I think I’ve read most of these eco-living guides but this is the first one to advocate making clothes and getting handy with the crochet needle – all credit to Mr Flintoff for pushing the genre in a new direction! One thing led to another it says in the introduction and the author’s energy and desire for knowledge and change pushes him in many new (and strange) directions. You’ll find yourself reading it with pen and notebook to hand to jot down all the ideas and suggestions thrown out in the text, great fun and a great education in showing just how we can change our approach to life in the 21st Century.
Sew Your Own: Man Finds Happiness and Meaning of Life - Making Clothes Synopsis
John-Paul Flintoff is a bit of a one-off: a man who embarks on a spiritual pilgrimage by outsourcing his life to Bangalore, then hooks up with Mormons and Buddhists (well, Richard Gere), on a quest for truth and fulfilment. His journey is like a twenty-first century Candide, learning that life's satisfactions, and some kind of response to the concerns of economic meltdown and climate change, lie in learning how to make things for oneself, and mending things that fall apart. Along the way, Flintoff paints pictures with Brit-art oddball Billy Childish, gets apprenticed in Savile Row, grows his own food and spins fibre from nettles. Daringly, he also turns his book over to his wife Harriet, who likes nothing better than a fancy spa and a shop at Liberty's. The results are comic, heartwarming and inspiring.
John-Paul Flintoff is a feature writer for the Sunday Times, and author of Comp: a Survivor’s Tale. As well as writing, he has worked as a bin man, executive PA, scuba diver, taxi driver, undertaker, amateur boxer and rat catcher. He lives in London with his wife, Harriet, and daughter, Nancy, whom he torments by making and wearing his own clothes.
