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Mosquito Repellent

by Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade, 3.1 Personal Tagged , , , ,

It’s that time of night when sitting on the balcony becomes a feat of endurance rather than a pleasure and it’s down to those vile biting mosquitos. Time to take action… but what kind. I could of course slather myself in DEET…

DEET Was developed by the American Army and remains the most effective form of bug repellent known to man. It is a great weapon in the fight against malaria. But it can irritate my skin and has had other negative press. Plus it comes in plastic.

So what of the alternativee? Needless to say the internet offer everything from wristbands to essential oils. Lots of testing has been done which conclude that these range from considerably less effective to completely useless. “Two devices in particular came under harsh criticism from the scientists: bracelets containing herbal extracts and sonic mosquito repellers, which claim to use high-frequency sound to drive away mosquitoes.” And dont bother with citronella candles. You can read the rest here.
That said there is some evidence that certain essential oils (including citronella) might  work.SO let’s discuss the options.

Why DEET
Just to reiterate N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (deet) DEET is the most effective insect repellent ever.
Then (2-(2-hydroxyethyl)-piperidinecarboxylic acid 1-methyl ester (icaridin), p-methane 3, 8-diol (PMD), and ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate (IR3535)-based repellents also provide protection against biting arthropods,
Malaria & Other Nasty Deseases
Malaria is extremely dangerous and kills masses of people each year. DEET Will protect you from mosquitoes and many other disease bearing blood suckers. If you are in a malarial prone area then it is an essential means of protection and I advise you consider it. Medical plastic is exempt from the boycott. To quote DEET must be the “first choice for those visiting areas where malaria or other arthropod-borne diseases are endemic remains formulations with higher concentrations (20–50%) of deet.
Higher concentration icaridin and PMD preparations are the most useful alternatives to deet where they are available”
Read more here

How Strong?
What do these concentrations mean? A higher concentration of DEET means it will last longer. 20% DEET offers up to 6 hours of protection. 50% DEET which offers 12 hours of protection. If you sweat heavily you’ll need to re-apply it more often, obvs.
According to the British Medical Journal anything with over a concentration of 50% DEET will not be any more effective. Read this very good write up that discusses all the issues and gives clear advice on how DEET should be used. Access it here.

Bad DEET
But if you are not at risk from malaria you might want to limit your exposure to DEET. While DEET is generally thought to be safe there are reports of possible reactions. On a personal level I find it irritates my skin but then again so do most perfumes and some soaps. However it is not just me. Reactions to DEET have been documented. And they can include Hives or mild skin redness and irritation. The more you use the worse it gets. People using products containing a large amount of DEET over a long period of time may have more severe skin reactions that include blistering, burning, and permanent scars of the skin.
Wikipedia are even more worrying and report that
In the DEET Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) in 1998, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported 14 to 46 cases of potential DEET-associated seizures, including 4 deaths. The EPA states: “… it does appear that some cases are likely related to DEET toxicity,” which may underreport the risk as physicians may fail to check for history of DEET use or fail to report cases of seizure subsequent to DEET use.[21]
The Pesticide Information Project of Cooperative Extension Offices of Cornell University states that “Everglades National Park employees having extensive DEET exposure were more likely to have insomnia, mood disturbances and impaired cognitive function than were lesser exposed co-workers”.[22].
Read it here

Which Alternatives Work
So for those munchy twilight hours when the biting, but non-malarial carrying beasts are out DEET seems rather a chemical sledge hammer. In these cases I have been using Cintronella essential oil mixed with Rice Bran oil as a mosquito repellent. Based on nothing more than a quick skim of alternative bug sprays on the internet and the fact I have some Citronella oil. The internets claims all kinds of wonderful qualities for Citronella but I tend not to believe them. So consequently I didnt know if my homemade repellent really worked i.e.if it actually repels Mosquitos. But I felt it did and it certainly seems to soothe bites and reduce irritation. So I decided it was time to do some research.

Citronella
Citronella is  obtained from the leaves and stems of different species of Cymbopogon grasses. And it might just work. This is a quote from some research that seems reputable.  “From the available literature and information, we can conclude that the complete protection time for citronella-based repellents is less than 2 hours”
Read more here

But 2 hours is all I need. I can live with the occasional bite at other times it’s the twilight feeding frenzy I object to.

Using Essential OIls
Essential oils are concentrated and so should be used with some care.
Do not apply neat to the skin.
It is good practice to do an allergy test
Do some further research into the oil you plan to use

Disclaimer
Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who
a) doesn’t have any training in this field,
b) most of what they know comes from Google,
That’s me I mean.

Making Mosquito Repellent
You should never use essential oils neat so the Citronella has to be blended with a base oil. And there is very little data avaialable on what kind of percentages to use for the oil to be effective against biting beasts.

Generally Most essential oil/ aromatherapy sites say that mixes of essential oil to base oil should not exceed 5%.
A good rule of thumb when seeking to make a 2% dilution is to add 12 drops of essential oil to each fl. ounce (30 ml) of cold pressed carrier oil, lotion, vegetable butter or other natural lipid/moisturizer.
There is a useful dilutions chart here

And then there is this:
For adults:
Sensitive skin: .5 to 1 percent dilution = 3 to 6 drops per ounce
Normal, healthy skin: 1 to 2.5 percent dilution = 6 to 15 drops per ounce
There is lots of useful information here

My Mosquito Oil
So I added Citronella to a base oil at a 5% ration. I have used coconut oil, rice bran oil and rapeseed oil as bases. All work well.
I spread this on all exposed flesh when the sun begins to set. I only apply it once.

Obviously we are not talking about huge percentage of active ingredient here. Certainly not the 30% of DEET creams. How effective this oil is I have no way of knowing. I can only say it seems to work for a limited period of time.
AND PLEASE NOTE
These blends have not been tested for skin reactions or allergies. It is worth remembering that DEET lotions have been used for years and have been well tested.
I am telling you of my own experiences for your information only. You should do a lot more research before proceeding. And proceed with caution.
None of the above have been tested on anyone other than me. All I can say Is that I have used essential oils for a long time with no ill effects…..
Also
Essential oils are resource hungry, have a large environmental footprint and should only be used on special occasions. You can read more about essentials oils, what they are and how they are obtained here.

Buy

Plastic Alert
Vegetatable oil will nearly always have a plastic element unless you are lucky enough to find a refill service. Even if you buy in glass the lid will be plastic lined. But even so this represents a huge reduction in you plastic consumption. Read more and links on where to buy, here.

Same goes for essential oils.

More

There is an interesting breakdown of mosquito myths here. Plus some useful advice on how to avoid them.
And this is an interesting article on using plants to deter insects
And I am looking into this.
“PMD: Lemon Eucalyptus (Corymbia citriodora) Extract
The principal repellent component of lemon eucalyptus extract is PMD, which is the main by-product of lemon eucalyptus hydrodistillation.
The active component is prepared through acid modified extraction of leaves or a synthetic version of PMD is used in the majority of commercially available preparations.”
Read about it here.

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Shea Butter Leeds

by Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade Tagged , , ,

This is a quick introduction to Shea Butter

Semi soft buttery oil. Read more about butter oils and waxes here.
Imported usually from Africa.
Has a soft velvety texture.
Can be used neat as a very rich moisturiser.
Mix with coconut oil to make a lighter body butter. Recipe here.
I love it added to home made creams and lotions.

Which Shea Butter?

Unrefined shea butter is going beige or ivory or ‘off white’
Bright white refined shea butter
Pale yellow may be shea from Nilotica (Viterallia Nilotica) and it’s natural
Deep yellow Shea Butter has been dyed originally with a natural dye from the Borututu tree or more likely now a synthetic dye.

Raw Shea Butter
In it’s natural form.
Unrefined Shea Butter
Some filtering allowed so remove larger particles.
Refined Shea Butter
Some form of processing which also removes its smell.

Read more about shea butter in Wikipedia

Buy

It can of course be bought online but here in Yorkshire we have a local supplier. Maya’s stall in Leeds Market. They specialise in black hair and beauty so if you don’t live near Leeds check to see if there is a similar store or even hairdressers near you.It does come in a plastic tub though.

PLASTIC SPOILER
Wether bought on line or locally there will be some plastic packaging either a bag or a tub. As I get huge amounts of product from one tub or bag I consider it a worthwhile compromise as it still represents a huge decrease in plastic consumption.

We Made

Body butter

More

See a full range of homemade #plasticfree personal care products here 

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Hot water bottle cover

by Posted in 4.3 My Projects Tagged ,

Sorry this post is a bit late – been knitting like the wind and sewing up ties for tops….

Today’s action is to ‘fix it’. So much of our stuff gets thrown away as soon as it is damaged or isn’t working. But with a little TLC much of this stuff could live to see another day.

So while these things are not exactly broken they do often get thrown away. Odds and ends of wool and old duvet covers are here transformed into this wooly hot water bottle cover with a tie top. Attractive and practical.

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Citric Acid

by Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade Tagged , ,

Can be bought in a cardboard box without a plastic liner from Wilcos.

Find more plastic free stuff as stocked in Wilcos, and Wilcos the store,here.

Supermarkets & Chainstores

Sometimes supermarkets can surprise you – check out the plastic-free and reduced packaging products here.

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U.K. Made Fabric

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged

This year I wanted to source some locally made fabrics. In the U.K. the locally made fabric is wool.
It is especially relavent to me as I live in Yorkshire a place once famous for its woolen fabric. There used to be hundreds of mills churning out meters of the stuff but those days are long gone. Indeed you may be surprised to hear that there are any working mills left. I was. But my research revealed that Yorkshire cloth is still being made by a handful of mills. What they turn out now is a luxury product. If you thought organic fair-trade was expensive check out these prices. £ 50.00 a meter is the cheap end of the market and way out of my price range. BUT……

Jacks, a stall in Leeds Kirkgate Market, sell end of line remnants of Yorkshire made wooden fabric.  For very reasonable amounts. Anything from £5.00 to £12.00 a meter.

Leons sell British wool

Ebay

Working Mills

Made in the U.K.

  • Dugdale (only merchant still in the centre of Huddersfield) Owns Thomas Fisher and Duffin & Peace names
    Huddersfield Fine Worsteds (Owned by US distributors HMS) Owns Minnis, John G Hardy, Hunt & Winterbotham

And the major merchants with operations in the UK are:

  • Holland & Sherry (owned by the US Tom James group)
    LBD Harrison’s (owned by the Dunsford family in Exeter) LBD bought Harrison’s a while ago, and also now owns the Lesser’s name and Porter & Harding
    Smith’s (only English merchant based in London) Owns W Bill
    Brook Taverner
    Bateman & Ogden
    Scabal
    Dormeuil

And then there is the Woolsack Website

Ackroyd and Dawson Trade only all British wool “Ackroyd & Dawson has the distinct pleasure of welcoming you to the revival of a great tradition, to a revitalization of the legacy of the world’s finest woollen and worsted cloth — 100% British.”

Anta  The tweed fabrics are 100% Wool, sourced from the British Isles and woven in Scotland

Bespoke Fabrics  Although not listed on website they were selling wool cloth at an event, so contact them.

Dashing Tweeds Collection of 100% British wool tweed – original designs woven in UK.  Also including the fine wool Romney collection

Harris Tweed (available in small quantities if required)

Harris Tweed Hebrides  Along with supplying some of the World’s biggest brands, Harris Tweed Hebrides cloth is available direct from our mill to the individual.

Hebridean Woolhouse  There are four tweeds in the Hebridean Woolhouse range; the ‘Hebridean’, the ‘Dunay’, the ‘Auchnahyle’ and the ‘Islay’.  They are made purely from the natural undyed Hebridean wool with the addition of coloured Shetland wool to make the subtle pattern.

Laura’s Loom  Online shop. Also small pieces of woven fabric which could be used for making into cushions. It is undyed Bluefaced Leicester wool which could be dyed, stitched into, quilted, etc. The price is £10 per piece, incl. p&p and is large enough to make one cushion.

London Cloth Company  Our British Wool all comes from small flocks of sheep within the British Isles. We have been working with ecologist Heather Webb from Nude Ewe and shearer Michael Churchhouse to source wool from conservation flocks, which is then spun into yarn for us in Halifax. The resulting yarn is 100% natural, un-dyed British wool. We never dye it and rarely blend colours, so we design the cloth by breed of sheep. Despite this, there is a huge spectrum of shades to choose from.  Store

Melin Teifi  Welsh Flannel fabrics are available from Melin Teifi, Dre-fach Felindre, Llandysul, Dyfed, SA44 5UP

Middle Campscott Farm  Wool from the flock of Friesland/Dorsets is woven into cloth, in three different weights and weaves, suitable for curtains or soft furnishing.

Original Cumbrian Wool Upholstery fabric in different shades woven from undyed natural wool from Lakeland sheep

Shawbost Weavers  Harris Tweed cloth

The Harris Tweed Authority – Find Tweed  Information about Harris Tweed and links to suppliers

British Wool Felt

Olwen Veevers  I have a felting machine which will produce sheets of felt up to 1200mm x 600mm. Fleece from Corriedale sheep is ideally suited for this purpose. I can supply these sheets to customers

More Fabric
on line suppliers
Local fabric shops.

Regenerated Fibres & fabrics  a very basic introduction
Kinds Of fabric – my ongoing experiences with natural fabrics.

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Antiseptics & Disinfectants

by Posted in 3.1 Cleaning Up, 3.1 General & Homemade, 3.1 Personal, 4.9 Useful to know, More Information Tagged , , , ,

This post talks about

This is an area where you want to do your own research and decide what level of protection you need. I do not use antiseptic or disinfectants because I don’t do surgery on my kitchen table or have a low immune system. I keep stuff clean and it seems to work. BUT this is a subject about which I know little. This is my understanding of it. I strongly advise you to do your own research.
Here goes…..

Microbes

The world is full of microbes – micro-organisms – or germs.
“Microbes are single-cell organisms so tiny that millions can fit into the eye of a needle. They are the oldest form of life on earth. Microbe fossils date back more than 3.5 billion years to a time when the Earth was covered with oceans that regularly reached the boiling point, hundreds of millions of years before dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Without microbes, we couldn’t eat or breathe.Without us, they’d probably be just fine.”
Which is maybe why we seem determined to wipe them out.  Microbes are everywhere. Inside you outside you swarming all over that keyboard you just touched to type in that fantastically appreciative comment.

They can be divided into four main groups – bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
Some are good such as the composting microbes, some are bad such as the pneumonia germs, some  just bumble about doing what ever it is they do in their teeny tiny world.
“By and large, the vast majority of the microbes on this planet are not those that make us sick. We have only scratched the surface to what microbes are out there, and more of them are harmless or even beneficial to us,” Says a scientist.

Kill THEM!!!!!!

But still we want them dead. And here’s how.

Antiseptics & Disinfectants

What are they and now are they different

  • Antiseptics are antimicrobial substances that slow or stop the growth of micro-organisms (germs)
  • They are used on living tissues and cells on external surfaces of the body and help prevent infections. Though they are antiseptics they are often called skin disinfectants,
  • Antibiotics  destroy micro-organisms inside the body, NHS website says…Antibiotics are used to treat or prevent some types of bacterial infection. They work by killing bacteria or preventing them from reproducing and spreading. Antibiotics aren’t effective against viral infections, such as the common cold, flu, most coughs and sore throats.
  • Disinfectants  destroy microorganisms which infect nonliving objects.

You would use an antiseptic to clean your hands, a disinfectant to clean your breadboard and an antibiotic to kill pneumonia
Wikkipedia tells us  that Some antiseptics are true germicides, capable of destroying microbes (bacteriocidal), while others are bacteriostatic and only prevent or inhibit their growth.
Antibacterials are antiseptics that have the proven ability to act against bacteria.
Antiseptics are not antibiotics.

Using Antiseptics and Disinfectants

This is not meant as advice I am just relating my personal choices. I never use disinfectants or antiseptics. I clean with  soap and bicarbonate ( which is mildly antiseptic but not as good as vinegar).

Most Common Uses

Disinfecting The Home

Food preparation, kitchens and bathrooms are the obvious places for disinfectants. You don’t want bad germs in your food.
I do the obvious things like wash my hands before eating and after I have touched anything dirty. I keep cooked and uncooked food separate. I don’t eat raw meat. I store food in clean conditions. I wash the chopping board if I have used it for meat before I use it for anything else. I have two boards that I use when preparing food. I clean fruit and veg before eating.
For all of this I use soap and hot water. soap and a good scrub.  I don’t think think that anything else is necessary. ,
Also disinfectants kill all microbes, the good the bad the stuff we don’t know what it does yet. Which is unessecary and possibly harmful. There are arguments that living in a sterile atmosphere lowers resistance to infection as the body has not built up any resistance.
Clean not sterile is my mantra.

We need to talk about vinegar…..

Commercial disinfectants are extremely effective. Green alternatives are billed as kinder less harmful. They are certainly less harmful to the microbes because they don’t work as well.

Vinegar & Essentail Oils
Vinegar is the much touted disinfectant of choice for the plastic free.
It is about 5% acetic acid. It’s the acid that kills bacteria and viruses, most probably by denaturing (chemically changing) the proteins and fats that make-up these nasties. It is  good but not as effective as common commercial disinfectants.
Vinegar will not kill  salmonella, “which can transfer from raw meat to chopping boards and onto other foods to give us food poisoning.”
Ammonia, baking soda, vinegar, Borax, “are not registered with EPA and should not be used for disinfecting because they are ineffective against S. aureus.

Undiluted vinegar and ammonia are effective against S.Typhi and E.coli 53, 332, 333.
Neat vinegar also kills flue virus.

Hydrogen peroxide can also be used
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved hydrogen peroxide as a sanitizer. It can kill salmonella.
Research published by the Journal of Food and Science in 2003 showed effective results of using hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate apples and melons that were infected with strains of E.coli.
Essentail Oils – there is even less evidence for  efface of essential oils and they take a lot of resources to produce.

Cleaning A Wound

For a long time hydrogen peroxide was used as an antiseptic on open wounds and grazes. Now many recommend against it saying it also kills off healthy tissue and beneficial bacteria. In short using any antiseptics on an open wound is an area of medical controversy.

“In clinical practice, antiseptics are broadly used for both intact skin and wounds, although concerns are raised based upon their effect on human cells and wound healing. Opinions are conflicting. Some authors strongly disapprove the use of antiseptics in open wounds.[6-8] On the other hand, others believe antiseptics have a role in wound care, and their use may favor wound healing clinically.[9,10]

Web MD claim that  cool running water “is the best treatments for common wounds, and that you should rinse the wound for at least five minutes to remove it of debris, dirt, or anything else that may be in there. The water will clean the wound out well enough for your body to take over without harming the still living tissue around the wound.“

I don’t get many wounds and when I do, I don’t use antiseptics. Most cuts and scrapes seems to clear up with out infection – even when travelling in some of the dirtier places. Again, not a recommendation just an observation.

Skin Disinfectants ( Antiseptics)

Removing bacteria from the skin is done to prevent the spread of disease. The area of skin you need to keep cleanest is your hand which carry microbes from place to place  by touch.

Soap

The easiest way to disinfect the skin is to wash with soap and water. But don’t bother with anti bacterial soaps. “Washing your hands is extremely important for preventing the spread of infectious illness, especially at critical points like after using the toilet, changing the baby, or handling raw foods. But consumers can’t assume that antibacterial soaps are better for this than other soaps.”

Soap doesn’t kill bacteria but removes it .

“harmless and harmful microbes stick to the oil your hands naturally produce, and, absent removal, willingly hitch a ride until they reach their ultimate destination (inside of you or somebody else) where they can in some cases wreak havoc…. [washing hands]… for at least 20 or more seconds at a time, is a highly effective way of removing bacteria despite the fact that the bacteria doesn’t die, but is simply flushed away when you rinse (or wiped off on a towel).”

Alchohol

If you have no soap and water or that is not appropriate you can try alcohol. Both ethanol or ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol can be used as antisceptics and have similar effects. However ethanol or ethyl alcohol is the stuff that makes you drunk isopropyl alcohol, or isopropanol (also known as rubbing alchohol or surgical spirit) is made from propene derived from fossil fuels and water. You can read more about it here

If you want a petroleum free product use ethyl alcohol.

ethyl alcohol.

Can be used as a skin disinfectant. It effective against a wide range of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi, and kills most bacteria, fungi, and many viruses on the hands and skin.

It is commonly used as skin antiseptics, often in the form of wipes Wise geek

It is

  • effective against a wide range of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi,
  • kills most bacteria, fungi, and many viruses on the hands and skin
  • is commonly used as skin antiseptics, often in the form of wipes or gels, and for disinfecting surfaces
  • Its main  main effect on microorganisms seems to be to coagulate essential proteins, rendering them ineffective, and causing cell death or inhibiting reproduction.
  • It may also have a dehydrating effect and may interfere with the functioning of cell membranes. Wise geek
  •  

Mouth  & Mouthwashes

Now this I do use. I have a troublesome wisdom tooth that occasionally flares up. I can keep it at bay with a rigorous tooth cleaning regime. When it is bad I use a salt mouthwash. And I have used hydrogen peroxide which seems to work.

Sodium chloride (salt) solution can be used  as a mildly antiseptic mouthwash.

Hydrogen peroxide can be used as a mouth gargle The Merck Manuals recommended diluting the 3% hydrogen peroxide 50 percent with water, but suggest it as a rinse and part of a treatment for trench mouth, for example.  The FDA has approved 3% solutions of hydrogen peroxide for use as a mouthwash.  Most sources said to use it only for a short time, however, such as part of a treatment of a mouth infection.  A report from Well-Connected (written or edited by physicians at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital) recommended against extended use, saying that overuse may actually damage cells and soften tooth surfaces. We were not able to find any authoritative information about hydrogen peroxide and canker sores.

Hydrogen peroxide may be amongst the better options.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved hydrogen peroxide as a sanitizer. It can kill salmonella.

Research published by the Journal of Food and Science in 2003 showed effective results of using hydrogen peroxide to decontaminate apples and melons that were infected with strains of E.coli.

You can use of hydrogen peroxide is to bleach hair. The concentrations are between 3% and 6%.

It can be used to clean blood stains out of clothes and brighten colours but do be careful it doesnt actually leave bleach marks.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER

Absolutely no animal testing

The information in this blog is for guidance only. None of the recipes or tips in this blog have not been tested on anyone other than me and some fearless chums. I strongly advise you do your own research and proceed very carefully. Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who

a) doesn’t have any training in this field

b) most of what they know comes from Google,

That’s me I mean.

Also posts may be incomplete, out of date and possibly wrong! Please read on to find out why…

  • N.B.
    lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x
Join our Facebook group here
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Fabric Shops

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged 4 Comments

Great fabric shops are a joy to visit. they are usually a great source of expertise as almost everyone working there will be a home sewer. It also gives you chance to feel the fabric, check out the drape and see if that shade of green really does suit you.

Here are some of my favourites…

Everywhere

John Lewis, Limited but nice fabrics, trimmings and fixings sewing machines

Manchester

Leon’s, Chorlton Best of the bunch for range. This store has been around for ages. They sell everything from gingham to fluero lycra. It is independent, a great resource and of course a local employer. It is much valued by the community.
OPENING HOURS: Mon-Sat 9:30am – 5:30pmLate night Thursdays 8:00pm
Website www.leonsfabrics.co.uk

Abakan Manchester city center huge mix of fabrics sold by the weight or meter. Good range of trimmings and craft supplies.

Leeds

Leeds Kirkgate Market, Covered Market City Center

I used to go to Jacks a small stall selling all types of fabric including end of line remnants of Yorkshire made wooden fabric. Not any more. They have closed.

There are other fabric stalls on the market including B&M who do a great range which you can preview via their Facebook page. handy.

BUT they no  longer sell wool. 

So I was extremely glad to see Fletchers Fabrics were selling lovely fine wool at the bargain price of £5 a meter.

They also sell other fabrics.

Huddersfield

Button Box in Huddersfield Market.

More About Fabric

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N.B.

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Lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

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And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

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Grey Linen Trousers

by Posted in 3.1.7 wear Tagged , ,

I made these Palazzo Pants (super-wide leg pants) in grey linen They hang in gentle and flattering folds. I feel rather like an elegant elephant. Indeed is there any other kind of elephant?

To say I am pleased with my efforts is an understatement. They are easy to wear so much so they have become my summer staple.

Fabric & Purchase Details

I dont know where the linen was originally from and it boasts no organic or fair trade credentials but it was bought locally from the Button Box in Huddersfield Market.

I prefer to use natural fibres because on consideration they are the greenest, biodegradable option and, even better, they don’t shed plastic microfibres when washed.

Just in case you need it, here is a quick  intro to synthetic, regenerated, combination and natural fibres here. And more reasons why I prefer natural fabrics over the others can be found here.

Pattern

New Look 6558

Fixtures & Fittings

The trousers in the pattern are worn 2.5 centimeters below the waist line and have a zip. I adapted it so the waist line is on the waiste line i.e round my middle. This allows me to ditch the zip and have a plastic free drawstring fixing. At least I thought it was. I bought what looked like cotton tape but on closer inspection found it included some synthetic fibres. Boo.

It was cut out with all metal scissors from the C. Booths Hardware Shop in Huddersfield, sewn together using organic cotton on a wooden reel and made using plastic free sewing supplies  (you can find them here).

Sustainable Rating

  • Natural fibres
  • Fabric was bought plastic free – no packaging
  • Supporting a local fabric shop
  • Homemade by me
  • Made with plastic free sewing supplies
  • Pattern allows for plastic free fixings though I boobed on this one.

Weighs In At

Weight414g.

Why the weighing? Well this item of clothing is counted as part of my fair share fabrics project. This is a self imposed rationing system. I use no more than my global share of fibres and they have to be sustainably sourced. Whats a global share? 11.74 kg per person of which 3.8 kg is natural fibres. As I don’t like synthetics I try to stick to 3.8 kg of natural fibres.

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Body Butter

by Posted in 3.1 Personal Tagged , , ,

One of the joys of living plastic free is that you have all kinds of useful base ingredients in the cupboards so should you OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAever forget anything, like a birthday say, you can easily remedy the situation with this fantastic bodybutter / intensive repair cream, any old guff to suit cream…. in minutes!

Here’s my recipe for super-fast, super-creamy body butter

60 grams coconut oil – hard
60 grams shea butter

5 grams oil – any oil

Mash it up with a spoon then whisk with a hand whisk to make lovely,fluffy body butter.

I Never Forgot Essential Terry’s Chocolate Orange Love Mousse.

Add some Cocoa and some Sweet Orange essential oil to the body butter

Because this is meant to be used fast, I put it in a hand decorated, compostable, paper/PLA pot from Vegware. Being paper, these are easy peasy to draw on so you can quickly personalise your pot. Few hearts and kisses later, pop the lid on, top with a card and tie up with hairy string. For sure the drawings could have been better but I only had a Sharpy, a fluero highlighter and time was against me.

NB go steady on the cocoa, too much and there is a chance you will end up looking like a politically incorrect, 70’s song and dance troupe. This can work against you in the romance department.

I Never Forgot Rose Essential Hand Repair.

Something for Mum? Here I added some colour and rose essential oil to make. I put this is one of my posh pots – glass with a metal lid….classy!

Base ingredients

I love aromantics and buy most of my stuff from them but there are loads of good guys out there

You can get Coconut oil locally

Containers

Pots, bottles and closures

 

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Soap hard/bar

by Posted in 3.1 Personal Tagged ,

I use soap to
wash my body (I don’t like using soap on my face so I cleanse with oil and water.)
Instead of shampoo.
washing the bath and other household cleaning chores.

Which Soap?

Buying plastic free soap can be tricky. Even those that come in boxes might be plastic wrapped. Try the squeeze test. If the box crackles there is plastic inside!
Dove comes in a box plastic free but has some nasty ingredients and is not so good for washing hair

Ethical Soap

Should be easy enough but buying soap can be an ethical minefield. Here are some of the things you might not want in your soap.
sodium tallowate  is from animal fat usually from cows
Sodium lauryl sulfate (commonly known as SLS)  .
Synthetic fragrance  – which may contain DEO a phthalate used as a solvent and fixative. Despite the general bad press about phthalates this one is considered safe.
Palm Oil and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO). I’ve use of this product has impacted adversely on the habitat of the orangutang  a now endangered species. You can find out more about it and why we minimise our use of palm oil, here .

You can read more about dirty soap HERE

And of course we like to support locally made products.

Here are our favourite ethical soaps

Made IN Yorkshire

Friendly Soap is Yorkshire soap and packaged plastic free. Here is some info from their WEBSITE

“Ethics come before profits at Friendly Soap. From start to finish, no stone is left unturned in the quest to produce zero-impact soap. Sustainability and ethical integrity are top of the list, bringing you fabulous natural soap that benefits the planet, its animals… and you.

made using the ancient cold-process method of soap making, which creates a biodegradable soap with zero by-products.
Energy consumption is kept to an absolute minimum
every bar of soap is poured, cut, stamped and packed by hand, here in the U.K.
contain only the finest natural ingredients. Guaranteed cruelty-free and vegan, and free from Parabens, SLS, Pthalates or Triclosan.
They are sold locally in some outlets or you can buy them in plastic free packaging online.

Nationwide

Another ethical soap that is sold loose in most health food shops is Suma soap which are
“made in the UK, vegan and do not contain parabens, triclosan or phthalates.
Our range is free from artificial preservatives, colours and fragrances (we use essential oils to scent our products) and we guarantee our products have not been the subject of animal testing by Suma or our suppliers.

Suma handmade soap is made using the traditional cold process method of soap making, which generates zero by-product. Suma soaps are poured, cut, stamped, and packed by hand – using as little energy as possible.

Suma bodycare products do not contain methylisothiazolinone or phosphates and are GMO free.”
Read more HERE

Plastic Free Online

And this in reply to a tweet from Friendly Soaps
Hi Kate, Thanks for getting in touch. All orders are sent out from our website plastic-free. We use card and paper tape where ever possible. Our soaps can also be found in a lot of health food grocery shops around the UK. We look forward to reading any article you may write.

Etsy
There are a lot of artisan soap makers producing high quality sustainable soaps.

Homemade
Or you could make your own. Read this from Jen of Make Do And Mend Life
Here are some recipes for making Castille Soap

More

Liquid Soap
I know that some of you don’t like bar soap so here’s a liquid #plasticfree refill that you dissolve in water HERE

Read all our other soapy posts HERE

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Emulsifiers

by Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade Tagged

Creams and lotions are a mixture of oil and water. Of course it is not quite as simple as that. Left to themselves oil and water will separate so you have to add  emulsifiers to turn what is basically salad dressing into lovely thick cream.  An emulsifier binds oil and water together

Natural Emulsifiers

There are a few completely natural emulsifiers. They include bees wax, lecithin and egg yolk. However they  do not give consistant results and sometimes give no results at all. So most commercially used emulsifiers are manufactured.

Maunfactured Emulsifiers

Most emulsifiers are derived from coconut oil and palm oil. More recently, rapeseed has been used.

But some are produced from pig fats. The declaration regulations don’t require manufacturers to declare the source of the emulsifiers, just their chemical names. You cannot always tell from these if they are derived from animal fat from or not.

There are only a few officially qualified organic emulsifiers in the market.

Here are some manufactured emulsifiers.

  • Palm Stearic -vegetable based Stearic Acid
  • Cetearyl Alcohol- vegetable based emulsifying wax
  • Polysorbate 60
  • Sorbitan Monostearate
  • Glyceryl Stearate (also known as VE Emulsifier) Vegetable-based Emulsifier
  • Glycorol Mono Stearate from fresholi – also ve emulsifier?
  • Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate (also known as MF Emulsifier) from palm oil

VE Emulsifier, MF Emulsifier and Cetearyl Alcohol

I have used some of them with varying and often disappointing results. However a combination of VE Emulsifier, MF Emulsifier and Cetearyl Alcohol works every time.

VE Emulsifier or Glyceryl Stearate is

  • a vegetable-based emulsifier
  • A naturally derived fatty acid

Cetearyl Alcohol is

  • a vegetable based emulsifying wax
  • a white, waxy, oil soluble, solid
  • comes in the form of flakes or little beads.
  • is a mixture of fatty alcohols.

MF Emulsifier or Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate

Sodium stearoyl lactate (and the similar calcium stearoyl lactate) is made by combining lactic acid and stearic acid, and then reacting the result with sodium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide to make the sodium or calcium salt.

It is used as an emulsifier in processed foods.

Although it can be fermented from lactose (milk sugar), most commercially used lactic acid is derived by using bacteria such as Bacillus acidilacti, Lactobacillus delbueckii or Lactobacillus bulgaricus to ferment carbohydrates from nondairy sources such as cornstarch, potatoes and molasses. Thus, although it is commonly known as “milk acid”, products claiming to be vegan do sometimes feature lactic acid as an ingredient.

VE Emulsifier, MF Emulsifier and Cetearyl Alcohol & Palm Oil

Please note that VE Emulsifier & MF Emulsifiers do include palm oil but in tiny amounts, Be sure to buy from a good practice supplier. For example there should be something this note on Aromantics VE emulsifier “The Palm oil that is used in both in MF/VE emulsifiers comes from suppliers that are either members of the Round Table of Sustainable Palm Oil or a subsidiary company or who are members of FEDIOL which supports sustainability. FEDIOL is a European industry federation based in Brussels”.

Palm Oil Free Emulsifiers

I have not used this palm oil free emulsifier from Aromantics but I like the look of it. If you have please let me know how it worked for you….

“BioGreen Emulsifier (Palm Free) is an exceptionally green, oil in water (O/W) emulsifier made from glucose extracted from wheat combined with fatty acids taken from castor beans. This means it is 100% vegetable origin. It has excellent eco credentials being one of the new palm free emulsifiers and is 100% biodegradable.

Inci:

Hydroxystearyl Alcohol & Hydroxystearyl Glucoside”

More

Why you want to cut your palm oil

How to make creams & lotions

 

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Sew

by Posted in 3.2 How To...plastic-free Tagged 18 Comments

This is an introduction to why you might want to and how you can start sewing plastic free. If you already know the answer you can follow the links to the specialist posts as listed.

Why Sew Your Own?

Sewing Supplies

More

Introduction To Plastic Free & Ethical Sewing

Making your own clothes is probably the only way to get them totally plastic-free. New clothes come packed in plastic and hung on plastic hangers. Even when they are made of natural fibres, the cotton used to sew them, buttons and care labels are all synthetic, plastic fibres. You can read more about the plastic in ready made clothes, here.
Plus the only way I can afford fair trade organic clothes is make them myself. And I get to support local fabric shops which is very important to me. As is buying U.K. made fabrics.

Here is my guide to sewing plastic free….

Fabric
First you have to decide which fibre – synthetic or natural. While they all have bad points, naturals are way better than synthetics not least because at the end of life they can be composted. Natural fibres are harvested from nature either from animals like wool and silk, or plants like cotton.  Most synthetic fabrics are derived from petrol. But there is a kind of in-between called regenerated fibres. The base material is cellulose that can be obtained from a range of sources including wood, paper, cotton fiber, or  bamboo. It is then converted through a chemical process into a fiver. the later is often touted as an eco fabric but treat those claims with caution.

Wool cotton and linen are really the plastic free way to go for me.

Organic & Fair-trade 

As many fabrics are made in poorer countries, do try to source fair-trade when ever possible. There are good reasons for trying to also source organic. Cotton especially uses huge amounts of pesticides.

I can only buy organic fair-trade fabric on line. Which leads to problems with packaging. So many people will send it out in plastic bags. But there is one company, Offset Warehouse who in addition to having fantastic fair-trade, organic, eco credentials, and a great range of fabric they will post out in plastic-free packaging.

Local Shops

Problem is fair trade and organic don’t come cheap and I can’t always afford it. Also I cant always buy it locally. So, without beating myself up about it, I also buy natural but almost-certainly-non-organic, who-knows-how-it-is-made fabric because I like to buy from local fabric shops. Buying locally is also buying sustainably. There are many very strong reasons to support local shops. especially fabric shops. There aren’t that many of them, you get to see and learn about fabrics, the staff know lots, they get people into sewing they provide all the bits and bobs you might forget to order online and like all local shops they need supporting.

Locally Made Fabrics

This year I wanted to source some locally made fabrics. In the U.K. the locally made fabric is wool. It is especially relavent to me as I live in Yorkshire a place once famous for its woolen fabric. There used to be hundreds of mills churning out meters of the stuff but those days are long gone. Indeed you may be surprised to hear that there are any working mills left. I was. But my research revealed that Yorkshire cloth is still being made by a handful of mills. What they turn out now is a luxury product. If you thought organic fair-trade was expensive check out these prices. £ 50.00 a meter is the cheap end of the market and way out of my price range.

BUT  down on Leeds Market there are folk selling end of line end of roll lengths for very reasonable amounts. And I am sourcing lots more

Buy

on line suppliers
Local fabric shops.

Sewing Supplies

Needles, Pins & Cotton 

#pfuk cotton

These can be tricky to find plastic free so you will pleased to know we have found these online suppliers who will post out in plastic free packaging
Organic cotton on a wooden reel.
Needles & pins in cardboard boxes

Patterns

I buy paper patterns  from my local fabric store.You can  download them from the internet but you might need a bit of sewing experience for this to be completely successful.
There’s no doubt that patterns ar expensive but you can make a surprisingly wide range of outfits from just a few basic shape. Check out my patterns here.

Scissors

You can buy all metal scissors from the C. Booths Hardware Shop in Huddersfield.

Other Fixtures & Fittings like buttons, zips and the rest can be found here.

Machine

If you want to be really hardcore, plastic free you will have to sew by hand. I did make some bloomers and a headscarf that way. It can be done but meh! life is too short.  So unless you buy and old treadle sewing machine, you will be using a modern machine with some plastic. Consider it plastic to cut plastic.

Results

You can see what I have made, here

More

See how to do lots more tasks #plasticfree right here

  • N.B.
    lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x
Join our Facebook group here

And before you go…

If you have found the #plasticfree information useful, please consider supporting us. It all goes to financing the project (read more here) or