Sew 106 – Homegrown eco looks

All living things have a place and a purpose on the planet. While life is a struggle for some, others expend much time and effort chasing money and stuff.

Popular culture positions elite, prestige and luxury atop a greasy pole. Many invest a lifetime pursing this elusive high when it is simple things around us that provide meaning in the end.

Through her beautiful distillation of The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, Australian Bronnie Ware has become an advocate for healthy, simple living.

We know that whole local food keeps our bodies healthy. If we expend effort in its growing and cooking, then all the better. Quick, easy, processed, packaged fast food might be cheap, but we have come to understand its consumption is not good for our health.

We are coming to grips with our clothing story in the same way. Events such as the Rana Plaza factory collapse last year exposed the dark underbelly of fast fashion as a source of cheap, ready-made, clothing that exploits people and resources. Somebody somewhere is losing out when you can buy $5 shirts and treat them as disposable.

That’s why we need a Fashion Revolution. Young people such as UK-based creative Tilly, of Tilly and the Buttons fame, are empowering a new generation of DIY dressmakers by demonstrating how to create their own clothing. Continue reading →

Sew 105 – Natural, found, refashioned

Every morning we dress for the day. How we chose to dress reflects who we are, influences our wellbeing and impacts our environment.

My choice is natural-fibre and op-shop found, adapted using simple home-sewing skills. My choice is deliberate, authentic, ethical and sustainable. I am upcycling clothing that already exists in the world, sharing Sew it Again ideas to inspire others to refresh what they already have rather than buy more.

Your clothes tell a story about who you are. Fashion has its own story too, and it’s turning into a force for good with Fashion Revolution Day. Here’s the Fashion Revolution story: Continue reading →

Sew 104 – Bring on the Sew Change

It doesn’t cost the earth to save the planet. If we all make small changes and different choices, the collective impact can be huge.

My contribution this year is demonstrating how changing existing clothing by resewing – doing a sew change – can bring new life to natural resources that for various reasons are not being worn.

My inspiration is natural beauty, such as this mushroom cum toadstool which has sprung up in our local bush after recent rain.

Possessing a wardrobe bulging with clothing alongside a feeling of having nothing to wear is a common refrain in advanced economies. Consumer culture encourages buying new as the solution.

There’s little economic imperative to reuse, resew, refashion what we already have because the machine of consumption and global supply chains mean new clothing is so cheap. Whether the purchase represents best value is another matter.

This year I’m working off-trend, sewing upstream against the tide by demonstrating how the application of a few simple sewing skills, some time and creativity we can (if so inclined) revive what we already have as an alternative to buying new.

My Sew it Again campaign comes on the back of leadership study last year and concern for the squandering of limited resources in the form of natural fibre clothing which I continue to observe within my own environment.

Working my way through 365-days of wearable upcycling, I am inspired by fabulous change happening around the world. There’s TRAIDremade in the United Kingdom, Redressed in Hong Kong and the global Fashion Revolution movement which is turning fashion into a force for good.

Today’s Sew 104 is a refashion of a hand-printed cotton garment that is a friend’s reject. No doubt lovely in its day, the waistline frill added unnecessary bulk that is unflattering for all but the slimmest. I removed the frill, turned the waistline over and inserted thin elastic to minimise bulk and provide flexible fit. I cut-up the bodice and used the printed mid-riff part to form a collar-effect on a simple cream wool-blend top. A red stain on one end of the collar is hidden underneath and it is held in place using the press-studs that were already there from its past life. I trimmed loose threads from the cut edge which had frayed after washing.

Sew 103 – Handmade with love

Beautiful things handcrafted with love are compelling, timeless and bring joy to the hearts of those who value them. And how satisfying it is to raise children to become capable, creative and caring young adults making their way in the world.

Nearly 1000 triangles of cotton fabric lovingly stitched into decorative bunting by Grandma Joy Moir were the defining feature of yesterday’s engagement party for #caseyandJenna … and they will be reused across time, at the wedding and the nursery (fingers crossed) and a multitude of celebrations into the future.

Continue reading →

Sew 102 – Cause for celebration

Learning from the experience, knowledge, ideas and skills of others helps us navigate the thrills and spills of life.

As a parent, I’ve passed on what I know to three offspring and it is exciting today to be celebrating our son Casey and his fiancée Jenna Moir’s engagement at the Gold Coast – thrilled to have another woman joining our family. (see nostalgia photo of Casey and I below)

One of my favourite women Georgie Somerset brought my attention to a recent Women’s Agenda post that shared key lessons from successful women to help at work, at home and in life. Great wisdom in these quotes:

“Done is better than perfect. I have tried to embrace this motto and let go of unattainable standards. Aiming for perfection causes frustration at best and paralysis at worst.” Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In

“The way we’ve defined success is no longer sustainable for human beings or for societies. To live the lives we truly want and deserve, and not just the lives we settle for, we need a Third Metric, a third measure of success that goes beyond the two metrics of money and power, and consists of four pillars: well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving.” Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington in Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. I wrote about Beyond Power and Money earlier this year. Continue reading →

Sew 101 – Re-creation as recreation

Upcycling natural fibre clothing for a second life makes sense – for the planet, the hip-pocket and personal satisfaction.

There’s recreation to be had in recreating new garments out of old. It is fun engaging one’s creative and thrifty instincts, exploring and playing with textures and techniques … but it does require a willingness and flexibility to invest time in the process.

One of the most valuable things about having basic sewing skills is the independence and individuality they provide. You are not restricted to what’s currently trendy and newly available online or in shops.

The essence of Sew 101 is being empowered, sustainable and creative. I made this simple top and skirt years ago from Italian lycra (not a natural fibre I know, but so interesting). These casual separates served me well but I was no longer wearing them. From my op-shop stash I found a sheer silk shirt in complementary colours and merged the two to create a one-off.

Even as I filleted the silk shirt by cutting off the sleeves, the collar and rectangular panels from the body, I appreciated the high quality craftsmanship of the maker (it was a Liz Davenport, a leading designer from Western Australia).

I left all the fastenings and features in place, arranging and then sewing various pieces to the lycra base. The silk pieces float and drape from where they are anchored to the lycra with machine or hand stitching. Lycra doesn’t fray, so I cut into the sleeve and neckline without needing to neaten it. I kept fiddling, adding and subtracting until I’d had enough yesterday afternoon – and this is the result.

Sew 100 – Bring on the buttons

Buttons are useful, decorative, sentimental, collectable, fun … and they cover a multitude of sins when upcycling.

In a long-ago Sunday Mail magazine article (23 November 1997), I wrote about the magic buttons and the stamp of individuality they bring to garments. The story included a north Queensland grazier who was making buttons from timber on her property to generate income during hard times. The buttons were made by pruning branches from native hardwoods on the Charters Towers property that were 1-2cm in diameter, dry them for weeks to harden the sap, cut them into circles and treat with durable varnish to keep the bark in place and make them washable. Continue reading →

Sew 99 – Upcycling for green thrift

Green thrift describes the action of upcycling old stuff for ecological and financial health … and wellbeing.

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. That’s what I’m doing right here, right now, using a few traditional sewing skills to adapt found clothing to demonstrate how we can all join the Fashion Revolution by upcycling.

Refashioning clothing that already exists makes good sense. The hard work has been done (zips, buttons, hems already in place), resources expended (cotton grown and spun, fabric woven and dyed) and dollars already spent when items were newly purchased. Continue reading →

Sew 98 – Skirts reworked

Fast fashion fosters a wear and toss approach to modern dress in the never-ending search for satisfaction from material consumption.

More meaningful and realistic approaches to fashion have been studied and distilled into beautiful words by the Local Wisdom project out of the United Kingdom’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion.

By exploring our relationship with clothes, researchers unearthed themes of usership based on people’s stories. You can view these words in pictures via The Guardian article from which I sourced the words below:

Patina of use: with our garments, as with our bodies, the passing of time leaves its mark. With clothes, we sometimes discard pieces because they are ageing, dated, jaded or worn; at other times we buy vintage pieces, coveting that which looks old. Yet these both overlook the power and pleasure of marking the passing of time as it is recorded in our clothes; the forging of memories, building of knowledge, evolution of appearance.

Alternative dress codes: the choices we make about what we wear are influenced by life present, lives past and our ideas about our future selves. Expressions of values, aspirations, heritage, understanding and the physical shape of our bodies build a rationale for dress that transcend narrow commercial views about fashion.

Transfer of ownership: giving a garment to someone else is sometimes a straightforward and spontaneous act and at other times more circuitous. The overlapping of ownership can embed a garment with memories.

Skills of resourcefulness: Creative activists contribute greatly to society through innovation and experiment. Their work is a training ground for new practices, for trialling novel approaches and reviving old skills that promote alternative ideas about fashion provision and consumption. Continue reading →

Sew 97 – Join the Fashion Revolution

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it, is one of my favourite Albert Einstein quotes.

Most thinking people appreciate we are consuming resources at an unsustainable rate, eating into reserves that belong to future generations and generally abusing our natural environment. Many know it, few make changes.

As with the rising interest in home cooking and food growing for improved health and wellbeing, there is a pressing need to rethink our approach to textiles and fashion for ecological health and sustainability. That’s why I’ve embarked on the 365-day Sew it Again campaign throughout 2014 to demonstrate creative ways of reusing existing garments by empowering individuals to reimagine and recreate their own wardrobe collection by resewing at home.

In so doing, I am pleased to be part of Fashion Revolution Day’s Australia & New Zealand committee bringing awareness about the reality of where clothes come from and the resources from which they are made. Continue reading →