thready set go

Thready Set Go came into existence through a culmination of threads (sorry) coming together.

I have a background in festivals and events as well as hospitality and retail. It was through my experience in these industries that I saw the vast amounts of waste destined for landfill every day.

Many festivals, whilst being incredible life-changing experiences also tend to generate large amounts of waste and while many have programs in place to minimize this as much as possible, there is always room for improvement.

The hospitality industry is a major waste culprit, especially with the rise of takeaway culture and portion control. Do you remember in the eighties when there was just a bottle of tomato sauce as opposed to hundreds of tiny plastic portion control packets?

I began to grow tired of being caught out without cutlery and being handed a completely unnecessary plastic utensil.

Most of my experience in retail was in funky little recycle/upcycle stores but for a few years I spent one day a week volunteering in my local op shop (aka thrift store). This experience was a real eye-opener seeing first hand the sheer volume that overwhelmed the little shop every week. Many items did not make it to the shop floor if they were chipped or slightly torn or we were unable to clean them.

It became increasingly apparent to me that there was an unfathomable amount of stuff in the world – or to my inner womble – lots of useful materials.

Years passed and I found myself in a low employment area with a creative spirit and an idea to start a sewing business with minimal sewing experience. What could go wrong? I embarked on a journey of study and small business training. It had been nearly ten years since I created a website and boy, had the internet changed a bit. Instagram did not even exist last time I had a business. Luckily I love being organised, making lists and buying highlighters. Thready Set Go was born.

Thready Set Go’s mission is simple: Intercept materials on their way to disuse and re-imagine them into useful products. These products will enable their users to make small everyday changes to minimise the amount of single use items making their way into our earth.

In this way, I feel like I’m minimising landfill twice; through the cloth I intercept and the single use items my products cancel out.

It is amazing to think that the waste not want not mentality has waned so dramatically in the space of two generations. I can feel the groundswell moving both forward and backward in time.

Incredible technology coupled with the ways of our grandmothers and we are unstoppable.

I am inspired daily by the work our grandmothers did. When sustainability was called life. I did not get the chance to know one of my grandmothers in this life, though I’m not sure that matters in some ways. I believe that our relatives passed influence our existence in ways we cannot begin to imagine.

As though I have a seamstress cheer squad somewhere invisible and in the next room.

I use primarily vintage fabrics and remnants to create my small line of reusable everyday products. This often means that I can only make limited amounts out of a certain fabric.

Many of my pieces are one or two of a kind; never to be repeated.

It also makes no two days the same in the Thready Set Go sewing studio. As for the fabric scraps that are generated, I have started donating these to local schools and preschools as an art material for collage work.

I use eco-friendly detergent to wash all fabrics and ensure that each wash load is full. Minimal packaging is used both at local markets and when posting products. I try to minimise waste in every aspect of Thready Set Go’s operation. Even the majority of my sewing thread is second hand.

I describe myself as part grandma, part funkster and proud womble.

Thready Set Go is my baby.

Bx

♥