Sew 116 – Wool workover

The more wool the merrier I reckon. I have lost a few garments in the past to moth/silverfish damage, but now there is much more wool in my wardrobe I seem to have fewer problems. I’ve learned to take a preventive approach to caring for it – cakes of nice-smelly soaps and bags of star anise (see photo below) seem to do the trick. And of course, sponging any food or drink spills before putting away.

When you have a critical mass of wool, you can get a load together for the wool-wash cycle on the machine, adding eucalypt-based wool wash to further guard against munchies. Wool actually needs much less frequent washing than we tend to give it. A good rule of thumb is that unless it is smelling or looking dirty, don’t wash. Continue reading →

Sew 115 – Fighting the good fight

The fabric of society is threads of courage, concepts and good conscience woven with heart. It is Anzac Day in Australia, a day we remember the sacrifice of others so we can live well in a just and free society.

Yesterday a different type of war began. The Fashion Revolution is a battle of conscience to change the culture of clothing consumption which causes injustice, exploitation and waste in the name of looking good.

When you lead from the heart, valuing good and honest endeavours, you live with a clear conscience. This year I stepped into a fairly vacant space, upcycling downunder out of concern for the waste and clothing churn I saw all around me.

This time last year on television, I had watched Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza factory collapse in what was the worst industrial accident for a generation, killing 1133, injuring twice that number, and leaving thousands more destitute. It seemed so wrong – people working in unsafe and desperate conditions, churning out more $5 clothing that not one of us need.

There’s little any individual can do on their own to change things – but yesterday it was amazing to see the Fashion Revolution Day social media storm begin in Australia/New Zealand and gain momentum as it swept around the globe.

So many great words written, photos posted and shared with the #insideout hashtag. The Fashion Revolution movement, founded by Carry Somers in the United Kingdom, connected people in more than 50 countries wanting fashion to become a force for good, one year after Rana Plaza collapsed.

It fell on fertile ground with me, an agricultural scientist and communications consultant with a love of natural fibres and wardrobes bulging with op-shop rescued natural fibre clothing. My Sew it Again upcycling journey began this year as a way of reusing what I already have, showing others what they can do with what they have, and working to shift society’s thinking about the way we engage with our clothes.

Sew 115 is a dress upcycled from a skirt and top that weren’t being worn as they were. The skirt I’d made a while back from cotton/viscose knit fabric which was resewn to the reworked top. The top was op-shop found of cotton/viscose/elastane blend fabric which was quite thick and structured. I cut out the neck and put it aside. I cut off the hem and reattached it as a collar – positioning the collar piece inside the neckline so that it flops forward over the cut neck edge. (Place collar inside neck with both pieces sitting the same way not right sides together. It is hard to show in a photo but easy when you get it sitting the right way. Put one pin in and test how it sits when you bring it to the front.) I trimmed and angled the sleeve length to groove it up a bit, leaving the edge unfinished but putting a few hand stitches in the cut arm-seam so it doesn’t unravel. I removed the elastic from the waist of the skirt and discarded. I then attached the skirt to the top by sewing right sides together. The skirt had a slightly bigger circumference than the top, so I pinned both in quarters (for even spread) and stretched the skirt as I sewed it to the top. The rosemary sprig from our garden is a nod to Anzac Day. Lest we forget.

Sew 114 – Jeans repinafored

Fashion Revolution Day has arrived. It’s exactly one year since Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh killing 1133 workers, injuring many others, and exposing unpleasant truths about cheap, unethical and exploitative clothing.

We’re fussy about what we wear because we want to look good, feel comfy, reflect an image, belong to our tribe. Wearing any old thing is rarely enough. We want to make a statement.

Fashion Revolution Day is a chance to wear your heart on your sleeve, think about what you’re wearing, show your labels, ask the brand who made it, reflect on whether it is an ethical and sustainable choice.

Clothing the world soaks up massive resources when you do the sums – 7.2 billion people each (on average) consuming 11 kg of apparel fibre (ie clothing) every year. Look at this graph below and you’ll see how consumption is rising, with the growth mainly in synthetic fibres made from petroleum. source document Continue reading →

Sew 113 – Jean genie

Jeans are produced in their millions annually and an average pair weighs at least half a kilogram. That’s a huge resource in terms of cotton farmed, fibre spun, fabric woven, dyed, sewn, finished and marketed.

It is enthralling – and appalling – to think that 253 tons of clothing is thrown away by Hong Kong residents on the average day, according to their Environmental Protection Department.

Redress is a Hong-Kong based NGO with a mission to promote environmental sustainability in the fashion industry by reducing textile waste, pollution, water and energy consumption.

The 5-metre high mountain of second-hand clothing, photographed below, was designed as part of the Get Redressed campaign to illustrate the Chinese territory’s textile waste and is just the tip of a precipice because it represents only 7.5 tons of textiles, or 3% of the daily dumping of clothing. Continue reading →

Sew 112 – History skirt revisited

It would be interesting to know how much time we spend each week attending to our clothing requirements in terms of trying, buying, preening, storing, washing and perhaps sewing, resewing or mending.

Over Easter I had a spring clean of my wool wear with southern winter approaching and was pleased to find most in good order and only two moth/silverfish munches to be found.

With Fashion Revolution Day April 24 asking Who Made Your Clothes? it is particularly interesting to look closely at the labels and reflect on who originally made the clothes I’m now upcycling.

Continue reading →

Sew 111 – The 4T-shirt skirt

Fast fashion means new clothing has never been cheaper or more plentiful. The process of shopping, trying and buying clothing in stores (or online) is recreational therapy – replacing tailor-made or making your own clothes.

A recent Choice magazine article quotes Council of Textiles and Fashion Industries of Australia figures (based on value) that 92% of clothes sold in Australia are imported. Of these, 73% are made in China, 6% in Bangladesh, 2% in India, with the rest from Italy, Indonesia and other countries.

Global supply chains mean we have lost sight of the making process. Skills, knowledge, and understanding about where and how clothing is made are diminishing. The new clothing story is about consuming end results, limitless choice, on tap 24/7, then toss and replace once the gloss has gone (Americans toss 30kgs of clothing each per year).

The Rana Plaza clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh this time last year exposed the dark underbelly of the fashion industry – sparking a global Fashion Revolution to inspire cultural, ethical, environmental and social change in the way we engage with our clothes.

If you have Made in Bangladesh on your labels, read more about Where your clothes are really made in this well-researched Women’s Weekly article published six months after the Rana Plaza collapse.

The first Fashion Revolution Day campaign is Who Made Your Clothes? Take a look at the label, ask questions, consider whether it was ethically made by someone who was adequately compensated for their work. Post a selfie with the hashtag #insideout to support the campaign. Continue reading →

Sew 110 – Make social media statement

You can plop any old statement into social media, be it good, bad or ugly. Social media shapes your public identity, it reflects who you are.

Social media gives us an amazing opportunity to publish and become shape-shifters, just as it influences us in return. But we need to remember, that our online self is only a fraction of our true self at any given time.

As journalist Kylie Lang said in her TEDx Noosa talk, we can connect with up to two billion people. That gives us the potential to change the world for the better.

With so many global problems facing the world today, Kylie quotes the OECD saying we need solutions from independent thinkers who skillfully use technology, engage empathetically with others and act autonomously. View her talk there.

Continue reading →

Sew 109 – Playing with pre-loved garb

As we strive for more success, possessions, money, positive experiences or recognition, it is easy to lose sight of what really matters in the world.

Taking time to show care and kindness to others; living simply to nurture our health and wellbeing; valuing quality, integrity and traditions; and respecting the environment which sustains all life.

My material world is being turned on its head this year as I spend each day playing with existing clothing and upcycling it for a second life. And it is wonderful to feel connected with a global and organic movement for change which is the Fashion Revolution.

Eco-fashion pioneer and Fashion Revolution Day co-founder Orsola de Castro says that environmentally and socially, the fashion system isn’t working and needs to change. Be inspired by reading more from Orsola here.

Simple truths are explained in this clever little Fashion Revolution Day video, featuring a six-year-old’s perspective on why clothing is cheap … because people and ecosystems are being exploited. Continue reading →

Sew 108 – Resewing existing clothing

Weird, eccentric, alternative, unusual, different, unique, junky, ragged, rustic, rough, bodgie, wasted, original, rad, scrappy, yuck, quirky, bespoke, creative … adjectives describing various results from taking scissors to existing clothes and resewing them.

There are professional designers creating cutting-edge clothing from upcycled materials all over the world, with the best collated by New York-based academic Sass Brown in her latest book Refashioned and website Eco Fashion Talk.

I’m an amateur, learning by doing, having a go with what I have, resewing rejected natural fibre clothing using home-sewing techniques and posting results on sewitagain.com every day this year.

One doesn’t have to look far to see evidence of clothing waste, millions of tonnes of it every year. Americans throw out 30kg of textiles per person per year, according to Elizabeth Cline in Overdressed: the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. And at least half of donated clothing ends up being shipped overseas to African countries, according to Beverly Gordon in her book Textiles: The Whole Story. Continue reading →

Sew 107 – Little brown number

Chocolate brown is a favourite colour and I gravitate towards it in op shops – which of course I’m trying to steer clear of these days as I work my way through the accumulated stockpile.

Doing some research ahead of an interview tonight with 612 ABC Local Radio’s Rebecca Levingston, I came across the Little Brown Dress project in which Seattle artist Alex Martin wore the same brown dress in different ways for an entire year in 2006.

In this Seattle Times article Martin said she did it to make a personal attempt to confront consumerism. “Martin was troubled by sweatshops, over-consumption and the modern American penchant for disposable items. And she was irritated by the societal pressure on women to buy into, literally and figuratively, what’s considered fashionable.”

My personal commitment this year is to upcycling – adding value by mending, modifying, remaking, resewing, refashioning – unworn and reject clothing for a second life. Continue reading →