Buying clothes ethically can be a challenge in our fast fashion-dominated society. But thrifting is a great option — and, as one recent Reddit post shows us, so is making your own clothes.
Posting in the r/ethicalfashion subreddit, the original poster shows off their beautiful handiwork work, writing, "Made this jacket from a vintage hand applique bed cover from the 80s."
Fashion is cyclical, which means that the vintage hand-applique bed covers of yesteryear can be seamlessly transformed into the quilted jackets of today, with just a little ingenuity and know-how.
For those who are unfamiliar with hand applique, it is the process of layering pieces of fabric on a background fabric, often used as a way of extending the life of clothing and other fabrics. That means that this upcycled article of clothing is made out of something that was itself upcycled from clothing 30 years ago.
It's pretty rare in modern times to see clothing upcycled or reused even once — to see how it can be reused over and over again is pretty inspiring.
And not only did this craftsperson end up with a very cool quilted jacket, but they also saved their vintage bed cover from the fate that befalls so much of our clothing and fabric items — sitting in a landfill.
The number of clothing items produced worldwide has doubled in the past 15 years, while the number of times a single article of clothing is worn, on average, before it is discarded has dropped by 40%. That means that more clothes than ever are indefinitely confined to landfills, where they leach microplastics into the surrounding soil and water.
That fate will not befall this bed cover-turned-jacket, however. And the commenters on the Reddit post were appropriately impressed by the original poster's work.
"That's wonderful! Bet you wear it with a huge smile on your face," writes one commenter.
"This looks stunning," writes another.
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