This photo essay was part of my first experience reporting on sustainable fashion. For this project, I photographed Chicago nonprofit The WasteShed and one of its customers/supporters Blair Goldman, who is also a sustainable sewing instructor. I submitted this photoset along with this feature I wrote for The Chicago Reader about The WasteShed’s annual upcycled fashion show fundraiser, for which I interviewed Goldman.

A sign reads “Donations please we are a broke nonprofit” and “We need money bad” on the counter at The WasteShed in front of Earl Mitchell, retail assistant on May 24, 2023. The WasteShed is a 501(c)(3) creative reuse donation center and store for ar
Blair Goldman sifts through vintage sewing patterns for sale at The WasteShed on June 3, 2023. Goldman has been a customer of The WasteShed since 2017 and was the first place winner of their second annual fundraiser competition: DiscarDisco, a trash
A pile of unsorted donations, mostly assorted textiles, sits in the back room of The WasteShed. Since opening in 2014, The WasteShed has diverted over 130 tons of waste from landfills, and recently resumed accepting donations after moving to their ne
Goldman excitedly lifts up a few yards of rainbow striped faux fur fabric from The WasteShed’s donation pile, laughing, “I need this. But I definitely don’t need this.” Goldman has been a volunteer at The WasteShed and a planning committee member for
Goldman teaches a beginner sewing lesson at Hovet Fashion Studio, 2000 W Carroll Ave. in West Town. Hovet Fashion Studio, where Goldman has been teaching sewing, pattern making, draping and upcycling classes since 2021, offers sewing lessons and supp
Goldman watches her student, Angeles Salinas, 23, practice lowering the needle on her sewing machine. Goldman says that “probably 70%” of her students are teenagers or young adults, with her youngest student having been 9 years old.
Salinas and Goldman laugh while Salinas sews along a straight line. Goldman has her beginner sewing students practice using the machine using “sewing squares” – squares of muslin that she draws lines and corners on in permanent marker for her student
Salinas practices guiding muslin under the needle to sew along a straight line, drawn by Goldman in permanent marker. Goldman is a self-taught sewist of 15 years whose designs have been worn by Lizzo and Dorian Electra – but she talks with the most e
A pink velvet tomato-shaped pin cushion sits on a sewing table as Salinas practices pinning muslin to create a seam. In this beginner lesson, Golman taught her student how to thread a sewing machine, backstitch, sew straight lines and corners, sew a
Goldman looks proudly at Salinas completing a sewing square on her own, without needing pointers – she compliments her student’s steadiness in sewing in a straight line. “The kids are gonna be alright,” says Goldman. “They're so eager to do things t
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