The beautiful buttons on this linen outfit are from my mother-in-law’s collection gathered over her lifetime in Cairns north Queensland and given to me in metal cake tin containers.

Quality, heritage and warmth are interwoven in my journey to revive traditional home-sewing skills and reuse natural resources for pleasure and purpose.

I’m also discovering a global ethical fashion community conscious of where clothes come from, how they are made and their ‘true cost’ to people and the environment.

Beautiful, informed people such as founder of manifeco.com Kate Black who wrote on Huff Post recently:

“Ethical fashion, also known as eco, green or sustainable fashion, can take many forms; it can be items that have been passed down (through family or from thrift and vintage shops), clothes from small-batch or local designers, even big brands are getting in the game with fair-trade certifications and using environmentally preferred fibres like organic cotton or tencel.” 

Black went on to provide four tips for becoming an ethical dresser:

• Buy from known ethical brands – online stores like zady.com and shopethica.com already do the research about which labels are ethically or sustainably made, or seek local designers
•  Read the label – H&M has the Conscious Collection made of recycled and organic fibres plus other well-known brands like J. Crew and Club Monaco do “Made in the USA” pieces
• Shop vintage or second-hand – you might have found yourself exclaiming “they don’t make things the way they used to” and you are absolutely right, quality of workmanship and materials has decreased over the years in the race to the bottom. Vintage and second-hand, already exist, and are usually better quality than can be purchased today
• Shop your closet – rather than buying new items, repair, mend or alter existing items.

I’m doing dot-point 3 and 4 this year, and I’ve photographed my button collection as evidence – and as explanation for why I need to do a year’s worth of upcycling to utilise all my gathered stuff!

Today’s upcycle was purchased from an op shop (an original Jennifer Bull Style Works two-piece) which was in perfect condition but dated by the long skirt and top with side slits. I refashioned it by cropping the skirt to knee-length, and cutting the top’s hem and resewing it as a collar which I trimmed by hand-sewing on vintage buttons from Granny Milburn’s collection.