I’m swimming against the tide this year with the Sew it Again project by demonstrating how we can reduce consumption of clothing and reuse and reshape that which already exists rather than buying new.

It is therefore affirming to find people who get what it’s about – such as friend and colleague Heather Grant-Campbell who spent the morning sewing in the Textile Beat studio after we caught up recently at the Green Heart Fair.

Refashioning waste and reject clothing into something you can wear is mindful, creative, thrilling, satisfying, rewarding, sustainable and enlightening. My methods of chopping up garments and roughly stitching back together again are different to traditional tailor/seamstress techniques. I look for unconventional, quick and simple solutions – and Heather and I joked about how “Mrs Davis” her high-school sewing teacher would not have approved! But we got results for Heather – turning 2x$2 jeans into a wrap skirt – and getting her inspired to create more at home when time allows. 

Meanwhile, Sew 159 of 365 was a pink slip of a dress that was cut on the cross and made of beautiful silk with sequins. The sleeveless top was ill-fitting and to my mind unwearable. I simply cut it off at the waist, neatened the seam and turned it over a circle of thin elastic and sewed in place to create a skirt. The wool jumper was op shop found (had never been worn) and the scarf is a strip of cotton fabric.