Being a visual person who loves texture and colour, I got a dose of creative inspiration from Barbara Stephenson’s pinterest boards – particularly the dresses and sewing possibilities which are the two I viewed this morning. Thanks Barbara (and pinterest) for gathering such fabulous pin-boards.

It is interesting how we inspire each other with just the spark of an idea, which we can then develop in our own way to suit ourselves.

I’m thrilled to see Bev Ryan writing about my Sew it Again blog in a meaningful way in her article Blogging for Social Impact. Sometimes messages can get lost within a blog particularly with daily posting, and I’m grateful to Bev for drawing out my essential messages: sustainable dressing by refashion, reuse, repair of existing clothing using simple sewing techniques – to reduce our clothing footprint and put our own stamp on the way we individually present to the world.

I’ve been thinking about how to achieve this upcycle, Sew 252, for a few months since a Sew it Again friend (Jane W) forwarded me this beautiful wool garment which had grown too tight at the waistline for her to comfortably wear. Being tall and long-limbed, she loves the style but just needs a little more room around the abdomen. (I know the feeling, hence my attachment to elastic waists!) 

The story of this dress is now expanded (literally) to include the insertion of a black panel down the centre front (it opens with a zip down the back). It is an imperfect but creative solution to enable the dress to be worn, instead of idle in the back of the wardrobe – too treasured to toss but unsuited for wear.

The panel was made from the waist portion of a black wool skirt that I have cut up for a future upcycle. Leaving a piece of the zip in place at the top of this 5cm wide strip, I then cut and collaged other pieces until I had enough length to run down the front of the dress. I neatened the cut edge of the black fabric using a roller cutter. I then sliced down the front of the dress below the button-openings (a bit scary, cutting something so beautiful!) before pinning and sewing the insert in place using zigzag stitch down each side and across the bottom. Hopefully this will give the dress a second life in Jane W’s active wardrobe and we’ll get a photo on the blog to prove it.