Alternative ways of living and shopping that are more healthful and mindful for ourselves and our environment are all around us when we open ourselves to them.

It is great to see Reverse Garbage in New South Wales has a new shop ReConsidered at Redfern to increase the reuse of materials and decrease the amount of valuable resources heading to landfill. This South Sydney Herald article quotes Reverse Garbage CEO Narelle Mantle saying the project is promoting care and responsibility for one another and our environment. “ReConsidered seeks to inspire others to literally reconsider the notion of what is ‘waste’ and ‘garbage’ and to see value and function in materials which have been thrown to the wayside.”

This aligns with my Sew it Again project this year, in which I am valuing natural fibre clothing as a resource that can be reinvented for a second life. Sometimes it only takes a small change to make an otherwise attractive garment more comfortable. 

This turtle-neck jumper is a gorgeous flecked turquoise and green hand knit, the colours of which were a perfect match with a silk scarf – both garments op-shop found. To make the turtle neck more comfortable and interesting, I cut the neck on one side down to the neckline, then zigzagged several times to secure cut stitches before trimming with some of the scarf (the rest saved for another project another day) used as an edging (like bias binding) and then the ends knotted to further secure the cut. This is a bit hard to show in photos, but whatever you do to secure the cut edge will be fine.