Category Archives: repurpose

Sew 71 – Have creative courage

Today’s upcycle adds an extra row of buttons to create room in a double-breasted silk jacket and turns a cardigan into a skirt and scarf.

These garments may not be perfect couture but they’re wearable and workable. And as the quote from @Wisdomalive on Twitter said today: Imperfection is an essential ingredient in the pursuit of excellence.

This aligns with a New Scientist article (March 8) by Michael Bond about The Secrets of Success, which include adopting a growth mindset – the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and practice and aren’t fixed by biology. Continue reading →

Sew 69 – A Scrappy Shift

This Scrappy Shift has a story to tell about the pieces of pink and white garments resewn for a second life in another place and time from their original purpose.

Some people will look at this and hate it. I look at it and love its busyness, diversity, colour, texture, quirks and angles – all stitched up with authentic simplicity and care.

This concept started with a friend’s shift from which I cut a pattern. I did this by placing an old sheet on the floor, laying the dress on top and cutting around it with 1cm extra all round for seams. This will be my pattern for future similar garments.

I then rearranged the rest of the sheet so it was on the cross (the diagonal grain) and cut two fresh pieces with irregular hemline created by the shaped fitted-sheet elastic randomly cutting across the bottom. I left the elastic in place and it is now hidden by the pieces of dress which fall down over the top of it. Cutting on the cross helps the finished garment drape less squarely and stiffly. Gathering various pink garments from my storage spaces and a metre of pink bobbles, I proceeded to cut pieces using pinking shears and randomly arrange then pin them on the sheeting. Son Max and Steph, see photo, called in for brunch and shared some time in this process. Continue reading →

Sew 66 – Old shorts to skirt

Upcycling male ambassador Phil sent his too-big old shorts my way and I recreated them as a shabby-chic skirt.

Reinventing old stuff for a new life and engaging others in creatively discovering ways to reuse existing clothing is my purpose this year with the Sew it Again campaign.

This campaign brings together all that I know and believe in from my upbringing living simply on a sheep farm in New Zealand, through agricultural science study, work as a rural reporter and advocate, then postgraduate study in eco-leadership and wellbeing.

It was wonderful to share stories and a meal with gorgeous Julia Shapley when she visited the studio yesterday. Julia’s on her way to becoming a ‘glamorous hippy’ as she follows her heart on a creative journey that involves many new and exciting projects – at least one of which involves design, fabric and sewing. It feels good to connect with friends who share similar values and also believe that anything is possible when you engage with universal intelligence.

In this photo, Julia is wearing a dress of her own making – simple yet glamorous – and reading a favourite book of mine, The Sustainable Fashion Handbook by Sandy Black. Continue reading →

Sew 65 – Signature jumper-skirt

This quick upcycle was a too-busy knit top turned into a jumper-skirt teamed with op shop top and wool jumper.

It was fun to be at Parliament House yesterday networking with rural colleagues and parliamentarians including Premier Campbell Newman for the 2014 RIRDC Rural Women’s Award.

Congratulations to winner Lauren Hewitt from Brisbane and runner-up Rhonda Sorensen from Malanda. Lauren works for farm group AgForce Queensland and is interested in improving farm profitability – a message which resonates because without profitable farms, there is no food and fibre.

My lovely 2010 Queensland counterpart Sharyn Garrett travelled from Amby in south west Queensland and it was great to see her, pictured right with (me) Jane Milburn and Rod Kelly from Westpac Agribusiness a long-term sponsor of the award along with Fairfax Agricultural Media and the Queensland Government.

I was also inspired yesterday to have Brisbane Visual Arts Community president Lena Tisdall and Jola Szymczyk visit my studio to discuss an upcoming talk on upcycling and global textile consumption. Jola is president of Australian Textile Surface Design Association, Queensland and the driver behind Greater Springfield Creative Hub based on the recognised link between creativity and health. Continue reading →

Sew 62 – Unleashing upcycling creativity

This linen combo springs from jumper and jacket uplifted by creating jumper scarf with jumper bottom becoming skirt.

It is fun, resourceful and economical to magic something fresh from existing clothing that’s in the reject pile – and I love sharing ideas and skills to help others find their inner creative.

A key learning from postgraduate study last year that applies at any stage of life is seeking the skills/asking for help from those with the knowledge to move you forward.

Some people say they don’t have a creative bone in their body or can’t sew. I believe that’s a self-limiting approach inadvertently sown (excuse the pun) by a parent, teacher, partner or ‘friend’ somewhere in the past. Continue reading →

Sew 58 – A suit of sorts

A long blue linen jacket is updated by shortening and adding the top part of a jumper as collar, with the jumper bottom becoming skirt.

Making simple changes that transform existing garments into something fresh is creative upcycling as I’m doing every day this year with my Sew it Again campaign.

My purpose is to empower individuals to reimagine and recreate their own wardrobe collection by resewing at home.

Home sewing is a lost art overtaken by cheap fast fashion, just as fast food did with home cooking. In recent years we’ve rediscovered home cooking and food production as nourishing and pleasurable activities. My aim is to see home sewing revalued as a life skill, in the same way as home cooking.

This message found a receptive audience at the Carindale Community Forum last night, which included LNP Member for Chatsworth Steve Minnikin as well as Labor’s Paul Keene and the Greens’ David Nelson.

It was great fun engaging with mindful Brisbane people interested in where clothing comes from and rethinking the way we dress and live in this fast-paced world. They were also interested to hear about Fashion Revolution Day on April 24.

Thanks to the fabulous Gen Robey for taking this photo with her co-convenor and good sport Glenn Millar demonstrating one of six skirt-to-dress garment surgery conversions performed this month with Sew it Again. I found the men just as interested, so I’m thinking of ways to include them in some future upcycling projects.

This skirt-to-dress garment surgery will be the theme for a workshop this Sunday at Jewel West’s home. If you are interested in hosting a workshop, please get in touch via email or mobile – Jane Milburn contacts here. Continue reading →

Sew 56 – Fashion Revolution coming

This was a knit fit for refashion. You know those long jumpers that were fashionable in the ‘90s? This was one of them that I chopped and changed into a skirt and scarf.

The story of your clothes – where they come from, who made them and what from – suddenly became relevant all over the world after fashion’s footprint was set alight by the devastating Rana Plaza fire in which 1129 people died on 24 April last year.

This year on April 24, Fashion Revolution Day will remember those workers lost for the sake of fast fashion at cheap price.

A Choice magazine article on ethical fashion, Australians spend $2288 on clothing and footwear this year – but it’s almost impossible to discover the clothing supply chain of its origins. Continue reading →

Sew 55 – Wool jumper to skirt

Refashion a jumper to become a skirt and scarf that utilises the beautiful drape of wool knits.

I’m excited to now have the Jumpers and Jazz Festival at Warwick Queensland in my calendar for July as this event aligns so well with what I’m doing. Stay tuned for info on the Jumper-to-skirt garment surgery workshop at Abbey of the Roses.

This quirky country Queensland festival is now in its 10^th year and my connection with it was brought about by Sue Hamlet of Fledge Designs, who creates its brochures and is a regular Sew it Again supporter – thanks Sue for ongoing encouragement!

My 365-day Sew it Again project to demonstrate a different way of dressing by refashioning existing clothing emerged from study last year for a Graduate Certificate of Australian Rural Leadership. This James Cook University course run with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. Continue reading →

Sew 52 – History Skirt from jumpers

This history skirt is refashioned from pieces of eight wool jumpers, with another jumper as waistband and hem.

Being winter in the northern hemisphere, I’m doing some woolly upcycles since there’s growing interest in sewitagain.com from United Kingdom, Italy and United States.

Nothing is ever entirely original in this world it just evolves from something or somewhere. In his book Think! Before It’s Too Late, Edward De Bono says the human brain is designed to set up routine patterns and to use and follow these patterns.

He says all valuable creative ideas will be logical in hindsight. Creativity is not a mysterious gift or special talent – it is the behaviour of a self-organising information system that makes asymmetric patterns (the brain). Continue reading →

Sew 46 – One from the gestational file

This orange and black stripped outfit once was a woollen jumper which I’ve turned into a jumper-skirt with sleeves as a neck scarf, teamed with a wool top.

It’s from my files because I was distracted at the Rural Press Club, catching up with journo mates such as Jane Paterson, Steve Gray, Gordon Collie, Teena Girdis, Neroli Roocke and meeting new ones Sue Neales from The Australian and Cassandra Hough from ABC Toowoomba, respectively runner-up and winner of the Excellence in Rural Reporting awards.

The link between the rural sector and what I’m doing here with Sew it Again is not immediately obvious until you think about where your clothes come from. They’re either made from natural farmed resources (wool, cotton, flax, hemp, alpaca etc) or man-made from petroleum, oil or gas.

After the Rural Press Club I went to Avid Reader bookshop in West End to pick up my newly-arrived copy of The Sustainable Fashion Handbook by Sandy Black (I just had to have my own copy), bumped into my dear friend Kay Pearse who is off to the US tomorrow, and then it was time to pick up Darcy from a city meeting and on to the airport to pick up son Max.

A fun day but no time at home feeding the baby – model Mabel needed a change of clothes! Continue reading →