crop tops and a rainbow jumper.”
It’s a fantastic alternative to online shopping, which Jane warns us against. “There’s a lot of wastefulness built in when you can’t try before you buy, because return
Far left and left: knitwear embellishments by Katie; Poppy’s lockdown shorts items are often just dumped.”
During lockdown, Emma ran an online crochet hack workshop with Domestika, an online space that provides a large number of creative courses in various fields. “Uptake was phenomenal. We had hundreds of people signing up to take part. I hope this is a sign that people are thinking differently about what they wear and people will use the skills generated and built on during lockdown to really engage with this thinking about how we can reuse stuff.”
Jane points out that the interest in transitioning to slow fashion was building even before lockdown. “People were already becoming conscious of how their choices impact other people, places and the planet. There’s growing awareness of regenerative actions to reduce our negative impact on the ecosystem.”
We’ve already begun to make a move in the right direction. Now is the time to forge new, positive ways to fall back in love with the clothes we already own.
Written by Judy Darley
Jane Milburn: www.textilebeat.com
Katie Jones: www.katiejonesknit.co.uk Emma Friedlander-Collins: www.steelandstitch. blogspot.com and Instagram at @steelandstitch Domestika: www.domestika.org