Tag Archives: #dresswithstory

Sew 19 – Creativity in dress

It took several additions to be satisfied with this dress and I am still not entirely so. It is a bit twee, lacking creative spark.

Creativity is an interesting quality, which my edition of the Macquarie Dictionary defines as the state or quality of being creative. Creative, adj, 1. having the quality or power of creating. 2. resulting from originality of thought or expression. 3. originative; productive.

As an agricultural science graduate, creativity didn’t feature much in my formal education and I always scratched my head when encountering star sign characterisations of Pisceans which generalised us as artistic types.

It was only after children and having fun with paint, clay and glue that I began experiencing the potential for creativity and the concept of producing something out of not much.

More recently while pausing again to look around my world and undertake further study, I read Deepak Chopra who identified creativity as one of the most significant spiritual laws in The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes.

Chopra defines creativity as a leap in consciousness that brings new meaning or new context to any situation or problem. Cultivating creativity turns problems and obstacles into challenges and opportunities. In every adversity there is a seed of something magnificent.

He says creativity is the principal force that drives all life, evolution and the mechanics of science. To effectively harness creativity and lead in your life, Chopra recommends:

Determine what to get rid of – what in your life detracts from its quality and is unnecessary? Commit to letting go of whatever it is that is holding you back, including toxic habits, emotions, relationships, substances and environments.
Practice clarity of vision – what do you want to create? Ask yourself what you really want, why you really want it, and if manifesting it will serve a higher purpose for humanity
Follow the nine steps to accessing your creativity with diligence and detachment. The steps are: intended outcome; information gathering; information analysis; incubation; insight; inspiration; implementation; integration and incarnation.

I’ve taken these thoughts on board in developing this Sew it Again campaign as a personal leadership response to the burgeoning waste of textiles and clothing churn I see all around us. I am now in the implementation phase – Day 19 of a 365-day demonstration of upcycling natural fibre garments for pleasure, reward and sustainability.

From my op shop stash, I used an old silk shirt to create straps and embellishments to turn this skirt into a dress. I used the former shoulder pads to create button brooches, which looked a bit too neatsy on their own, so I gathered up the collar to create another brooch and randomly stitched another torn strip from the shirt across the dress front.

Sew 16 – Composing outfits

This outfit is a compilation of three items gathered separately which I brought together in a wardrobe try-on session.

It is easy to end up with a lot of oddments and separates in the wardrobe, doubly so when you buy op shop as I do. So instead of having a scramble each morning about what goes with what, I have sessions where I bring together all the mishmash stuff and create outfits which then hang together.

Dressing this way, you never see anyone else in the same outfit – as can be problem when you buy the latest fashion trend.

In their book Paris Street Style: A guide to effortless chic, Isabelle Thomas & Frédérique Veysset say we express our idea of who we are by the clothes we wear. It’s an unconscious, unspoken language that we direct at other people.

“You have to find your own look. There’s no need to knock yourself out to stand out; all that’s required is to be aware of who you are. If you are that, you can develop a harmony between your clothes and your personality. It’s not a question of age or money, more of a state of mind and an intention.”

They quote sociologist Patricia Delahaie as follows: Today, in the era of individualism, everyone can live and dress their own way, inventing themselves and the images that suit them best. Everything is possible now … your look reveals quantities of information about you. To what tribe do you belong? What image of yourself do you want to project? Do you wish to join the mass, or do you need to assert that you’re different? Is it your intention to be seen, or would you prefer to stay in the background? Are you eager to express your creativity, do you need to display the sides of yourself that are sporty, asexual or even rigid?

There wasn’t much sewing involved in today’s offering. The linen wrap-around skirt (Turtle Creek) is as found in an op shop. The designer linen top (Carla Zampatti) is also as found in op shop, except for the add neck scarf – a cast-off from my sister which I thought was a perfect lift to bring the outfit together. It is just stitched on the inside of the neckline and can be easily removed if preferred.

Sew 14 – Textile metaphors

This fabric has a tapa-cloth look but it’s just an ordinary cotton skirt turned into a dress by adding shoulder straps.

Tapa cloth is made from bark and one of many naturally-derived textiles that form society’s early story-telling history.

Beverly Gordon says in her book Textiles: the whole story, there are some potent textile metaphors that are now part of our everyday vernacular describing life experiences.

We talk of ‘spinning a yarn’ when we draw out words and put them together to tell a tale, and we ‘put a spin on’ ideas or events, shaping them as we would like them to be.

People who dabble in magic ‘weave’ spells. These days we also follow ‘threads’ in online conversations, as our discussions weave in and out of each other.

We talk about life ‘hanging by a thread’, which reminds us of our fragility and the preciousness of our time on Earth. Fibre terms are used to describe deterioration or coming apart – things are frayed, ripped, tattered or shredded.

Gordon says a new textile, like a new life, is clean and fresh, and unused cloth often functions as a symbol of purity as well as wholeness. In contrast, worn cloth represents the end of wholeness and, like a worn-out life, has little future.

Through this 365-day eco-clothing project, I’m creating a new story about worn cloth by using creativity and imagination to stitch-up a second life for discarded garments.

Today’s offering was a long, full skirt found in an op shop. It makes a cool, loose dress when strappy shoulders are added. For the straps, I used fabric scraps from two other garments. The spagetti straps looked a bit plain so I added another layer of similar fabric for interest and balance. Pin straps in place before sewing, and adjust the position or length according to your preference.

Sew 12 – Adventure in imagination

This skirt once was a plain but well-made cotton drill skirt which was going begging so I gave it a new lease on life by adding assorted silk and linen stripes using waste fabric.

I get a fantastic sense of satisfaction from making something out of not much, living a more creative and meaningful existence. Those words are straight out of the mouth of Kevin McCloud in his Seaside Shack series on ABC1.

Kevin said making something fresh out of not much is rather fun. Upcycling is an adventure into our imagination – and the experience of making things is powerful and enriching.

“The pleasure is in the making and doing, not buying and consuming,” Kevin said. “Making things with your hands, you feel like you have done something, achieved something.”

“The best kind of recycling is when you take things and transform them into something special that looks like it is really expensive.”

While Kevin’s design challenge is adapting reclaimed and upcycled building materials to a new use – mine is to adapt, reuse and upcycle discarded clothing.

This skirt is for my friend Georgie Somerset. We cropped the old skirt to a length that suited her, then I cut up a silk top (forgot to photograph it) and used the frill as the new skirt hem and a brooch. Then to the skirt front, I sewed various strips gleaned from my silk off-cuts box and other oddments of tablecloth and ribbon.

Sew 10 – Fasten with fabpins

This skirt was lovely in its day but wasn’t being worn so I’ve given it a second life as a dress that is fitted with the help of fabric-covered safety pins – which I’m calling fabpins.

You need to find good quality safety pins and wrap them bottom to top with a strip of fabric that is then anchored by a knot. They can be used in place of buttons, but ideally need to be unpinned and excluded from the wash.

Good quality cotton fabric such as was used for this skirt has a high thread count, feels beautiful to touch and can last for decades. It is a shame to see such garments tossed out when styles change and wearers move on to the next best thing keeping up with the latest fashion.

A great Opinion Letter in the 4 January issue of New Scientist magazine provides a fresh take on the idea of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ which is relevant here.

Wiebina Heesterman from Birmingham UK suggests a switch to ‘powering down with the Joneses’ and challenging neighbours to take actions to help reduce waste and fix the climate.

Wiebina says then you can say things like: “We use far less energy than anyone else in the street, we only had to pay $500 for gas and electricity this year, what about you? Or: “Look at my 1920s dress: it belonged to my great grandmother – I bet you haven’t got anything that beautiful.”

I’ve got a few garments that belonged to my Great Great Aunt Winnie stashed in a top cupboard somewhere which I upcycled and wore during university days (back in the late ‘70s that was!). They’ll be ready for re-upcycling soon as part of my 365-day upcycling journey this year.

Meanwhile with Sew it Again 10, I cut off the bottom border of the skirt and cut it in two. I draped these two panels to form the top, making tucks at the shoulders and sewing the panels to the skirt band, which opens with a side zip. I sewed the top panels together at the side opposite the zip, and secured the overlaps front, back and zip-side using fabpins.

Sew 8 – Sewing is a life skill

This garment began life as a block-coloured linen skirt cut on the cross, which I’ve upcycled into a cool summer dress.

I grew up in a farming family, born of parents who came through the depression and learned to be resourceful. We grew our own vegetables and Dad butchered the meat on the farm in Otago, New Zealand.

Society’s resurgent interest in home-cooking reflects our re-valuing of the nutritional, seasonal, creative and pleasurable aspects of cooking wholesome food in the home.

I learned to cook and bake in our Great Grandma’s kitchen in the cottage. I learned to sew, knit and crochet with Nana – and I later learned other crafts like spinning wool and making paper from my aunt Kate McLachlan. Continue reading →

Sew 6 – Cool cotton lives on

Another hot day in paradise, another simple way to give a cotton dress a second life – by lifting the waistline and thereby shortening the skirt.

On the other side of the world, you wouldn’t be wearing an Indian cotton number on the streets of New York right now – and if you did there’s a chance photographer Bill Cunningham might capture the moment.

I was lucky last night to catch the documentary Bill Cunningham New York repeated on ABC1 and was struck by his authenticity and single-minded dedication to his craft with the New York Times.

Bill’s life has been an obsession with clothes yet he upcycles his plastic poncho by using black gaffer tape to repair tears and works in utilitarian blue shirts.

He describes fashion as the armour to survive everyday life, and dressing the body as an artform. Yet he says 90 per cent of the clothes Americans wear are made outside America – and I’m sure the same applies in Australia as well.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m on a mission to demonstrate that with a small investment of time and effort, you can re-make your clothes in your own home through creative upcycling.

Buying ready-to-wear clothing off-the-rack is quick and easy – when the styles suit your body shape, wallet and situation. But do we need new new? I’m all for recreating existing garments so the length and style is more individual and you will never run into anyone dressed the same way.

There are thousands, perhaps millions, of beautiful natural fibre garments stashed unused in our wardrobes, ops shops or discarded in landfill that can be rescued and refashioned. You just need to take a little time to look at them in a different way – as a natural resource worth reusing.

Today’s offering was a long cheesecloth cotton number with a shirred elastic waist, made in India and found in an op shop for $2. I chopped it off at the waist, lifted it up and attached straps made from the remnants of the top. It is much cooler now and so comfy without the gathered waist.

Sew 5 – The magic of eco-dye

Colour can be transformational, and each day we enjoy a full range of nature’s offerings from sunrise to sunset when we take the time to look.

By comparison, white and pastel-coloured clothing can seem dull, doubly so considering the bright, computer-generated fabrics designs around at the moment. Combined with an out-dated style, it is not surprising such garments remain stashed in the back of the wardrobe.

I have a few white linen numbers hoarded for years because I value the fabric and shell buttons. They have intrinsic value, but were not being worn. So I upcycled them and used red leaves from my regular bush walk to experiment with eco colour.

Fabrics from plant fibres (linen and cotton) don’t take to colour as well as protein fibres (wool and silk) so I went in search of more information at Brisbane Library and discovered the beautiful books of India Flint.

Eco colour and Second Skin brim with inspiration. Dyes from plants are a renewable resource and in Eco colour, India has catalogued an amazing array of combinations and permutations.

If you are not fussy about the colour, what it seems to boil down to is: gather leaves, simmer in pot for a while, place them on moistened garment, wrap into a bundle, return to pot over very low heat for another while, leave to cool in solution as long as your curiosity will allow. Voila.

The dye uptake will be enriched if you pre-prepare the garment with an alkaline solution such as ash water (from a fire) or washing soda. India suggests using protein such as cows’ milk or soy milk which you leave to dry on the fabric before you dye it. Adding rusty metal objects, such as chains or old tools, to the dye bath also helps fix the colour.

Today’s offering started life as a long linen dress with shell buttons down the front. I cropped it off at the waist and added a new skirt made from an assortment of other white linens with more buttons. I created the new skirt as a long rectangle which was pleated randomly as it was sewn in place using zigzag stitch. The lengths vary and pockets are as they appeared on the original garments. I left the dress in moist ash for a day, bundled it with gum leaves and brewed in a pot with more leaves and a rusty spanner.

The garment has lost some of its colour after washing, but can be over-dyed again later to enrich it further. More dye projects ahead – it is fun and easier than it sounds because anything goes.

Sew 2 – opportunity in op shops

A few days ago while visiting friends in a nearby city I popped into their local op shop because this is sale time everywhere.

I bought 27 perfectly decent items of clothing for $38. These included dresses on sale for $2, ladies clothing half price, and fill-a-bag for $2.

Today I reflect on this collection. It includes six garments made of silk, four of linen, the others cotton. Together they weigh 6kg. Each was made from 1-2 metres of fabric, so let’s say they represent about 40m of fabric. All this valued at $38, maybe $1/metre.

What does this mountain of perfectly gorgeous cast-offs say about our society’s use of natural resources? Sure, some of these clothes belonged to people who are no longer with us. But many are cast-off by those caught up in clothing churn, moving on to the next fashion trend.

Through action, I am demonstrating a different way. Sew it Again 2 is made by cutting off the bottom of a long skirt and turning that off-cut into a frill collar on a top and trim for an old hat. Cut the neck out of the t-shirt and sew on the frill using zigzag stitch. I sewed the frill twice for extra strength. The hat frill was sewn by hand.

Why do we feel a need to buy new new? Why buy new fabric and sew from scratch? Think about making old new. It only takes a few simple skills with a small investment of your time and creativity.

In his book A New Earth: awakening to your life’s purpose, Eckhart Tolle says that when you are authentic and don’t play roles, it means there is no self (ego) in what you do. When there is no secondary agenda to protect or strengthen yourself, then your actions have far greater power – and therefore capacity to influence and create positive change.

In a world of role-playing personalities, those few people who don’t project a mind-made image but function from the deeper core of their being, those who do not attempt to appear more than they are but are simply themselves, stand out as remarkable and are the only ones who truly make a difference in this world.

The 6kg worth of silk, linen and cotton garments purchased for $38 at an Ipswich op shop.

Sew 1 – adding value to cast-offs

A new day, a new year and a new creative, sustainable and unique way of dressing in upcycled natural fibre garments.

You are what you repeatedly do. During 2014 I’m following my heart on a creative journey through this values-based Sew it Again project which has evolved from study with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.

The project is inspiring upcycling of natural fibres through daily posting of repurposed garments, such as this History Skirt, right, created for bright university student Belinda in my Textile Beat studio from pieces of discarded cotton dresses and shirts. Continue reading →