Category Archives: sustainability

Sew 199 – Coffee dyed crochet

We humans are autonomous, we make our own decisions, or so we think. Watch this documentary The Men Who Made Us Spend to learn how our ‘free choice’ is easily manipulated so a few makes lots of money while our environment is junked with unnecessary resource use and waste.

Investigative journalist Jacques Peretti explains how planned obsolescence, the organised creation of dissatisfaction and computer-aided design have cultivated competitive consumerism throughout capitalist society.

The documentary includes an economist saying change during the past two decades has seen the average American’s clothing consumption double from 34 pieces of apparel per year to 67 – equating to a brand new item of clothing coming into their wardrobe every 5.4 days. Once the garments are no longer ‘socially valuable’ they either go into the waste stream or the global apparel trade. Continue reading →

Sew 196 – History skirt with sentiment

This skirt is unique in all the world and comes with a story. That’s the biggest reward of the creative process says its maker Lena Tisdall, who refashioned the skirt from old clothing that had belonged to her mother.

The original garments were in good condition but not particularly special in their own right. Had Lena not chosen to refashion them, they most likely would be put in a charity bin.

Donated clothes are an important source of revenue for charities – but the landscape is changing. The sheer volume of surplus clothing generated by fast-fashion consumption habits means for-profit clothing recyclers see an opportunity to on-sell this to developing nations. Continue reading →

Sew 195 – The flip skirt

Those of a certain age will recall when shirts with stretch waistbands were fashionable. Black and white animal print seems perennial, so a small amount of time flipping shirt for second life as skirt seems a worthwhile investment.

This upcycle is another of the garments my artist friend Lena is revitalising from her late mother’s wardrobe, after she passed away last year. This is a sentimental, sustainable and resourceful strategy on Lena’s part. It is so easy and cheap to purchase new clothing these days, therefore upcycling is not about money. It is much more meaningful, purposeful and sustainable to modify what you already have to suit yourself than simply go shopping for new. Lena is deliberately choosing to reuse the special features, fabric and function of existing garments for a second life rather than shunting them off for a likely future as landfill. Continue reading →

Sew 194 – Treasuring what you have

One of the things I most enjoy about the Sew it Again project is working with others to enable a shift in thinking about what we can do with clothing that already exists in the world. This is the ‘greenest’ clothing we have and extending its usefulness is an easy, environmentally conscious and sometimes sentimental action.

My friend Lena came for a workshop yesterday with a trolley full of clothing that had belonged to her mother, who passed away more than a year ago. It was lovely sitting in the winter sunshine with Lena, looking at the garments – their colours, fabrics, design – and history.

This shirt (now Sew 194) was handmade by Lena’s mum, who worked as a tailor in Finland before moving to Brisbane. I discovered this by asking about the neat handmade buttonholes which are testimony of handcraft skills of old. After we removed the shoulder pads, the potential of the heavy-cotton spotted shirt was evident. It makes a great jacket which Lena can wear with pride. It works well with a black pleated skirt which we refashioned, from elastic-band into a wrap-around secured by two buttons. To finish off this outfit, we experimented with belt options. I found a white buckle in my stash, which looks great with the fabric offcut (from elastic waistband) threaded through it. Lena is clearly proud of this upcycle – and Sew 195 which I’ll put up tomorrow – and went home with ‘homework’ to make a blue history skirt that will become Sew 196. Apart from the satisfaction of engaging others in upcycling, that’s another 3 of my 365-day challenge taken care of!

Sew 188 – ARLF farewell honours

It was an honour to be commissioned to create a unique, relevant farewell gift for Dr Lesley Fitzpatrick who led the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation as CEO for seven years.

The ARLF’s flagship program is the Australian Rural Leadership Program which provides a rare opportunity to enrich, enlighten and empower selected individuals – and I was fortunate to be sponsored through the program in 2009 thanks to the Fairfax Agricultural Media scholarship.

One of Lesley’s achievements as CEO was securing Graduate Certificate status for ARLP through James Cook University. I found the Grad Cert transformative because It led me on a creative journey into eco-leadership, reusing natural fibres to reduce waste and help shift the way we think about fashion and clothing. Continue reading →

Sew 184 – Darn holes in wool

For those preferring an eco-lifestyle, winter means delving into the wool stocks to keep oneself warm rather than heating the entire house – especially in a climate like Brisbane’s where the winter sunshine works its magic by late morning.

That’s how I found one of my favourite scarves had developed a hole – which I darned using an op-shop-gathered ball of wool of similar tone. I like the idea of wool being visibly mended – it’s a badge of honour that says upcycled, sustainable, care of natural resources.

After mending, I used this scarf as a wrap skirt teamed with an opshop found wool skivvy from which I removed the high neck and turned it into a head band. Continue reading →

Sew 183 – Yay, half way post

On a young woman’s cloth shopping bag I recently noticed this saying: I am not a shopaholic, I am helping the economy. Well, at least it was a recyclable bag even if the message is questionable.

We have been conditioned to believe that buying more stuff is good for us and society when clearly that’s not the case. We live in a world with finite resources and it known that over-consumption on all levels is impacting our health in obvious as well as subtle ways. But some people make money out of encouraging over consumption.

As one gets older, and hopefully wiser, it is interesting to reflect on our purpose in life and what we might do (beyond purchasing) to help make the world a better place. Continue reading →

Sew 182 – Merino lives on

I’m half-way through the Sew it Again project – and celebrated by flying into the Gold Coast this morning with the sun rising on a beautiful clear sky day – and a bush walk up Mt Coot-tha with daughter Lily where the clear skies meant we could see across Moreton Bay.

I loved visiting the colourful, cultural melting pot that is Kuala Lumpur to catch up with my brother Tony Capon and his family, and my aunt Kate McLachlan from New Zealand, but city high-rise living in a tropical metropolis is very different to our leafy-green Queenslander lifestyle in inner-suburban Brisbane where we live close to nature. Continue reading →

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 175 – Skinny jeans wrap skirt

It was very affirming to see Biloela upcycler Kerrie leap into her REfashion projects with confidence, enthusiasm, creativitity and commitment to getting results that worked for her lifestyle and existing local resources.

There’s been some interesting discussion on Facebook after my friend Gen Robey shared a photo of waste clothing at Reedy Creek refuse station at the Gold Coast, which prompted reflection on why charitable recyclers are swamped with cast-offs every day and end up dumping them. The reasons I put forward are these:

1. Non-transparent global supply chains mean you can buy new so cheaply (ask Q who’s exploited in process and remember Rana Plaza)

2. Many people have lost simple sewing skills to mend and alter – can’t replace a button or cut off wayward (once-on-trend) feature to revive garment for second life. Continue reading →