This lavender knit wrap dress and purple skirt needed a lift – especially after I caught it in my push-bike spoke (don’t ask) – so I cut off the scarred bit and added some extra purple knit trim.

Being able to resew and adjust existing clothes is empowering and results in individual garments that suit your own shape and preferences – and you will never run into anyone else wearing the same outfit. It also means you can have ethical, thrifty, interesting and sustainable clothing choices based on what works best for you.

It is fun passing on ideas and skills to others – as I did yesterday when helping my lovely friend Liliana Molina make a few tweaks to her gorgeous flamenco skirt bought for a concert last year and now converted to a glamorous dress by adding some elastic and shoulder straps. 

It turns out, Liliana did sewing at school and already has sound skills. She just needed some confidence and ideas on how to proceed. She’s got the upcycling bug now and time will be the only limiting factor – but we can make time for things we love doing.

I’m putting aside a whole year of my time with this Sew it Again campaign immersing in garment upcycling because I believe it’s important to rethink where our clothes come from, who made them and what from.

Number 61 of 365 is a purple knit wrap I made a few years ago from wool-blend fabric, which has good drape but was looking a bit plain (and battle scarred from when I wore it bike-riding). I found some leftover knit from the skirt, cut this into strips and sewed down the middle of each directly on to the garment. This created three stripes to the bottom and five stripes to the top. The wrap in secured with a couple of kilt pins, and a bow fastening at the side.