Make Do Monday

So it's Slow Fashion October again. Though I don't really take part, it is an opportunity for a bit of reflection. This past Monday, having the apartment to myself, I spent the entire evening listening to podcasts** and catching up on my mending. When you buy second hand and wear and wear your favourites for years, frequent maintenance is required. Seams wear, straps fray, buttons fall off. Some of these skirts have been in rotation for over 20 years. It's a small accomplishment, but I am proud of it.

Another aspect of slow fashion that I've been thinking a lot about is laundry. You hear more and more about plastic fibres from our clothes getting in the ocean. All those yoga pants being machined washed! To keep my natural fibre prints clean, I of course hand wash with vegetable based soaps - when I wash that is. For here's a secret. I hardly ever wash my skirts. Unless I spill something on them, they only get laundered about every tenth wear. Honestly with a freshening iron or steam, the fabric looks just fine to wear many times. Dresses need more washing for obvious reasons. However, I find that with light wear, a spritz on the underarm area of the garment with homemade fabric refresher***, is often enough to make the dress ready for a second or even a third wear. 

There is a label I want to share.  I rarely buy new and that's a function of economic necessity as much as it is a reflection of social conscience. When I do, it has to be special. Inside my new organic cotton dress by Toad & Co. is this:

Dirty is the new clean.
Wear more, wash less.
Wear it out or pass it on.

Sounds right to me.

**Re the podcasts. Listen to Clara Parkes reading the Debbie Stoller chapter from A Stash Of One's Own on Pomcast. It will make you cry.
***Mix a few drops of essential lavender oil and tea tree oil with distilled water in a spray bottle. It works wonders.