As the world starts to realise that we’ve got finite resources and that we can’t just make cheap things and throw them away forever, the message of sustainability becomes increasingly important. I’m paraphrasing hugely with the first half of that statement, but I’m pleased to report that the second half is spot on. People need to become less reliant on the big systems that we are bound by at the moment and learn to fend for themselves and make proper decisions about the materials they use and the things they consume. Ruth Singer’s new book Sew Eco: Sewing Sustainable and Re-Used Materials is here to help.

Ruth is a designer who works exclusively with recycled, natural and eco-friendly fibres and she spends quite some time explaining the various challenges that you may face in making ethical and sustainable decisions. With intelligent argument and clear description the first five chapters set you up for the rest of the book, where inspiration takes over…

The remaining two sections of the book look at home projects and fashion projects that make use of recycled materials and sustainable textiles. There’s a broad range of projects for you to engage with and plenty of ideas for future directions.

I really like this book. It has a great style about it and includes plenty of projects that you will want to try. It helps you understand the challenges that exist within the textile industry and encourages you to reuse and recycle existing materials to give them new life – something I wholeheartedly agree with.

Sew Eco is published by A&C Black and is available from all good retailers.

Why not buy it via the Mr X Stitch Amazon store?

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Competition Time! Win a copy of Sew Eco!

We have one copy of the book for you to win and it’s a doddle to do so!

It’s a two part contest:

1. Add your details to our mailing list*
2. Tell us your best sustainable/eco friendly tip!

(Here’s one to get you to started. If you’ve got old tin foil that you’ve used, give it a bit of a clean, then fold it in half again and again until you have a small square with many layers of foil. Cut it into small strips with your scissors and you’ll sharpen the scissors in doing so!)

The closing date for entries is Friday 6th May, when a winner will be chosen by the random number generator and we will post the result.

*We promise we won’t be evil with your information, we just want to be able to share Mr X Stitch news with you and pick your brains from time to time.