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Textiles Information Sheet and Worksheet

Items in bold will need to be brought in from home.

Background information

Around half a million tonnes of old clothes and shoes are thrown away in Britain each year and although some are beyond repair many of these items could be recovered for reuse as second hand clothing or reprocessed into other items such as cleaning cloths, insulation materials and carpet underlay.

Although many charities benefit from donations of second hand clothing and shoes many young people are reluctant to buy or wear second hand clothing. Changes in fashion and the need to conform as well as the relatively low cost of buying new things relative to the cost of repair have tended to reinforce this outlook. Many more second hand clothes are exported to developing countries often for resale or a small proportion is given away as part of emergency relief operations.

Synthetic materials tend to be harder to unravel for reprocessing but many natural fibre materials can be used to make other items. Today our hectic lifestyles and centralised production methods have significantly reduced the number of people who are able or desire to make their own clothes. Crafts such as weaving and quilt making are also less widely practised.

Textiles extension activity 1: weaving

You will need either an old bicycle wheel with spokes, a piece of mesh like chicken wire, or an old piece of netting. You will also need strips of material. You could cut old clothes, curtains or sheets into strips or use old tights and thick wool. You could also cut different coloured plastic bags into long strips. How? Before you start cutting think where you want your creation to hang and think about the colours that you want to use. Don't create waste! Weave the spokes or mesh to your own design and colour scheme.

Extension activity 2: make a rag rug

You will need 4 pieces of wood 300mm long and 25mm square, 4 screws, glue and 24 nails (20mm panel pins would do), to make the loom. You will also need string and strips of material.

1.   Hammer 12 nails in one of the pieces of wood, 20mm apart and starting 30mm in from the end. 2.   Repeat with another piece of wood. 3.   Make the frame by gluing and screwing the corners. 4.   String the frame as shown. 5.   Weave the strips of material between the string. 6.   When the loom is full tie pieces of material at each end of the string loops as shown. 7.   Remove the rag rug from the loom.

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