It is not on my bucket list. I don’t hanker to be in the Birdcage at the running of the Melbourne Cup which stops the nation every November. It brings together horseflesh and fashion in spectacular, luxurious style, but seems somewhat elitist and wasteful to me.

Yet I didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth when the opportunity emerged to hold a roving replica of the Cup doing a whistle-stop tour around the nation to drum up excitement for the big race. ABC Open’s Michael Bromage and I swapped cameras – he took this photo of me, and I took a photo of him, complete with the white glove. Thanks Michael, thanks to Melbourne Cup organisers and thanks to the gorgeous QRRRWN ladies for creating carnival atmosphere! 

Michael held story-telling and photography sessions at the QRRRWN conference in Charters Towers and I picked up some great pointers from him. ABC Open is an incredible archive of rural life and its people – and another demonstration of the wonderful role the national broadcaster plays in our society.

Original and creative thinking leads to different outcomes, solutions – and garments. I found this gorgeous (George Gross) silk skirt in an op-shop in Tasmania and knew it was well worth the $20 price tag, even with the small imperfection of one missing tassel among many.

Wanting to create a broad-shouldered effect, I simply turned the skirt into a top by using a gathering thread to pull up one seam of the lining so it sat on my shoulder, and a similar gathering thread to pull the waist into a neckline. Worn over a black top and skirt, I felt just as well-dressed as everyone else at the RIRDC Gala Dinner at Haise Hall, All Souls and St Gabriels in Charters Towers. In between catching up with friends, including Danielle Crismani and Catherine Marriott, I was posting Sew 26o (and naturally, I’m excited to be nearing the 100-day countdown) for my Sew it Again project.