Dr Wendy Relf and Adrienne Richards at Hawkesbury Regional Gallery

It is always helpful to gain fresh perspective on the Sew it Again project as I did today with my sister-in-law Wendy Relf and Hawkesbury Regional Gallery education and public program officer Adrienne Richards.

The project is a creative journey that connects head and heart. It bridges memories of childhood, agricultural science study, communications work and a love of nature – as well as purposefully engaging me in issues of ecological health and wellbeing. As I chatted to Adrienne about my journey from early days on the farm through agricultural science to rural reporting and then issues-based communications work – her summation was that Sew it Again is ‘pulling all the threads together’. Thanks Adrienne, I’ll take those words and put them to good use!

It was great to see the Cultural Jewels exhibition of Lola Greeno‘s beautiful shell jewellery currently showing at the Hawkesbury gallery and read about her work as one of a handful of Tasmanian Aboriginal women who harvest, process and thread shells into intricately patterned necklaces. Beautiful found treasure from nature.

 In terms of today’s upcycle, here’s another creation from the fabulous Fairholme College Year 11 fashion students.

The girls started with a pair of black cotton trousers embroidered with daisies, and a black and white polyester top. The girls chopped off the trouser legs and turned them into shorts, turning over the neatening the hem.

With the top, they cut if off below the sleeves and added an elastic band to create a sleeveless bodice. It could double as a skirt, but in this case, the gorgeous Kate wears it as a top with the cropped shorts.