Tag Archives: home-sewing

Sew 81 – Reviving the sewing machine

jumper skirt

This upcycle is an adapted woollen jumper cropped under the shoulders to become two pieces – the sleeves sewn together as a scarf and the bottom of the jumper becoming a skirt.

When you have a sewing machine and you use it, you have choice about what you wear and can make small changes so existing clothing works better for you.

It was fun to help my Perth friend Pat Milne get her sewing machine out and adapt a few garments that weren’t working very well for her, including a dress that was too big under the arms. Pat used to take classes with friends in a beautiful big sewing studio when living in Orange, New South Wales but had drifted away from the habit in recent years.

Pat Milne sewing

Pat also revealed a special collection of threads and sewing tools bequeathed from her Aunt Bett – including these linen and silk threads on wooden spools and a beautiful authentic thimble.

To make this jumper skirt, I cut the jumper below the arms then added another piece of fabric to become waistband with elastic inside it. The sleeves were sewn together on the diagonal and it wraps around the neck as a scarf pinned with a brooch made from an old earring.

jumper skirt convo

 

Sew 27 – Resewing brings second life

linen dress upcycledThis favourite linen dress was in need of a makeover so I shortened the length, used the off-cut to make a long ribbon then sewed some to the neckline before replacing elastic.

Reinventing clothing that already exists in our own and others wardrobes is my purpose this year as I demonstrate a different way of dressing by resewing existing resources.

In our modern world, home sewing is in danger of becoming a lost art, having fallen off the radar as fast, cheap fashion replaced the need to do for ourselves – just as fast food did with home-cooking.

In the same way that we have rediscovered home-cooking as a nourishing and pleasurable activity, I believe home-sewing is being rediscovered as a life-skill of value and reward. Continue reading →

Sew 18 – Silk skirt now dress

silk skirt to dressI love recreating cast-offs into something fresh, as I did by turning this beautiful but unworn long silk skirt from an op shop into a comfy and cool shift dress.

For everyone, clothing is essential. As well-known Australian designer and champion of natural fibres Liz Davenport said in Management Today September 2013, ‘you can get to an event without a car and without breakfast … but not without clothes’.

Clothing choices impact on our well-being, self-esteem and self-image, but there is a bigger picture to consider as we become mindful about where clothes come from and their true cost.

In Sustainable Fashion and Textiles, Kate Fletcher has written a definitive text on this subject in which she says the reuse of textile products ‘as is’ brings significant environmental savings. The energy used to collect, sort and resell second-hand garments is between 10 and 20 times less than that needed to make a new item. Continue reading →

Sew 8 – Sewing is a life skill

cool linen dressThis 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 7 – Jumpers make fab skirts

Jumper-skirt conversionI do love cotton jumpers but they can become saggy baggy with age, which makes them perfect to be converted into a skirt for their second life.

Resewing clothes for pleasure, reward and sustainability is a 365-day journey I’m on this year as a way of demonstrating a different way of dressing by reusing and adding-value to natural fibres garments.

Back in 2006, a University of Cambridge study recommended the greatest beneficial change in future sustainability of textiles would occur if we purchased less clothing and kept it for longer.

The Cambridge report, Well dressed?, estimated UK consumers spent about £625 each on clothing in 2004. Increased spending coincided with dropping prices largely due to the rise of ‘fast fashion’ bringing faster turnover of styles than previously.

UK consumers are purchasing and disposing of around 35 kg of clothing and textiles per person each year, of which around 13% is collected for re-use, 13% is incinerated, and the remainder – 26 kg per person – is buried in landfill. I’m still looking for the Australian figures, if anyone can help?

We, as consumers, can drive change through the choices we make and these might include:

  • Buy second-hand clothing and textiles where possible
  • Buy fewer more durable garments and textile products
  • Lease clothes that would otherwise not be worn to the end of their natural life
  • Wash clothes less often, at lower temperatures and using eco-detergent
  • After washing, shake and hang your clothes to dry to minimise need for ironing
  • Extend the life of clothing and textile products through repair – and upcycling!

As Mahatma Ghandi said, be the change you want to see in the world.

Through upcycling, jumpers make great skirts. Crop the sleeves off the jumper and then cut along the shoulders to open out. Add elastic at the waist. To embellish this jumper-skirt, I cut up a complementary cotton skirt. I added the bottom frill to the jumper-skirt and used the top part (of the second skirt) to line the new skirt. Am I making sense? I used the sleeves and an off-cut of the jumper to decorate a polo top, which I livened up by using pinking sheer scissors to crop the sleeves, trim the collar, and shorten.

Sew it Again 7 construction