Category Archives: refashion

Sew 176 – REfashion for celebration

The 60th anniversary of UNICEF’s presence in Malaysia is cause for celebration and I am proud that my sister-in-law Dr Wendy Relf chose to wear upcycled REfashion, namely Sew 176, instead of other available choices.

Photographed below is Wendy, with my brother Professor Tony Capon, Director of the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University in Kuala Lumpur, as they headed off to this special event tonight.

Many of us have many, perhaps too many, choices in what we can wear because there is a surfeit of clothes in the world. What happens to clothes when we tire of them, grow out of them, find they don’t suit our shape anymore? Continue reading →

Sew 174 – Jumpers become history skirt

The recent Textile Beat history skirt workshop at Biloela was ‘sew’ productive it is still providing a store of daily upcycles for me to post while I visit my brother Professor Anthony (Tony) Capon in Malaysia.

Tony is based in KL as Director of the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University and it is always inspiring to have the opportunity to talk about big issues facing the world around our shared interest in disease prevention, ecological health and food production.

Obesity is a growing global epidemic and was the focus of a recent opinion piece Tony wrote for the New Straits Times which has since opened new dialogue about obesity as the ‘mother of all diseases’. Tony and I also enjoyed visiting Malaysia’s League of Extraordinary Women exhibition which features global humanitarian Dr Jemilah Mahmood, see photo below. Continue reading →

Sew 172 – It’s Fashion Week in KL

It is amazing to be transported via AirAsia from the Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur in less than one day – and now be posting from Bukit Bintang.

People here are so helpful and it is great to catch up with family – my brother Professor Tony Capon, Wendy and boys Will and Hugh.

It is exciting to find I will be able to catch the last day of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week at Pavilion tomorrow! That will an enlightening experience, as is the shopping immersion which KL offers with all the high fashion brands seemingly on every corner. Such a contrast to the way I live and shop in Brisbane! Continue reading →

Sew 169 – Gorgeous zero-waste skirt

At a global level people are beginning to question the way we dress, where clothing comes from, and whether it is made with ethical and sustainable processes.

As there is rising interest in home cooking and food growing for health and wellbeing, there is a pressing need to rethink our approach to textiles and fashion. Fast food and fast fashion are convenient – but not necessarily sustainable or good for us and our planet.

My model for a social and environmental shift includes empowering individuals to reimagine and recreate their own wardrobe collection by creatively chopping and changing existing clothing to suit themselves.

Instead of global generic bland brand dressing, this shift involves local, individual unfashionistas branding themselves through sustainable, ethical eco-clothing as part of a REfashion Revolution turning waste and reject clothing into something to wear with pride. Continue reading →

Sew 166 – Shirts refashioned into dress

It was great to engage with such a productive and enthusiastic group of women at the Biloela history skirt workshop. We were fortunate to have been able to invest two days of time and energy in mindfully using imagination and skills to refashion unworn clothing to suit ourselves.

The concept of reusing existing clothing has appeal to people who dislike waste and are prepared to be resourceful and creative in how they dress. It requires right-brain engagement and an overhaul of our previous way of thinking about fashion and textiles.

I see it as a significant milestone in the refashion revolution that this workshop was made possible by the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), which is a partnership between Queensland Government’s Arts Queensland and Banana Shire Council to support local arts and culture. Continue reading →

Sew 165 – Mending favourites, again

It is exciting to be in central Queensland for a creative upcycling workshop supported by Biloela Arts Council and the Banana Shire’s Regional Arts Development Fund. This marks the beginning of a community-wide REfashion Revolution in which we open our minds to chopping and changing dated garments into something more current and wearable.

Some people toss out unworn clothes, hopefully to an op shop rather than into the rubbish. Many others treasure the natural fibres or the sentiment of garments and hold them in the back of the wardrobe – even though they aren’t wearing them because they no longer fit, are frumpy or old-fashioned in style or stained in some way. Continue reading →

Sew 161 – Suit yourself refashion

Self-reliance is a useful characteristic in life that springs from creativity, versatility, intuition, access to raw materials, knowledge and skills.

In the office, it means you can nut out a pragmatic solution for a tricky problem. In the kitchen, it means you can pull together a feed without necessarily having all ingredients listed in a recipe. And in the clothing department, it means you can bring together disparate items and adapt them to suit yourself.

Refashioning, restyling and mending clothing using simple sewing skills means you can be self-reliant, individual and resourceful in the way you dress. Continue reading →

Sew 158 – Stretch the imagination

Every day we eat and we dress. We know fresh, varied, nutritious meals enable us to survive and thrive as human beings but the recent series The Men Who Made Us Fat unmasked the shocking truth about our consumption habits. We are over fed while under nourished. This British documentary by Jacques Peretti exposes how corporations devise tactics to sell us more and more unhealthy addictive processed food. Two-thirds of us are overweight and at risk of chronic diseases. This downward spiral of socially irresponsible businesses exploiting human weaknesses and addictions for commercial gain is disturbing.

In the same way our food intake is manipulated by commercial interests, our clothing wants are too. We allow ourselves to be victims of fashion trends, constantly feeling the need to have the latest greatest so we keep up with the Jones and look sharp. Yet we often feel dissatisfied and need to shop for more.

The extent of clothing waste in the name of fashion is astounding, and my Sew it Again project is a simple effort to demonstrate what we can do as individuals to reuse existing natural fibre clothing. Used clothing is not waste – it is resource that can be harvested and reused in imaginative and creative ways when you have the skills and allow time and space to do so. Continue reading →

Sew 155 – Treasuring natural fibres

The beautiful properties of natural fibres remain long after the product is grown and garment created – they’re worthy of being treasured, mended and adapted.

This super-fine merino jumper gathered from a New Zealand op shop during a 2011 trip with daughter Lily is treasured for its softness, warmth and lustre. It’s upcycled as Sew 155 to overcome two issues, the tight neck and newly emerged holes.

Many say they don’t have time to mend. They’re too busy doing more important things (earning money, social media, drinking wine, shopping, exercising, pampering, ferrying offspring etc). Certainly essential chores absorb our time, more so at busy life stages.

But the sense of accomplishment and soul satisfaction that come from pausing to mend and adapt a quality garment rather than shopping for new are immeasurable and, I believe, under-rated at this point in our history. Continue reading →

Sew 154 – Three Ts reworked

Leadership is an action not a position. This favourite quote is attributed to US television executive Donald H. McGannon who believed in socially responsible leadership through actions – such as dropping cigarette advertising because it was the right thing to do.

I’ve adopted this quote as my own following socially responsible leadership study last year with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and James Cook University, which led to my upcycling social enterprise Textile Beat and this Sew it Again campaign.

On a much bigger scale and operating since 2007, Redress is a Hong-Kong based non-government organisation led by Christina Dean working to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption. Continue reading →