Going on holiday and reducing your wardrobe to what fits in a backpack or  suitcase is a salient reminder, for me,that I possess too many items of clothing.  This holiday season I had four days at our shack at Era. I went to a new years eve party, the beach and swam, was kitted up ready to fight a bush fire, bush walked, experienced hot and cold days and everything I wore came from my backpack which also held food, wine, a gas bottle and essentials for our stay. Most of the clothes I took with me were black and one white (boring you might say) but easy to put together.

The most versatile items I took with me were  a cotton sarong (this was colourful) which doubled as a towel, skirt or dress, and a cotton kurta which was great as a sun cover up on the beach and for covering up for fighting fire. Natural fibres are safer than synthetics for this.

I often exclaim I have nothing to wear on viewing my bursting at the seams wardrobe. This is a patent untruth and what I really mean is that I’m bored with what I see. This is not a good enough reason for accumulating more pieces of clothing and adding to our overburdened planet.

These are some of the contributing factors;

We often don’t wear clothes because we grow out of them, a euphemism for putting on weight.

To overcome this problem I am going to make sure that I maintain my body size so that my clothes fit properly and I feel good in them.

We don’t look after clothes properly, don’t follow washing guidelines. I’m pretty good with this.

Don’t repair clothes. They sometimes stay in the repair basket for a while but I eventually get to it.

Buy cheap clothes that are of inferior make and quality that can’t be repaired.

Follow fads that instantly date and don’t recycle our garments.Phew!

I’m on a mission to save money and make a small contribution this year to our planet by making my own clothes or adapting existing items. A make do and mend type of approach. Over the years I have collected lots of old fabrics and I’m going to enjoy dipping into these and seeing what they turn into.

I recently helped Lena make a skirt from some fabulous handprinted raw silk that I had been hording for 20 years.She loves it and is now trotting around in a unique garment made carefully with few carbon miles or exploitation involved.

I”m going to try and make this work.