Refashioning existing clothing is my chosen creative practice this year as I tap my roots as an agricultural scientist cum rural communicator and branch into eco-leadership bringing awareness to the stories wrapped up in our clothes.

This upcycle is a linen double-breasted coat dress from which I removed the shoulder-pads and extended the hemline by adding sheer panels cut from a reject silk shirt.

Over decades I found myself returning to natural fibres and threads for the pleasure, relaxation and purposefulness they provide that appeals to all my senses. Chances to make paper, textile art, fabric paint, pot, spin, eco-dye, knit, crochet and sew crept into my consciousness between career and children. In fact it was playing with paint and clay when my three gorgeous children were little (now grown) that I attribute my creative development.

Leadership study last year heightened my awareness that the world is drowning in clothing, with cheap and cheerful ‘fast fashion’ feeding society’s over-consumption of textiles – many being synthetic fibres that lead to disposal issues.  Books by journalists such as Lucy Siegle in the United Kingdom To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing out the World and Elizabeth Cline in the United States Overdressed: The shockingly high cost of cheap fashion have articulated these problems well. Continue reading →