Author Archives: Jane

Sew 316 – Making a difference

When we slow down and use traditional home-sewing skills to repair and refashion clothing that already exists in the world, we are practising slow fashion. This is the opposite end of the spectrum from fast fashion which thrives on high turnover, continuous and conspicuous consumption of newly made fashion clothing.

Slow magazine recently posted a story about the Sew it Again project, while another thoughtful magazine Womankind has a great article about the merits of meaningful creative practice. Womankind says that the story of making something may have disasters and triumphs along the way, but it brings meaning to our lives. Continue reading →

Sew 315 – Creative second-hand combo

In this era of conspicuous consumption, it is refreshing to come across people from all walks of life who deliberately make thrifty choices and consider secondhand-best whenever possible.

At a check-up with my dentist yesterday, Bruce asked me what I’d been up to since I last visited, I told him about Sew it Again and that the upcycled outfit I was wearing (right) had cost me less than $2. He was completely with the program. Bruce said he loved fossicking through second-hand clothing stores and that his med-student daughter had upcycled his wife’s wedding dress for her Year 12 formal outfit. Fabulous thrifty values, reusing what already exists instead of always buying new! Continue reading →

Sew 314 – Linen tops the list

The casual crinkled look of linen is naturally beautiful. I have a crush on linen which I’ve written about before and believe it to be the most sustainable of all natural fibres. Just machine wash, shake and hang to dry and wear as is – and if you want a nice even crinkle, give it a short tumble-dry. I haven’t ironed linen for years – saving lots of energy and effort.

There is a sign (right) in one of Brisbane’s fabric stores (Spotlight) promoting the casual wrinkled look as being the way to wear linen these days. Hooray – hope it leads to more people wearing linen because based on the embodied energy information outlined below, linen is the most energy efficient fibre available. I’ve sourced this table from the O Ecotextiles website, which used an academic study done for the New Zealand Merino Wool Association as its original data.

Continue reading →

Sew 313 – Who wants our waste

“It’s time to stop giving our crap to the poor.” We think we are being kind and generous when we donate our unwanted clothing to charity – but are we just shifting our old stuff their way to help ourselves? When we give to people in need, we should give quality stuff – or cash.

In this thought-provoking post on We Are That Family, Kirsten wrote: ‘Just because our donation feels like we are helping, in reality, we could be hurting. Bales of used clothes are sold to African countries for resell and they end up flooding the market and often put local textile businesses and seamstresses out of business.”

Yesterday I wrote that Australia exports 70,000 tonne of used clothing each year (according to NACRO) mainly to UAE, Pakistan and Malaysia – that is 70,000,000 kg of cast-off clothing every year. Every pair of jeans (less than 1kg) takes 10,000 litres of water to grow the cotton fabric (according to WRAP UK). They are big numbers. Textile waste is a big issue and the more I read, the more I’m convinced that as a society, we need to change our ways. Continue reading →

Sew 312 – Old jeans live again

Textile waste from the clothing industry comes in two forms – either pre-consumer waste generated during the design and marketing phase, or post-consumer waste in the form of second-hand clothing.

Post-consumer waste is the main focus of Sew it Again because the project grew out of my thrift shop ‘habit’ and instinctive sense of ‘rescuing’ natural fibres garments – and during this year I’m working my way through the accumulated surplus (five wardrobes +).

In Australia there are about 3000 opportunity shops run by various charitable groups which operate under the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO) umbrella and collect post-consumer waste to either redistribute to those in need or sell to raise funds to fulfil their missions. People who frequent thrift shops do so for many reasons – it may be from necessity, or from thrifty green values (like me), or collectors looking for something unique (that’s me too). Continue reading →

Sew 311 – Immersing in slow fashion

I was fortunate to spend formative childhood years on a family farm in Otago, New Zealand, and have memories of mushrooming after rain with Nana and sitting on Great Grandma’s porch shelling peas from the field garden. These authentic slow food experiences have informed subsequent life choices.

It is a logical side-step in a diverse career across agricultural journalism and advocacy that I am now part of the slow fashion movement in Australia, sharing ways to extend the life of clothes and reduce our clothing footprint.

Slow fashion – as distinct from fast fashion – is based on principles similar to those of the slow food movement which is a conscious cultural choice to slow down and share local, seasonal food grown in sustainable ways. Continue reading →

Sew 310 – Sharing refashion confidence

We don’t live in a perfect world, so why expect that our clothing, our sewing and our refashion projects will be perfect?

In my book, a finished project has a few quirks and minor imperfections is far superior to the one that remains incomplete waiting for its ‘perfect’ moment to arrive – or sadder still, it never even got started.

Sometimes you just have to dive in and make something happen in order to move forward in an organic if unstructured way – a bit like the Sew it Again project itself!

I have learned some people worship neatness in the same way I value original randomness – and upcycling and refashion is not for those people. When Kristina arrived at the Textile Beat studio yesterday she knew her neat cautious approach was holding her back from playing fast and loose with the scissors. She just needed confidence to let go and try something new – and see what happened. Continue reading →

Sew 309 – Mr Darcy in background

Nearly a year ago, I wrote this career-change summary: Jane Milburn is an agricultural scientist by training and an issues-based communications consultant by practice. Sew it Again is a journey into creativity, empowerment, thrift, sustainability, ecological unhealth and wellbeing – woven with threads of childhood, professional expertise, networks and nature. During 2014, Jane is making a daily practice of upcycling garments from her own and others’ wardrobes as a way of sharing a creative way of dressing.

The decision to sew a fresh seam in life coincided with three children making their own way in the world (sad but good too, freeing up space and time) doing postgraduate study (Grad Cert Australian Rural Leadership) and the loss of my youngest brother Paul in an accident (a reality check about the finite nature of life).

So here I am, sewing every day – on one hand as a protest against the fast-fashion churnover of clothing that is leading to waste and exploitation of natural resources and people – and on the other hand demonstrating a creative way to bring home-sewing into the 21st century. This Sew it Again year is only possible thanks to my lifetime partner, chief backer and supporter Mr Darcy, my husband. (See our wedding photo right). Continue reading →

Sew 308 – REfashion a winner

The Melbourne Cup has been run and won – this year by a German horse Protectionist ridden by English jockey Ryan Moore. I was idly watching the post-race coverage on Channel 7 only to see an upcycled silk creation win the Myer Fashions on the Field.

The winning design worn by Christine Spielmann started life as a free-flowing much-loved Camilla kaftan that became torn. As the story goes, Christine was attached to the fabric (a gift from her mother) so she gave it to bespoke designer Nadia Foti to upcycle into a fresh and winning look. A fabulous result – and great second-life for beautiful silk natural fibres. Continue reading →

Sew 307 – Most clothes now synthetic

My home city of Brisbane, Queensland, is in the final stages of planning to host the largest ever gathering of world leaders in Australia’s history with The G20. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said this year’s focus will be on building a stronger world economy – because economic growth means more jobs, higher living standards etc.

This is juxtaposed against the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which says human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed on all continents. The latest report says continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of widespread and profound impacts affecting all levels of society and the natural world.

Climate change is not on the G20 agenda. Despite the fact that there’s a link between continued economic growth (read consumption) and emission of greenhouse gases, particularly in Australia where coal is our second-largest export earner and underpins our economy. Continue reading →