Category Archives: repair and care

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 147 – Resewing at embryonic stage

Forecasting social-cultural trends is something European trendsetter Lidewij Edelkoort learned to do by trusting her instincts and she now travels the world presenting at events such as Designex coming soon to Sydney Australia.

In a recent article, Edelkoort reflects on the current move towards nature, organics and the traditional. “We’re seeing the dawning of an embryonic age, where the social mood is shifting to a climate of community, care and compassion. A new epoch with different and more wholesome, localised options … Twenty years ago we craved imported goods. Now we’re turning our attention to things that are local and locally made … We went very quickly into the desire for global things and I think we will also unglobalise rapidly which I think is positive because transportation is taking its toll on society, financially and ecologically. So if we can do less of that, the better it is.” Continue reading →

Sew 142 – Repairing old favs

Crisp new natural-fibre fabrics are lovely to feel, yet the softness and malleability that comes with age has great appeal too.

The men in my family often come with hands outstretched when their favourite trousers or shorts need mending (they’re good at housework and cooking so it’s a quid pro quo). I love that we have this family ethos of treasuring things for sentimental reasons rather than monetary ones.

Staying overnight recently with my friend Georgie Somerset on her and Rob’s beef property at Durong, I took this photograph, below, of their mending pile stacked in a corner waiting for a spare hour or two in between cattle work, community work and board meetings! Continue reading →

Sew 138 – Washing and wearing

After our clothing has been made and sold, the main environmental impact comes from the way we wash and dry it.

In The Sustainable Fashion Handbook by Sandy Black, the University of Oxford’s Chris Jardine estimates that each washing machine or dryer uses about 10 percent of an average household’s electricity consumption.

Simple options for reducing environmental impacts (and cost) of washing and drying are:

Wash full loads – the energy required for a washing cycle is the same, regardless of whether the machine is full or empty;
Wash at as low temperature as possible – heating the water uses most of the electricity required to run the machine;
Dry garments on a line, not in a dryer – line dry garments outside on a washing line, or inside on a well-spaced clothes rack. Continue reading →

Sew 137 – One of a kind

Having an original, one-of-a-kind garment is interesting, fun and an expression of creativity – but it is not for everyone.

We all have our own preference and taste, whether that is conservative, conventional or high fashion as determined by so-called trendsetters and style leaders,

Because I’ve never been one to follow the crowd, upcycling existing clothing suits me well – I can experiment with different styles and enjoy natural fibres without breaking the bank.

My Upcycled exhibition in Coolah was a unique opportunity to present an alternative and adventurous way of engaging with our wardrobes, rather than simply buying off-the-rack, ready-made fashion as has become the norm over the past two decades.

My premise is that home-sewing is a life skill, just like home-cooking, and the Sew it Again project aims to transform the way we think about and wear our clothes. Continue reading →

Sew 132 – Mending a Woolaby

The beautiful warmth, softness and lustre of merino wool from which a Woolaby rugby jumper is created makes you want to hold on to it forever.

When holes inevitably appear over time, the life of a natural fibre garment such as this can be extended by mending the holes – in this case using woollen hearts cut from another beyond-repair jumper.

Reconsidering ways to reuse and revive resources is the subject of David Sherlock’s dramatic Think Before You Throw art sculpture from reject stuff at the Coolah waste transfer station. A trip to the tip to see this and other sculptures from the Waste to Art project overseen by my leadership colleague Ele Cook was the highlight of my morning! Continue reading →

Sew 130 – Fast fashion waste

The built environment shapes the way we live, food choices influence our health and the clothing we chose to wear is a statement about who we are.

Media reports today confirm that fast food is having a profound influence on our diet, with a new Australian Health Survey by the Bureau of Statistics showing we are eating 30 per cent less fruit and vegetables than 15 years ago.

Curtin University’s Professor Mike Daube is quoted as saying fast food has eclipsed vegetables as a dietary staple, which is a major concern because of the implications for health costs and disease burden in society. “The results are a triumph for the mass marketing of junk food,” he says.

Just as fast food has negatively influenced our diets, fast fashion has transformed the clothing and textile landscape. In the past decade, our entire approach has changed since globalisation made clothing cheaper and more plentiful that ever before.

Clothing waste is a very real issue, leading to organisations such as the UK-based charity TRAID working to stop clothes from being thrown away and Hong Kong-based NGO Redress promoting environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption.

Tweets from the Ecochic Awards yesterday via @TRAID and @Redress_Asia quoted: “A third of all clothing is still ending up in landfill In the UK … we throw £140 million of clothes into the bin every year … according to WRAP UK 17-20% of garments made remain unsold.”

Such waste is worrying and these figures are probably similar in other developed nations such as Australia. A desire to value reject natural fibre clothing underpins my 365-day Sew it Again project to raise awareness of how we can creatively reconstruct and upcycle what already exists instead of always buying new.

Sew 130 is two op-shop found jumpers. The striped wool had a couple of small holes which I mended by hand-stitching on a few buttons. The khaki wool jumper was cut and reshaped as a jumper skirt, with the sleeves sewn together (on the diagonal to optimise length) to become a scarf. Ele has accessorised with bright blue and makes these rejects look groovy.

Sew 128 – Working with nature on-farm

Farmers pride themselves on looking after the environment that provides their livelihood.

That’s why country people understand recycling and upcycling. Working in tune with nature and being mindful of how we use natural resources is a way of life.

Organic beef producer Phil Cook – partner of leadership colleague Ele Cook – goes one step further in modelling his sustainably upcycled wool jumper this morning as he headed outdoors to work in the cold windy weather at Coolah in New South Wales. Continue reading →

Sew 125 – An upcycled upcycle

Uncertainty is an essential element of creativity, which in turn comes from mindful attention to your craft of choice. My craft is resewing existing clothing.

Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer says our current culture leads us to try to reduce and minimise uncertainty, leading to mindless rigid behaviour governed by rules and routines.

On the other hand, if we exploit the power of uncertainty we learn that things can become more than we previously thought possible. Mindfulness makes us sensitive to context, perspective, and changing situations.

Sew it Again is a response to changing circumstances around the way we dress. As clothing becomes cheaper, plentiful and designed with built-in obsolescence – an extraordinary amount of clothing waste has been accumulating around the world. Continue reading →

Sew 124 – Upcycled in Coolah

Very excited to have my first Upcycled exhibition now hanging in Pandora Gallery at Coolah in New South Wales as a celebration of natural fibres and (re)fashion from today until May 16.

Upcycled is an interactive exhibition about the history, origins and uses of natural fibres which explores creative ways to refashion existing clothing for a second life.

Our consumer society is using textiles at an unprecedented rate, with thousands of tonnes of waste clothing dumped in landfill or shipped to third-world countries every year.

Thanks to my ARLP leadership colleague Ele Cook and gallery coordinator Jennie Stephens, I’ve been able to mount this exhibition to showcase some of my repurposed reject garments 365-day Sew it Again creations to raise awareness of the ethical, social and environmental issues of textile waste. Continue reading →