This favourite linen dress was in need of a makeover so I shortened the length, used the off-cut to make a long ribbon then sewed some to the neckline before replacing elastic.

Reinventing clothing that already exists in our own and others wardrobes is my purpose this year as I demonstrate a different way of dressing by resewing existing resources.

In our modern world, home sewing is in danger of becoming a lost art, having fallen off the radar as fast, cheap fashion replaced the need to do for ourselves – just as fast food did with home-cooking.

In the same way that we have rediscovered home-cooking as a nourishing and pleasurable activity, I believe home-sewing is being rediscovered as a life-skill of value and reward.

Sewing garments from scratch can be expensive, time-consuming and disappointing when things don’t work out as you envisage. On the other hand, resewing gives you a great head start because much of the hard work and the cost of inputs have already been expended.

It is great to breathe a second-life into perfectly good clothing that is just looking tired, dated, stained or ill-fitting but the natural fibres therein have a lot more life left to give.

Here’s Jenna, my son Casey’s girlfriend, looking fabulous in Sew it Again 17 – once a $2 op shop discard which looks like it was made to measure. Great to find a new home with Jenna for this upcycled dress, which I recreated just by hand-sewing.

Today’s resew is a beautifully-patterned linen dress I made years ago and although it has become soft with wear still has plenty of life left in it. I cut the dress from ankle to knee-length, and turned that off-cut into a long ribbon tube. I positioned this at the neckline and sewed along the seam so that it crinkled interestingly when I threaded new elastic around the neck using a safety pin. The leftover can be a choker or, if preferred, a waist-tie in lieu of belt.