This rework of a shirtmaker dress was quick and easy with a curved reshape of the hemline, scooped at the front, then the sleeves cropped and just zigzagged to finish.

I feel a bit of a butcher taking the scissors to such garments but my conscience is clear because its from an op shop, tossed out because a button fell off.

The fabulous thing about cutting and resewing existing clothing is you can experiment, have fun sewing and trying techniques without breaking the bank or wasting new resources.

I’ve been harvesting natural resources at ops shops for some time now, which is why I’m spending this year working my way through the stockpile and demonstrating a different way of dressing with Sew it Again. (My son Max laughed when I told him I’d filled up a loyalty card and got $50 of free stuff – ‘its like frequent flyer points’ he said.)

The whole idea of endless consumption of stuff and continual growth of society – which we’re sold as being good for the economy – is unsustainable. The Impossible Hamster video shows why. Then there’s this amazing video by the Planetary Collective which documents the Overview Effect felt by astronauts when seeing the beauty of Earth as a planet. Continue reading →