This dress was created by sewing a linen skirt to the top of a cotton/silk shift because the blue and yellow shades in both looked as if they were meant to be together.

Some things are just meant to be – and I think this year in the rhythm of sewing, photographing, writing and posting about my resewing experiences is one of those things.

I’m currently working out how to manage this rhythm while in Western Australia next month, my third trip west during the past year since my youngest brother Paul lost his life in an excavator accident there.

Losing a much-loved sibling is painful, as well as a wake-up call for what really matters. Paul was living an adventurous life in his Mercedes Sprinter van fitted out as a mobile home/tool kit, working as a builder in remote parts of the state. He had no children, was twice married and twice divorced.

Paul didn’t leave a Will, so part of my journey this year after being appointed as administrator is deciding what to do with his possessions. Less is more and quality remains long after price forgotten were codes by which Paul lived – and I’m fortunate he gathered a couple of high-quality friends who are helping me work through this process.

The photo of we Capon siblings, right, is particularly poignant now that the youngest one is gone. We’re wearing sailor suits Mum made on a Singer sewing machine (with knee pedal) when we lived back on the farm in South Island, New Zealand. I still have that sewing machine but Mum died back in 1980 from cancer.

The death of my brother last year coinciding with leadership study and reflection about my values, skills, strengths, deficits and goals led me to carve out a different path. I wondered what is my unfinished business – what do I really want to do – what is important to me, how can I make my best contribution?

I set up Textile Beat with mentoring from my leadership colleague Ele Cook, an organic beef producer from Coolah in New South Wales, because we share similar values and universal spirit.

But I was driven to take another creative leap by combining my advocacy and communication experience – along with my love of natural fibres and sewing – and packaging it up into this Sew it Again campaign of my own making.

These experiences also define my interest in creative art therapy because as I sew my way through this year, I’m also dealing with memories, loss, and clearing out my wardrobes of accumulated stuff so that I can travel more lightly in future.

It’s only possible thanks to support from my wonderful family – with husband Darcy paying the bills while I sew this year, our children backing up with free IT support and social media pointers.

And just to put it out there to the universe, my big goal next year is to travel the world inspiring creative upcycling of natural fibre garments.

Meanwhile, back to the business at hand – today’s upcycle began life as a linen skirt and a silk/cotton shift dress, both op-shop finds. The blue and yellow looked lovely together – so I chopped the shift in three, sewing the top bit to the skirt to form a dress (creating a side opening aligned with side zip of skirt), sewing the middle bit as a trim to lengthen the skirt, and the bottom bit (ie shift hem) was used to trim the mid-riff and hand-sewn with yellow beads.