Category Archives: repurpose

Sew 250 – Denim cum cushion covers

I loved seeing denim jackets multi-tasking as cushion covers when visiting my friend Cazza yesterday.

It’s great to have others involved in upcycling as together we rethink our relationship with clothing and its impact on our environment.

In the same way we appreciate the influence food has on our health and well-being, we are coming to consciousness about clothing impacts on ecological health and sustainability.

It is admirable to see Levi Strauss quantifying the life-cycle assessment of denim jeans as part of the company’s sustainability agenda. And as consumers of clothing products, we can also make a difference by washing less, using cold water, line drying, and finding alternative homes or uses for clothing when we’re not wearing them because they’re too big/small, out of vogue or season.

Continue reading →

Sew 249 – Chair cover from jumper

There’s so much good reading on the Triple Pundit – people planet profit website, including this great article on 10 budding trends in sustainable fashion.

Number 8 of the trends is more reuse and upcycling to cut environmental impact – which is my key focus with Sew it Again, every day in 2014 refashioning existing clothing for a second life.

In the article, Mary Mazzoni quotes on the American situation: “According to the Environmental Protection Agency, only about 15 percent of the 13 million tons of clothing and other textiles that are thrown away each year are recycled, turned into products like rags or broken down to be reused as sustainable fibers.” Continue reading →

Sew 240 – Snip and tie shoulder straps

Op shopping is such an adventure and much more fun than shopping for new stuff because you get to make discoveries.

This is a quote from my young New Zealand visitor Olivia after we called into a few op shops during National Op Shop Week, in-between the usual sightseeing and conventional shopping.

What a great insight from a nine-year-old, right, modelling one of her finds. The I Love Aus singlet was perfect, apart from being too long in the shoulders. All we had to do was snip each shoulder on the diagonal and tie a knot to shorten and prevent the shoulders slipping off (see photos below). Olivia then teamed it with op-shop-found shorts to suit her young athletic style. Continue reading →

Sew 235 – Refashed hand-knit jumper

Hand knitting has undergone a resurgence in recent years due to many factors – the recession, a desire for authentic and long-lasting garments, individual expression, and the reassurance and warmth of traditional crafts.

Although I knit scarves, I don’t have the patience to knit whole garments – yet I value them and love discovering rejects in op shops where some are dispatched to find new owners and purposes.

You can tell if garments are made of wool by the feel, weight and smell of the fibres (particularly when wet), by looking at them in the sunshine (wool doesn’t glisten) or doing the flame test to a thread (wool will smolder not ignite). Continue reading →

Sew 233 – Op shop silk for theatre

My opshop habit has re-sourced garments for every occasion, including this $10 number which served me well at an earlier Governor’s Reception and last night to the Lyric Theatre.

The Last Confession starring David Suchet as Cardinal Bellini was incredible theatre about power, leadership and choices – and I had the opportunity to see it thanks to QPAC and my friend Liliana Molina.

At intermission, when a generous lady complemented me on my outfit (deeply envious were her words) I happily confessed it was op shop because its time for clothing reuse to came out of the closet and be mainstream. The dress is beautifully finished (dressmaker unknown as no label) which I found all askew in the dress-up section of an op shop and I bought it for the dupion silk fabric – only realising its full potential when I tried it on at home. Continue reading →

Sew 232 – Cheap disposable clothing, not

Some clothing has become so cheap and available in the 21st century that it is effectively disposable, with most items worn only once or twice before being discarded.

This cheap fast fashion, like cheap fast food, satisfies an immediate need to dress for the day – but the true social, ethical and ecological impact is not yet understood.

We know the world wastes about one-third of the food it produces and we are only beginning to grapple with clothing and textile waste.

FAO data on fibre apparel use shows we now consume clothing at three times the rate we did two decades ago. Since 1992, global population has increased by 25 percent and textile consumption by 80 percent. In 1992, we each used 7kg and that increased to 11kg per person by 2010 – with most of the increase being synthetic fibres, derived from petroleum. Synthetic fibres that are cheap, readily available, ultimately unsatisfying and disposable. Continue reading →

Sew 230 – Clothing mellows to cushions

There comes a time in every garment’s life when its wearable dash is done and it is one step away from the rubbish bin.

These cushions are made from op-shop found jumpers and jackets that I’ve upcycled to breathe new life into my old wicker veranda couch. The jacket buttons make for easy cushion stuffing, while the jumpers are machine-stitched at one end and tacked or pinned at the other.

I can date the couch back to 1982, purchased new in Horsham, Victoria, when I worked there in my first professional job as a rural reporter with the ABC. While it is a little scary to declare that history – I like the fact that this wicker is still sitting on the verandah doing its job 32 years later. Continue reading →

Sew 229 – Max models fancy pants

Quality remains long after price is forgotten. I bought a harlequin cotton Canterbury rugby jumper decades ago and it has stood the test of time, still intact although benched.

Knowing I would see Max this weekend for our family trip to Toowoomba (ref Sew 228) – I decided while watching Hercule Poirot (there are puzzles in both) to refashion the jumper as fancy pants since the first pair (ref Sew 202) went well. Reflecting on the harlequin jumper – made in Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand (home country) – I realise they were probably created as a way to use off-cuts from single-coloured jumpers. The jumper began life with thrifty values, worthy of refashion rather than bin. Continue reading →

Sew 228 – Valuing history and integrity

A quick photo and post today, since we spent a lovely day in Toowoomba visiting beautiful Gabbinbar Homestead and tasting menus at The Angel Cafe as our son Casey and fiancee Jenna finalise details for their wedding next year.

Gabbinbar is a splendid estate that once was the summer resort for Queensland Governors and is now a wedding and function venue which offers elegant, spacious and authentic buildings and gardens for what will be a special day for the Milburn and Moir families in May next year.

It was great to see original features, including sketches of The Newest Fashions in 1828, see image below, with Casey and Jenna on the left.

Sew 228 values the past-effort that went into this hand-knit wool vest that was languishing in an op shop and unlikely to be worn as it was. I could see its potential to become a skirt by turning upside down and filling the ‘gaps’ with fabric from an unworn silk/wool blazer also picked up at op shop. I un-stitched the vest at the shoulders then pinned and cut pieces from the bottom of the blazer to fill in the neck and arm openings – aligning the bottom of the jacket with the new bottom of the knit (once the shoulder seam). I stitched these pieces in place with two rows of zigzag, and used hat elastic to secure the skirt waistline. What was left of the blazer works as a jacket with irregular hemline (zigzagged to prevent fraying), after I removed the shoulder pads and added another button to secure it off-centre at the front. I was happy with this creative result from rejects, which are a great colour match but with different texture and fabric.

Sew 227 – Refashioning op-shop wool

Natural resources are finite and it is great to see Sweden announcing that it has created technology to recycle all materials that contain cellulose, as reported in The Guardian recently.

Apparently old cotton clothes are brought into a factory where they are shredded and mulched into porridge-like goop from which the non-recyclable pieces like zips and buttons are removed. The goop is then further broken down before being turned into a fibre substance which become threads and then rayon-like fabric. Reconstituted fabric is a mechanical way to reuse the mountain of waste clothing generated by fast fashion.

A creative way of reusing natural fibres is by individual refashion – cutting and resewing existing clothing to suit your own needs. This is what I’m doing every day this year with Sew it Again and Sew 227 is a refashion of wool garments from various op shop excursions. Continue reading →