The fabulous City of Brisbane Australia demonstrates that it values sustainable living by hosting the Green Heart Fair twice each year – and this free community event is on again at Chermside tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to engaging with eco-aware locals on the topic of sustainable and ethical dressing – discussing ways we can reduce our clothing footprint.

With the 365-day Sew it Again campaign approaching the half-way mark (well nearly), there are plenty of garments to fill out the Textile Beat tent this year.

Although time is against me now, I’m working on a few t-shirt upcycles we can do – sans sewing machine with just scissors, hand stitching and crafting.

The Sew 151 t-shirt has an interesting print on the front but is otherwise bog standard and ripe for upcycling. By cutting up an unworn skinny cotton lycra dress in matching pink, I created a ball of continuous t-shirt ribbon. Remove the bottom hem of the garment, then fold it almost in half crosswise (leave about 2cm overhang). Then cut 1cm strips across the garment through one side-seam but not the second side-seam (which is the overhang).  If you were to shake this out, it looks like a double-layered hula skirt with a waistband along one side-seam. Starting from what was the bottom, make an angle cut on one side of the join, then continue to cut on the angle (from the same side to the other (2 to 3, 3 to 4) until you get to the end. (Google t-shirt ribbon and find tutorials). As you stretch the t-shirt fabric (when winding it into a ball), it rolls to the centre and becomes yarn. I trimmed off the t-shirt neck to make a boat neckline then using very small, sharp scissors, clipped holes about 1cm apart around the neckline. Using the t-shirt yarn I then crocheted twice around the neckline, linking to the t-shirt through these small holes. I can’t really define what crochet stitch I used, just did it from memory as taught by my great grandma Mary Walker at Owaka in New Zealand many years ago. To get some more shape into the t-shirt itself, I finished off by trimming the sleeves and hemline, and stretched them so they also roll up and look a little edgier.