Fashion (deservedly) gets a bad rap on the eco-front. According to Fashion Takes Action’s 2021 Feasibility Study of Textile Recycling in Canada, “textiles in Canada account for 7 percent of all plastics in Canadian landfills and make up the third-largest category of plastic waste in absolute numbers after packaging and automotive.” Further, 480,576 tonnes of textile waste end up in the waste stream every year!
When an item is thrown away, it is not only the item itself going to waste but also the natural resources required to create it. Knowing this makes it worth the effort to be creative and transform old clothes into new items like turning a dress into a skirt, a t-shirt into a bag or a sweater into a cozy throw pillow. Follow these instructions to make your own toss cushion in less than an hour.
Materials
- Cushion
- Preloved sweater, preferably wool
- Sharp scissors
- Straight pins
- Needle and thread or sewing machine or fabric glue
Instructions
- With the sweater laid flat and the cushion placed on top, cut around the sweater (through the arms) leaving about 2 cm around the 3 sides and approximately 10 cm at the bottom where the sweater edge is.
- Fold the long edge up over your cushion, then take the cushion out, move the top section down (still folded) so the fold line matches the edge of the bottom and cut off the extra material at the top.
3. Keeping the folded bit in place, lay the two sections right sides in facing each other. Pin the two sections
together all the way around.
4. Make sure all 3 layers are pinned where the fold is.
5. Sew a straight stitch or secure with fabric glue all the way around the top three edges.
6. Unfold so the finished side is facing out and place the cushion inside.
It takes 2,650 litres of water to make every t-shirt — that is about 900 days of drinking water for one person
— and more than 6,800 litres for each pair of jeans.
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Jennifer Reynolds, our previous Editor-in-Chief, is a long-time authority in gardening, do-it-yourself projects, urban sustainability, parenting, placemaking and community matters. Her features and columns have been published in Canadian Living, Canadian Family, Gardening Life, House & Home, Globe & Mail, National Post, Toronto Star & more. Plus, her designs and expertise have been featured on dozens of HGTV, W Network and CTV shows.
