Creating Value & Valuing Creativity

Significant Seams recently hosted our third ‘reclaiming creative materials’ event at the workshop at Karen Gutans Art. We have been appreciative of crafty donations we’ve received at each session. Even more, we have been grateful for the help – and social company – as we ‘process’ donations to maximise their usefulness and enable people’s creativity.

We think that too often resources are cast aside because they are deemed imperfect or unworthy of the effort of our attention. What if, the actual problem isn’t the resources, but how we prioritise people, planet, and care?

Volunteers, workers, and people that we support, together, are doing things to ‘add value’ to the items: fabric, buttons, needles, threads, pins, curtain headers, wool from local sheep, and gorgeous fibres that have been discarded by factories. In our social sessions, we are sorting, ironing, cutting, and applying Bond-a-Web ‘fusible web’ to make applique shapes.

Our sorting organises materials by anticipated best use: for community events and projects, for selling on our Vinted online shop, or at our sales alcove in the workshop at Karen Gutan’s Art. Patchwork potholder kits, autumn and Christmas fabric applique shapes, and felting kits and wool are now well-stocked. We hope one day soon, our kits and products will be almost impossible to sustain, because less will be wasted, overproduced, or undervalued.

In the meantime, your custom helps us value human beings who are feeling devalued by society, generally because of a vulnerable life moment beyond their control. The next ‘Reclaiming Creative Materials’ session is Wednesday 11 November 10:30-12:30 and 1:30-3:30. During the period, use of a sewing machine or Significant Seams other equipment can be booked for your own project for £6/hour. All are welcome to join these sessions. Additionally, workshops making specific items are also available.

“Globally, around 100 billion garments are produced each year, which means more than 13 items for every person on Earth annually.” An estimated 30 BILLION of these are never worn – not even once – as they arent ever sold. https://nul.global/blog/overproduction-in-the-fashion-industry