When you’re trying to build a sustainable haberdashery, there’s a lot you can do to create a more eco-conscious collection. From opting for wooden sewing tools to shopping from our wide range of eco-friendly fabrics at Good Fabric, there’s plenty of opportunity to make greener choices! But, there’s one query that a lot of eco sewists struggle with: what to do with fabric scraps?
Scraps are unavoidable when sewing, but there are ways that you can get rid of them without being wasteful. The bonus is that you get to give back to your community, too, making this a bonafide win-win
A Quick Summary
We’ve teamed up with local schools to donate your fabric scraps to their textile and SEN departments, helping reduce waste and encouraging creative education. If you have scraps you’d be willing to donate, contact us at [email protected], or keep reading to find out more!
Good Fabric’s Waste Scraps
Our team at Good Fabric had piles upon piles of fabric scraps kept stored for a rainy day. But, though small projects and patchwork blankets make wonderful projects, we couldn’t help wondering if there was something better we could be doing with our leftovers. Something that made a difference, ideally.
So, when we were contacted by a local Wimbledon school asking if we had any scraps to donate, you can bet we responded quickly!
Partnering With a Local School
Our chats quickly turned into a fruitful partnership. The school was in need of scraps to help their pupils learn in their Textile Design classes, as well as for their SEN department. The leftover fabric would be used to create patterns and appliques, build mood boards, and teach students about different materials and textures. All of it sounded fantastic!
Because the school had no allocated budget for fabric, they were relying entirely on donations. That’s where we came in.
At Good Fabric, we have a large client base of lovely sewists, all of whom have leftover fabric scraps. Because our clients are investing in sustainable materials for their projects, we assumed they’d be keen to cut down on waste, too. How right we were! We created an Instagram post to outline the situation, and you lovely lot were ready to help.
The response we received was overwhelmingly positive. We knew that some sewists would like to get involved, but the number of our Good Fabric family who were willing to go out of their way to deliver scraps to a school in need truly warmed our hearts. Thank you to everyone who’s shown interest so far – you sewists really are amazing!
Setting Up the Scrap System
We quickly set up a system to help everyone who wanted to donate to get their scraps to the school. After less than a week, the boot of our car was completely full of bags stuffed to the brim with fabric. All of this waste was now wanted and on its way to a new home.
The school that we partnered up with also has a sister school nearby. As the “scrap system” was working so well, they reached out to say they’d love donations, too. This got us thinking: what’s to stop us from helping more schools in the area?
With your donations, we hope to team up with schools around London, bringing regular deliveries of fabric scraps to their doorsteps to help their pupils learn and create. With a little bit of teamwork, we sewists can reduce our fabric waste whilst benefiting children. Our small bits of leftover fabric can have a big difference!
Would You Like to Donate?
Although the donations are off to a great start, we’re not done yet. We’d love more help from anyone willing to give their scraps to further this project.
As a teacher working at one of the schools said, “There are scrap shops where we can purchase these sorts of things for little money, but it’s still an expense and, to some, an expense we simply can’t afford or make a priority. So, access to this kind of activity becomes inaccessible to certain pupils, and arts and crafts are no longer an option”. We believe that our Good Fabric community can change that.
We’re actively collecting fabric scraps from anyone who’d like to donate. Your scraps can be as little as 20x20cm – not big enough to make anything with, but just right to help a child learn about materials or create a collage!
Any other arts and crafts materials you have but don’t use would be greatly appreciated, too. Old buttons, bias bindings, ribbons, and thread will all be received with open arms.
Below are we amazing project that students have been working on using your donated fabric scraps.
How to Donate Your Fabric Scraps
There are three ways you can donate your scraps to the kids that need them. The first is by contacting your local schools to ask if they’d like a donation. Trust us, they all need and want scraps, so even if you think your leftovers are useless, ask anyway and see what happens!
The second way is to drop your scraps off directly to us. We have a lovely studio in Wimbledon, where you can make a day of browsing through over 200 rolls of fabric and sewing supplies, as well as chat all things fabrics, patterns and sewing plans. Just be sure to call ahead to make sure we’ll be in! Once you’ve dropped off your donation, why not explore the surrounding area? Wimbledon is a beautiful place with lots to offer, making it wonderful for a day out.
To donate your fabric scraps via post, reach out to us at [email protected]. This will simply be to confirm where to send the scraps and let us know they’re on their way!
Let’s Make a Difference
Who knew that your bag of unwanted fabric scraps could make such a difference in the local community? From aiding tactile education for SEN students to encouraging pupils with a creative flair to let their imagination run wild, your scraps can have a new lease of life in schools. If you’d like to donate your fabric scraps, be sure to reach out to us at [email protected] to learn more and set up your delivery method.
Thank you in advance to every sewist who helps us. We appreciate each and every one of you!
