Author Archives: Jane

Sew 216 – Reusing waste creatively

Clothing is third on the list of wasteful consumption after food and credit interest, according to The Australia Institute.

A TAI 2005 research paper says that while we ostensibly buy goods and services to meet needs, social and economic systems now depend on growing levels of consumer spending unconnected with any needs.

It says: “Consumer spending is everywhere praised as being ‘good for the economy’; indeed, in the long term, it is only consumer spending that keeps the economy growing, and economic growth is almost universally believed to be the most important contributor to national and personal well-being (Hamilton 2003). As a consequence, economic growth has become a dominant objective in itself, irrespective of the extent to which it contributes to improving social well-being.” Continue reading →

Sew 215 – Linking with like-mindeds

As I work my way through this Sew it Again year, I enjoy meeting people and starting a conversation about clothing – where it comes from, where it goes to, and what happens to it along the way.

There is significant community awareness of the disposable culture flowing from the cheap and seemingly endless supply. People are becoming more conscious of the negative environmental and social impacts of the clothing binge, in the same way they know about negative health impacts from over-consumption of cheap processed food, But doing something about it is another matter.

Items that are unique and locally handmade with heart are rare. They standout among the sameness of the mass-produced and are valued by conscious consumers. They’re doubly special if you take the time to learn the skills and make them yourself. Continue reading →

Sew 214 – T-shirts reworked

Hacktivism strikes me as a great term to describe the art of hacking into reject and cast-off clothing that is no longer loved, at the same time as making a statement about waste and exploitation that arises from contemporary fashion consumption habits. (That was until I googled it and found it’s more readily aligned with computer hacking.)

Anyway, this method of upcycling reflects the #scavengerstyle fashion political statement made by upcycler Karen Ellis whose 24/7 practice is wearing garments salvaged from the point of landfill in Victoria, Australia for the past five years.

Karen brought my attention to Otto von Busch and his >self_passage< research project that ‘explores how fashion can be used for empowerment, self-development and personal growth instead of being a phenomenon of top-down decrees and collective anxiety’. Continue reading →

Sew 213 – Op shops are tops

My sister Joanne, right, and I were raised by a mother who made clothing for herself and for us, in the time before sweatshops and cheap fast fashion. As a child, I remember being told not to say anything if we saw our young neighbours wearing our cast-offs.

Clothing is still passed on through social and family networks, to maximise use of garments and the fabrics from which they were made. Thrifty values are ingrained, so Jo and I still share unworn clothing before it is donated to opportunity shops, turned into rags or dumped.

These day clothing swaps and swish parties are happening things and I am an avid supporter of op shops – both buying from and donating to.

Op shops operate with a lot of wonderful volunteer support, play an important role in helping those in need and keeping textiles out of landfill through reuse and recycling. Continue reading →

Sew 212 – Clothing is not fashion

I’ve learned so much from reading Kate Fletcher‘s Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys book – including an understanding about the difference between clothing and fashion.

Here’s a big slab of what Fletcher says about that: “Fashion and clothing are different concepts and entities. They contribute to human well-being both functionally and emotionally. Clothing is material production; fashion is symbolic production. Although their use and looks sometimes coincide, fashion and clothes connect with us in different ways. Fashion links us to time and space and deals with our emotional needs, manifesting us as social beings, as individuals. Fashion can be what is set in motion when a designer presents a new collection on a catwalk on Milan. But equally, fashion can be the moment when a teenager crops a pair of jeans, adds a badge to an old sweatshirt and paints their Converse pumps. Clothing, in contrast, is concerned chiefly with physical or functional needs, with sheltering, shielding and protecting. Not all clothes are fashion clothes and not all fashion finds expression in garment form. Yet where the fashion sector and the clothing industry come together (in fashion clothes) our emotional needs are made manifest as garments. This overlaying of emotional needs on physical goods fuels resource consumption, generates waste and promotes short-term thinking as we turn our gaze from one silhouette, hemline and colour palate to the next in search of the next new experience. It also leaves us dissatisfied and disempowered, as physical goods, no matter how many of them we consume, can never truly satisfy our psychological needs.” Continue reading →

Sew 211 – Use skills to renovate clothes

I’m up to day 211 of upcycling and renovating existing clothing to give them another chance at life through the 2014 Sew it Again project.

We don’t live in a perfect world so why expect our clothing to be so? Clothing requires maintenance and can be renovated. Sometimes we wash them more than we need to (Levis CEO doesn’t wash jeans) and often times we rush off to buy something new instead of checking and changing what we already have.

As an op shop queen, I buy very little new, am into DIY and use the library. But when I found Womankind magazine while browsing the newsagent, I saw something special.

The cover is symbolic, a beautiful butterfly collage of a woman’s face, the editorial by Antonia Case a compelling case for using time wisely to create a good life and the article about Julia Schor was the decider to add Womankind to my collection of affirming publications. Continue reading →

Sew 210 – Collar wrap adds interest

This long black 100% cashmere coat is a favourite found on a freezing day out in Toronto op-shopping with son Max a few years ago. It is total quality as a Birger Christensen and a testament for natural fibres and superior design.

The coat was in perfect condition when I purchased it (for $120) but this winter when I got it out of the airtight winter suitcase, I noticed the fleece on the cuffs and collars had a couple of small bare spots. Not insect damage, perhaps age. I used a permanent marker to blacken the spots and that camouflaged them effectively.

While in Warwick last week, I couldn’t resist a quick visit to the op shop and found two pieces of wool fabric for $3 each. This red and charcoal herringbone weave square metre was ideal to turn into a wrap collar, which was an easy way to add interest to the plain back coat without interfering with its integrity. This combination was nice and warm to wear to the Night Noodle Markets at Southbank in Brisbane. Continue reading →

Sew 209 – Simple drape of tartan

It has received controversial reviews but I love the Scotland team’s Commonwealth Games uniform of bright tartan – particularly the wool wrap which was worn in so many different ways by female athletes during the opening ceremony.

The uniform inspired me to uncover an unused piece of tartan fabric that has been languishing in my studio for a decade and create this winter wrap. This piece of fabric is about 160cm wide and over two metres long, with one side longer than the other but this method works with any length or width (the shape will be different though). It is just a matter of cutting partway down the middle, securing the end of that cut by sewing a rectangle of fabric to the back, then fringing the cut edges. You just sit the wrap on your shoulders and flick the longer end over the back. You could use an old blanket to achieve the same effect.

Sew 208 – Easy when you see how

Interesting to see a Vinnies op-shop scarf included in the fashion pages of our local newspaper The Courier-Mail yesterday. St Vincent de Paul was Just casually listed along with the other fashion suppliers featured in the photos.

Does this suggest op-shops are going mainstream? Advertising enables publishing and commerce makes the world go around, so can’t get too excited that op-shops and upcycled clothing have more than a niche future.

Unlike the established processes for recycling glass, metal and plastic, we don’t do much with textiles beyond donating them to op shops. That’s why I am spending this year on a counter-culture Sew it Again project to demonstrate other uses for reject clothing and fabrics – building a 365-page archive of options for reuse. Continue reading →

Sew 207 – See old jumper sew skirt

This was an ordinary old cotton jumper that Helen transformed into a skirt, scarf, toggle and headband at the Textile Beat jumper-to-skirt workshop – and Desirea modelled at the gorgeous Abbey of the Roses in Warwick, Queensland.

Cotton farmers are paid about $500/bale (which is 227kg) for raw cotton or about $2/kg for the cotton in a standard jumper which weighs less than 500 gms. A lot of water, energy and other inputs (insect control, defoliant) go into producing this natural fibre. After being grown on farms, the fibres then go through ginning, spinning, colouring, knitting to turn it into garments which we buy so easily and cheaply in clothing stores because they are made en mass. Billions and billions of such garments are produced every year to clothe the world. Continue reading →