It was great to engage with such a productive and enthusiastic group of women at the Biloela history skirt workshop. We were fortunate to have been able to invest two days of time and energy in mindfully using imagination and skills to refashion unworn clothing to suit ourselves.
The concept of reusing existing clothing has appeal to people who dislike waste and are prepared to be resourceful and creative in how they dress. It requires right-brain engagement and an overhaul of our previous way of thinking about fashion and textiles.
I see it as a significant milestone in the refashion revolution that this workshop was made possible by the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), which is a partnership between Queensland Government’s Arts Queensland and Banana Shire Council to support local arts and culture.
A magnificent mural on the town’s water tank reflects investment in an earlier cultural project which was supported by QRRRWN and RADF, see photos below, which also include a sunset and another tall water tank.
The weekend workshop was made possible thanks to Fay Neale for organising the details and Dominique Tan for billeting me. I hope it can be the first of many as society begins to shift thinking about the way we dress to become more social and environmentally aware of our clothing footprint.
Meredith travelled from Theodore to learn about upcycling and refashioning – and Sew 166 is a shift dress (based on Sew 69) made from five outdated linen and cotton white shirts that had been lurking in the back of her wardrobe – too good to throw out but too dated to be worn with confidence.
So at my suggestion, Meredith ‘filleted’ the shirts, cutting out the collars, sleeves, button fronts and backs and collaged them together creatively by stitching on to pieces of lightweight cotton cut into a simple round-neck shift. This is a mindful, considered, creative process that occurs by placing pieces onto the backing and rearranging until you are happy with several of them together, sew in place, then pinning on a few more and working from top to bottom down the garment. Think about making random, unusual and unlikely alignments to create a fresh look.
Hi Jane
I am very pleased to speak with you with the similar topic which I am into now for my dissertation.
I am planning the project which is about setting up a social enterprise in the fashion industry. I am come from South Korea but I am currently living in the UK. I have noticed that there are many charity shops in the UK which sells donated products and the profit goes to our neighbours who needs help. I see this as sustainable fashion culture in the UK could be the whole Europe.
On the contrary to this, i could hardly find charity shops in South Korea but alteration service is really developed in Korea whereas alteration service is pricy in the UK. Korean people reforms the clothes to their taste. There are even many private institutions which teach people about the alteration skills.
So, i thought that bring that Korean slow fashion culture to the UK is a good idea. The original idea about my project is asking creative fashion students to join my project so that this social enterprise project could also offer the creative opportunities for their career but it seems to be impossible for them to participate in my project so i turn this to my personal project.
I wonder that how you develop your project and is it possible for you to give me advice?
Also, if you are possible could you email me about your advice and feedback about my project?
Thanks !!
P.S. http://www.toppingonlondon.com – please have a look at this website please.
Hi Danbi – love your ideas – will email you separately about your passion project reusing waste clothing. j