Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

All of us are aware of and enjoy many of the mental health benefits of crafting, making and mending. Rebecca Jackson understands this better than most, having experienced one of the worst things someone can go through. It led her to set up The Big Fandango five years ago in Bury, just outside Manchester in the UK. The Big Fandango is a social enterprise with workshop space that creates and nurtures community and positive mental health through learning sewing and textiles craft skills, whilst also delivering suicide prevention training to businesses and organisations.

You will also hear from Jeanna Wigger and Mary Morton, authors of the awesome mending book, ‘Stitch It, Don’t Ditch It’, who were delivering a mending workshop as part of their North of England book tour a couple of weeks ago.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Rebecca Jackson founded The Big Fandango, a social enterprise based in Bury, Manchester, UK.

Listen to my episode with Jeanna and Mary about their amazing book:

Ep. #191: Stitch it, Don’t Ditch it with Mary Morton and Jeanna Wigger

Jeanna Wigger can be found @thepeoplesmending on Instagram. Jeanna also has an excellent Substack.

Mary Morton can be found @edinburghstreetstitchers and @mvm13 on Instagram

Listen to my other previous conversations with Jeanna:

Ep. #115: Winter of Care and Repair with Jeanna Wigger

Ep. #132: A Season of Mending with Jeanna Wigger

Ep. #135: How to Triage Your Mends with Jeanna Wigger

Ep. #163: How to Effect Change This Winter with Jeanna Wigger

Ep. #190: The Four Tendencies and Sewing with Jeanna, Kim & Lise 

Ep. #208: Challenging Consumption and Perfectionism with Jeanna Wigger

Mary volunteers at the Shrub Coop, a ZW charity based in Edinburgh, Scotland (@shrubcoop on Instagram).

Find their book, ‘Stitch it, Don't Ditch it’.

Mary and Jeanna regularly recommend the ‘Repair What You Wear’ website to would-be menders. Also @RepairWhatYouWear on YouTube, and in this episode mentioned their videos on how to thread a needle easily for right handed people and for left handed people.

It seems like every day, another small craft business announces that it’s closing down. In this solo episode I’m looking at the causes. What can we do to both support small businesses AND buy less new stuff for the sake of our planet?

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Image source: Tim Mossholder via Unsplash

Find out more about the Last Sewist Standing challenge:

Ep. #118: Last Sewist Standing with Lise Bauer

This Forbes article, ‘The Benefits Of Shopping Small All Year Long’ by Jim Granat, was really interesting.

The shoplocaluk.org website has some more useful information.

I used the definition of the cost of living crisis from this fuelgenie.co.uk article.

Enjoy Gina Ferrari’s Substack.

You’ll have heard me say it a ton of times before: sewing clothes yourself isn’t necessarily the most sustainable way to clothe yourself or your family. But obviously, you’ll be prizing my sewing machine out of my cold, dead hands. However, with literal mountains of existing garments already in the world, there are plenty of other ways to source clothing with a reduced environmental and social impact. In this episode, I speak with Izzie Eriksen, founding director of a Glasgow-based social enterprise called ApparelXchange, about the various ways we can clothe our young people more sustainably. We also hear what ApparelXchange is doing to tackle child poverty AND nurture their local community.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Izzie Eriksen is the founding director of Glasgow-based social enterprise ApparelXchange. Follow them on Instagram @apparelxchange.

This episode is the sister to:

Ep. #206: How to Sew More Sustainably for Kids

Photos from the ApparelXchange shop and warehouse:

Many of us experience the sewing and crafting communities as a welcoming haven in which we find self expression, safety and belonging. But just how inclusive are sewing spaces, both virtual and IRL? And how can we build them better? Guest host Kat Camfield is back with an incredible conversation with Frances Andonopoulos, the visionary behind a different kind of sewing school, Sincere Studio in Portland, Oregon. They discuss how Sincere Studio was built from the ground up with everybody and every body in mind, and why only the social enterprise model can work when creating a space that truly serves all members of a community.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Kat Camfield is a sewing teacher and sewing retreat organiser living in Victoria, Canada. You can follow Kat on Instagram @cooperativekatsews.

Hear Kat on previous episodes of CYT:

Ep. #196: Eco Printing - Kat Camfield with Carly from Lorelei Textile Design

Ep. #200: Making Check Your Thread - with Zoe & Kat, Part 1

Ep. #201: Making Check Your Thread - with Zoe & Kat, Part 2

Ep. #204: The Sewing Machine, A Novel - Kat Camfield with Natalie Fergie 

Frances Andonopoulos is the founder of Sincere Studio in Portland, Oregon.

You can follow them on Instagram @sincerestudiopdx.

What does it take to be a self-sufficient maker? How do we acquire our knowledge? And to what extent are we subject to crafting influencers and advertising? This is the second part of my most recent conversation with return guest Shams el-Din Rogers, in which we explore this idea. We also share what’s giving us hope as we push into 2026.

Support the podcast over on Patreon!

Find Shams el-Din Rogers @sepia_textiles on Instagram.

Listen to her on previous episodes of CYT:

Ep. #32: Textile Activism with Shams el–Din Rogers 

Ep. #49: Sewing as Art and Political Action with Shams el–Din Rogers

Ep. #77: Stashes and Spaces with Shams el–Din Rogers

Ep. #81: Travel, Sustainability and Sewing with Shams el-Din Rogers

Ep. #142: Values Based Spending and Making with Shams el-Din Rogers

Ep. #153: The Provenance of Materials and Techniques - Shams with Allie Davies

Ep. #212: Creativity, Craft & Clutter with Shams el-Din Rogers

Shams is on the board at the Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto.

Shams regularly recommended the seminal book ‘Affluenza’ by Oliver James to her students.

Watch the trailer for the Japanese film Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Follow Works In Progress Toronto, the collective Shams is a member of, on Instagram (@works.in.progress.to)

During our conversation we references the following previous CYT episodes:

Ep. #210: How Frugality Builds Community with Mariel Davies

Ep. #207: Style Shifts and Sustainability with Lindsay Ashworth Fraser