Category Archives: wellbeing

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 64 – A little upsize

There’s nothing worse than a too-tight jacket, so create a little more space by adding extender ribbon loops near the top buttonhole and use a scarf to fasten and cover the space.

This jacket now fits my current shape and is suitably dressy for Parliament House and today’s announcement of the 2014 Queensland RIRDC Rural Women’s Award.

I’m proud to be part of the alumni for this Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation program, as 2010 Queensland runner-up, and enjoy opportunities to catch up with women and men doing great things in the sector.

Even though I live in the city, I feel connected to the bush because of my rural heritage, education and advocacy work. In fact we all have connection to rural because that is where our food and fibre comes from – and we need to be increasingly aware of that. Continue reading →

Sew 61 – Knit wrap dress

This lavender knit wrap dress and purple skirt needed a lift – especially after I caught it in my push-bike spoke (don’t ask) – so I cut off the scarred bit and added some extra purple knit trim.

Being able to resew and adjust existing clothes is empowering and results in individual garments that suit your own shape and preferences – and you will never run into anyone else wearing the same outfit. It also means you can have ethical, thrifty, interesting and sustainable clothing choices based on what works best for you.

It is fun passing on ideas and skills to others – as I did yesterday when helping my lovely friend Liliana Molina make a few tweaks to her gorgeous flamenco skirt bought for a concert last year and now converted to a glamorous dress by adding some elastic and shoulder straps. 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 49 – Renovation by resewing

Two so-so garments of matching colours merge to be a brighter whole, with silk top sliced and diced to embellish linen dress.

This Sew it Again task I’ve set myself is a labour-of-love resewing a garment a day during 2014 to demonstrate a different way of dressing and I find inspiration everywhere.

“One of the best skills a girl can learn is to sew.” As I read these words last night, my heart sang.

Social activist and blogger Mary Dickinson said this in U on Sunday’s Inside my Wardrobe column: “I have been sewing since I was 10 so now I can buy something, if necessary, that is too big and take it in or chop the sleeves off and change it. I think one of the best skills a girl can learn is to sew.” Continue reading →

Sew 47 – Refashion your own

I refashioned this op shop shirtmaker by removing sleeves and collar, turning back to front and draping a scarf at neckline.

Another day, another great read – this time Eco chic: The savvy shoppers guide to ethical fashion by Matilda Lee, who in 2007 when it was published in the United Kingdom was editor of the Green Pages of the Ecologist magazine.

Naturally Lee does a fantastic job of canvassing all the issues, and I loved the way she introduced the book with a quote from Coco Chanel: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”

There is so much quality information in Lee’s book about the science behind fibres, fabrics and fashion and the stories behind the clothes we wear. Books like this get me thinking about where I fit in the scheme of things, on my 365-day mission to reposition home-sewing as a life skill akin to home-cooking. Continue reading →

Sew 44 – What is it all for?

This dress was created by sewing a linen skirt to the top of a cotton/silk shift because the blue and yellow shades in both looked as if they were meant to be together.

Some things are just meant to be – and I think this year in the rhythm of sewing, photographing, writing and posting about my resewing experiences is one of those things.

I’m currently working out how to manage this rhythm while in Western Australia next month, my third trip west during the past year since my youngest brother Paul lost his life in an excavator accident there.

Losing a much-loved sibling is painful, as well as a wake-up call for what really matters. Paul was living an adventurous life in his Mercedes Sprinter van fitted out as a mobile home/tool kit, working as a builder in remote parts of the state. He had no children, was twice married and twice divorced.

Paul didn’t leave a Will, so part of my journey this year after being appointed as administrator is deciding what to do with his possessions. Less is more and quality remains long after price forgotten were codes by which Paul lived – and I’m fortunate he gathered a couple of high-quality friends who are helping me work through this process. Continue reading →

Sew 43 – Black & white rerun

Clothing can be endlessly upcycled until it wears out. This skirt is on its third life. It began as a dress (1) from op shop, I removed top to make a skirt (2), which I’ve now re-upcycled (3).

For relaxation when I worked 9-5+ as a communications manager, I’d visit op shops on Saturdays gathering odds and sods to create ‘new’ office outfits – such as this one.

There’s an art to successful op shopping. In her book DIY Fashionista, Geneva Vanderzeil, includes a five-point plan to get the most out of secondhand shops to which I entirely concur:

Go often – things are coming and going all the time, so if you don’t scoop the great stuff someone else is going to
Dig deep – the best finds are often at the bottom of the pile
Be imaginative – think outside the box – tops for bottoms, outerwear made into daywear, evening to day – the options are limitless, you just need to create them in your mind
Location, location, location – the best jumbles are often found in places where a proportion of the population have a reasonable income leading to better quality cast-offs
Get to know the staff – often people in charity shops are volunteers – become friends with them and they may put things away for you Continue reading →

Sew 39 – Towards zero waste

Transformed from two jackets, this outfit is for tonight’s opening of the Love Up-cycled exhibition at Reverse Emporium in Brisbane, which includes Textile Beat’s Sew it Again.

Am looking forward to meeting upcyclers likely to have similar values to mine – integrity, creativity, autonomy and purpose.

I’m proud to live in a city with a sustainability agenda that includes a Towards Zero Waste Strategy, and events such as the bi-annual Green Heart Fair which I attended last year. Other cities with zero waste strategies include San Francisco (they’ve just introduced a textile waste program) in the US, Vancouver in Canada and Kaikoura in New Zealand.

Brisbane City Council’s says on its website: “Zero Waste is a goal, a process, a way of thinking that profoundly changes our approach to resources and production. Not only is Zero Waste about recycling and diverting materials from landfills, it is also about restructuring production and distribution systems to prevent waste from being created in the first place. Zero waste ensures that resources already in existence are used to their maximum potential.” Continue reading →