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Hello everyone! Today I'm here to share some thoughts on the Slow Fashion October. If you don't have any idea what that is, you can read more about it over on Karen's blog. She started the whole initiative 3 years ago and in my opinion it's one of the most interesting issues that the sewing community has ever raised.

Slotober for me can be expressed in so many views. Over the years I enjoyed reading many different opinions about the subject from other makers, and it has always been a thought on the back of my head, but I decided that this year I'd like to think more about what it means to me and how it affects my journey as a maker.

A little bit about my personal history on the matter

I never been one to be really obsessed with trends or shopping for that matter. I used to enjoy shopping, but now I find the process really tiring and meaningless. I much more prefer shopping for patterns, fabrics, notions and yarn these days. In my early years of college I was the same as pretty much the majority of people on that age. I wanted to have clothes, the more the merrier, quantity over quality and so it goes. I was never really happy with my wardrobe, I constantly had that I-have-nothing-to-wear feeling when I was in front of my wardrobe and I was really struggling to have my own personal style.

Then I discovered sewing.But for me at the beginning was more or less the same. Lots of cheap fabric(the only kind of fabric my college budget was allowing me), resulting to makes that I didn't love as much and didn't make it in the passage of time.

Two years ago, I read the genius book called "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. I threw out my ufos and badly-made garments, donated the majority of my clothes to friends and charities and never looked back. I stopped shopping for clothes except on the rare occasion that something I really like catches my eye and I started being more conscious about my wardrobe. That's when a-very early-stages-form of what my personal style is like started forming. I completely changed the way I sewed. I took some pattern-drafting lessons, that teached me a lot about patterns, what I like and what is worth of my time. I started buying good quality fabrics and giving more attention to details on my sewing.

But I find that I am still a bit confused with my sewing and with what my personal style exactly is. So I will use this Slotober to try and figure out my style and wardrobe. I find that sometimes with my sewing I get so overwhelmed(I blame Instagram on this!) to make all the things, that I don't pay as much attention as I should to my makes.
As for the ethical aspect of this issue. I am constantly try to educate myself and be more conscious about what I buy. I wish I could be more selective, but being a 26-years-old hard working to be able to afford my own place, pay my bills and live my life doesn't always gives me the opportunity. I'm fortunate to be able to still buy fabric that has been made locally in Greece, so as fabric goes, this is as close t ethical made as I can go right now. I would like to think that one day I will be able to be the proud owner of a wardrobe of which I would know every origin of every single piece in it.

For me it is not about being perfect in every little aspect of your life. After all we are all humans living in a very s**t world right now. From animals being treated bad to fast fashion and so many more issues. In my own opinion if everyone, tries to be more conscious even about half of the things  we should be in our everyday life, it will result to such a big impact on our world. No one is perfect, but we can try and be as close to that as we can.

If you made it until the end of this really lengthy post, thank you so much for reading my thoughts on this issue and I would love to hear your opinion about the subject. What is Slow Fashion October for you?

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