Fun today hosting a Restyle Party in the Textile Beat studio with four enthusiastic young women keen to learn how they can refresh existing clothes to suit themselves and their needs.

I’ll be posting refashions by Nina, Frankie, Billie and Stan over the next few days and certainly it is fabulous to be able to engage with thoughtful young people interested in making ethical, sustainable, individual, creative and affordable clothing choices.

Also exciting to see the amazing Flourish Festival: Design the Future event in Sydney this weekend with its focus on Fashion vs Nature defining the intersection between desire and ecological health, and the impact everyday lifestyle choices have on the long-term health of the planet. Great to see Fashion Revolution Day involved in the event and that creative reuse of existing clothing featuring in many workshops. The Refashion Revolution has arrived! 

As the Sew it Again project celebrates its 329th day of a year refashioning existing clothing instead of buying new, we today feature Billie who – with a bit of home-sewing magic – turned a big old op-shop-found dress into a funky refash. After deciding what length she wanted the new skirt to be, she cut the dress off, neatened the edge and turned it over a circle of elastic cut to fit her waist. To make the top, Billie neatened the hem after opening-up about half of the bottom-back seam and neatening the edges both sides – which are then tied as a knot to pull-in the top for a fitted look without fuss and bother. To tighten up the neckline, Billie then overlapped the back-top edges (where a button and loop had been) and top stitched them together along the neckline. Great working with beautiful young women who care about where clothes come from – and are happy to rescue, repair and restyle them before they become landfill prematurely.

I’ll post some more Restyle Party photos on the Textile Beat facebook page – and you can review the 329 refashions to date over on Pinterest.