Wow – look what Lucy whipped together from a bunch of reject t-shirts and t-offcuts? I was impressed to see how Lucy selected colours and textures from the pile of bits and pieces. She played with them for a while before heading home with a promise to send through photos of her modelling the refashioned results.

I met Lucy at today’s Whites Hill State College fun day in Camp Hill after being invited by my friend Kerryn to run a T-shirts Reworked workshop. It is always good to chat with locals about how they engage with clothes and most have some concern about the declining quality leading to increasing waste as we adopt what amounts to a disposable clothing culture. 

That is why I’m spending 365-days demonstrating creative ways individuals can revive and reuse existing clothing with this Sew it Again project, in the hope of sowing seeds for change in future. It is individuals making small changes that will make a big difference. And it is so exciting to see creative and self-assured young women like Lucy showing amazing talent and enthusiasm for creative reuse. Well done you.

This is Lucy’s story: “I am fourteen, from Brisbane where I have always lived.  I love natural colours, fibers and shapes as they are softer and more delicate than that of man made things.  I also have a soft spot for animals and plants and I love to incorporate their shapes into my designs and drawings.  But I guess this is influenced by my upbringing in a bush landscape in the middle of suburbia, where I’ve relished nature.  I am also influenced by Japanese culture as I love their style of cartooning (anime and manga) and also the beautiful trees that reside there such as the cherry blossom.  All of these things are what makes me inspired to create what I create. “