Category Archives: repurpose

Sew 20 – Inspired by junky style

This outfit is cotton trousers turned crop-top and wool jumper turned skirt – with the top inspired by Junky Styling’s wardrobe surgery and the jumper-skirt being from my own imagination.

I’ve been upcycling on-and-off for decades but became more serious two years ago when I rediscovered op shops and took to ‘rescuing’ natural fibre clothing selling for a song – some perfect some dated or damaged but all worthwhile resources.

At one stage I had 100 wool jumpers, many more than needed for Brisbane’s mild winter, so I converted some into easy, comfortable skirts with the sleeves being used as neck scarves.

Five wardrobes later and doing leadership study last year, I looked around the world via the internet and came across the wardrobe surgery being done by Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager in London.

I discovered their book Junky Styling Wardrobe Surgery which ignited fresh ideas and affirmed my commitment to upcycling natural fibre garments for pleasure, reward and sustainability.

In Junky Styling, Annika and Kerry write: “Recycling worn, discarded, second-hand clothing involves taking a garment that already has an identity and looking at it as a raw material, studying the existing form and details, then applying them to a new design – a complete reinterpretation and disregard for the existing identify of the piece. This involves a vision and an understanding of form and functionality.

“We reckon that you can recycle anything, and it’s a wonderful way to engage our imaginations. With such a vast array of materials used in clothing, we have always maintained that distinction between ‘natural’ and ‘manmade’ fabric. The quality of natural textiles has always made them first choice for our raw materials. Our first clothing creation was made from a pure wool grey pinstripe suit; the feel, strength and durability of the cloth impressed and continues to inspire us. The cloth also helped to define the identity of Junky Styling as a ‘new take on tailoring’. With no attention paid towards promoting an image or branding, the raw materials spoke for themselves and showed that Junky Styling was all about lasting quality and sustainability.

“Recycling is extending the life of an item. Nothing exceeds its ‘sell-by date’ – the date just changes and keeps changing, continually updating until the fabric falls apart.” View video clip here.

We all have unworn clothing in our wardrobes and my 365-day Sew it Again project is demonstrating how you can update yours using simple home-sewing techniques.

This jumper skirt was an old wool pullover – conversion technique shown in my Stitch in Time column October 2013 – the holes in which were covered by sewing on buttons. The black singlet was a cotton lycra off-cut with seams just zigzagged to finish. With the Country Road trousers, I cropped the legs off, cut away the inside seams and zigzagged around the bottom edges. I created armholes by cutting away the pockets and extending the opening by unpicking the side-seam until it was comfortable. I found a cord in my string box and used it to draw in the waistband/neckline.

Sew 14 – Textile metaphors

This fabric has a tapa-cloth look but it’s just an ordinary cotton skirt turned into a dress by adding shoulder straps.

Tapa cloth is made from bark and one of many naturally-derived textiles that form society’s early story-telling history.

Beverly Gordon says in her book Textiles: the whole story, there are some potent textile metaphors that are now part of our everyday vernacular describing life experiences.

We talk of ‘spinning a yarn’ when we draw out words and put them together to tell a tale, and we ‘put a spin on’ ideas or events, shaping them as we would like them to be.

People who dabble in magic ‘weave’ spells. These days we also follow ‘threads’ in online conversations, as our discussions weave in and out of each other.

We talk about life ‘hanging by a thread’, which reminds us of our fragility and the preciousness of our time on Earth. Fibre terms are used to describe deterioration or coming apart – things are frayed, ripped, tattered or shredded.

Gordon says a new textile, like a new life, is clean and fresh, and unused cloth often functions as a symbol of purity as well as wholeness. In contrast, worn cloth represents the end of wholeness and, like a worn-out life, has little future.

Through this 365-day eco-clothing project, I’m creating a new story about worn cloth by using creativity and imagination to stitch-up a second life for discarded garments.

Today’s offering was a long, full skirt found in an op shop. It makes a cool, loose dress when strappy shoulders are added. For the straps, I used fabric scraps from two other garments. The spagetti straps looked a bit plain so I added another layer of similar fabric for interest and balance. Pin straps in place before sewing, and adjust the position or length according to your preference.

Sew 13 – Linen has longevity

Linen is one of my favourite natural fibres and a linen knit is a rare thing. Linen is made from the flax plant, not grown commercially in Australia, and arguably the world’s oldest fibre.

It is cool to wear, becomes softer with age and you can tell something is linen from the way it crinkles after washing. I never iron it because I love the crushed look of 100% linen.

Flax is grown in Europe and apparently world demand for flax peaked in 2005 at 709,000 tons and suffered demand destruction of 123,000 tons in 2006. It recovered to 705,000 tons in 2009 and declined again in 2010 to 682,000 tons. FAO textile consumption survey 2013

This garment was a long top but the sleeves were too tight relative to the body of the garment so I cropped them off and just used zigzag stitch to secure the raw edge.

I extended the length to become a dress using linen fabric which I gathered up and then doubled over before stitching to the bottom of the top. I knotted the sleeve off-cuts to a strip of linen fabric to form a scarf, which is doubled over and draped around the neckline as a collar.