Blogging it

Welcome to my very first ever blog. As I am writing this I am actually a little bit nervous. To be honest – putting myself, my thoughts and my creations out there and sharing them with the public is rather a big thing for me. I am one of those people who want to be liked by everyone (which I know I have not achieved yet and most likely never will). But who am I kidding, surely I will attract criticism and dislike. Ah well, I’ll just have to toughen up.

Yep, another full-time mum (I strongly dislike the stay-at-home mum phrase as it makes us “not-working-for-an-income” mums sound lazy – wrongfully so) filling the internet with a slice of herself. No need to panic – as I am never fully satisfied with my parenting skills, I have no desire to share anymore on the subject. And, with my youngest just about to start kindy I have every intention of making this venture a childfree zone! Well mostly…

This blog is dedicated to the wonderful world of fabrics and all the fantastic things you can create with them! Blah blah blah fabric! I know that not everyone gets even half as excited as I do when I discover a fabric with a beautiful design made from fibres so soft that you want to wrap yourself up in it and wear it like a burka… But if you are the tiniest bit passionate about what you wear keep reading.

We are living in a time and place where consumerism is such a big part of our lives. How we shop (quality over quantity, sustainable, ethically correct…) and where we shop (locally, NZ made, supporting small businesses) should be paid a lot more attention.

So… remember that weakness for beautiful fabric I just mentioned? Well, I decided to try and turn it into something positive and productive by turning my home into a teeny weeny sweatshop. A sweatshop where “the worker” (it’s just me – sometimes there really is an ‘I’ in team!) is treated to highest standards and work is mostly fun. Initially I had this fantastic idea to only source organic cotton. Organic – sounds great, aye? Because I believe that it is important that we treat our environment with respect. Which of course is ironic as I could only find organic cotton fabrics I liked on the other side of the world. (I have learned since moving to NZ that these beautiful little islands are geographically so detached that just about everywhere is “on the other side of the world”). And if fabric has to be flown here the organic aspect kind of loses it’s meaning. Plus I read that even if cotton is grown organically (meaning without the use of pesticides, fungicides and insecticides) it can take up to 20,000 litres of water to produce enough cotton to make a pair of jeans! (If you wear skinny jeans you probably have to feel less guilty about the water waste. I am guessing about a thousand litres less guilty). Or to put it differently cotton is responsible for 2.6% of the global water use! Anyways there goes that clever idea! Thankfully the beautiful country I get to live in has got more sheep than people so at least I can easily access beautiful and “locally” fabricated wool fabrics. Perfect for winter hats by the way…

For now, while I am keeping my eyes open to find a perfectly, sustainably and locally manufactured fabric for creating NZ made awesomeness with – for you – I’ll be using every unique and fantastic looking bit of cotton I can get my hands on… And maybe experimenting with alternative fibres that don’t compromise the great qualities cotton has to offer.

So remember shop local, shop quality not quantity and go and check out my creations (have I mentioned those merino / cotton hats for cold weather and bad hair days?! Check them out on my Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/saladin.shop/)

A bientot

Andrea