Spring is nearly upon us in the Southern Hemisphere, with advertisements for cheap consumer fashion for the new season appearing alongside the cheap fast food ads. That’s life for the majority in our consumer society, and its unlikely to change any time soon.

Sew it Again is counter-culture, reshaping and reusing clothing that already exists instead of buying new – clothing selected for natural fibre materials rather than new styles or current trends.

Sew 225 began life as a teenage strapless dress made from cotton knit, with zips used for fringing – trendy a season or two back with lots of interesting detail in the fringing. 

On closer inspection, it was easy to see how to convert this reject dress into a skirt for my friend Carol by cutting off the bodice, securing the cut edge with zigzag to become the waist (no elastic needed), while mending a sideseam along the way.