Tag Archives: op shop

Sew 242 – Op shop uncut

Individual tastes and preferences in the clothes we chose to wear each day are what set us apart. For those who want to be on-trend followers of fashion, there’s a $1.7 trillion global fashion industry catering to their needs.

But in the past two decades as the world has become saturated with perfectly good clothing that no one is wearing – creative ways of sourcing pre-loved clothing have emerged including swaps and swishes, online resale, markets, vintage shops and of course charity/opportunity/thrift shops.

The beauty of op shops is we can donate clothes to them when they no longer suit our needs – and make a financial and sustainability contribution by buying clothes from them to create unique looks combining random finds that work together. Continue reading →

Sew 60 – Fun brand discovery

This quirky Moschino jacket was a Sydney op shop find which is versatile for dressing up or down.

As I researched the colourful Italian brand for this post, I realised this is a pre-2008 garment being Moschino Jeans (1986-2008) which is now known as Love Moschino.

Established by Franco Moschino and continued after his death by Rossella Jardini and now Jeremy Scott, the brand is noted for its ‘waist of money’ belts and garbage-bag dresses which gently prod fashion’s conscience. Continue reading →

Sew 53 – Knitted scraps skirt

An over-large vest knitted from op-shop wool/cotton scraps is resewn into a skirt and neck-warmer.

This 365-day upcycling journey I’m on during 2014 is demonstrating how everything old can be new again. It is a way of clearing out my cupboards, remaking, mending, refashioning and sharing ideas for a different way of dressing.

This vest was a series of three I knitted for myself when the boys were little – two decades ago. Back then, I used scraps of wool and cotton from op shops on round knitting needles and guesswork pattern. I’ve definitely gone full-circle – back to the future op shopping and upcycling again two decades later! Continue reading →

Sew 37 – Consumerism creates waste

Another day, another outfit – and another amazing new book! The Sustainable Fashion Handbook, by Sandy Black – which was just waiting on the library shelf for me to find.

Today’s outfit is refashioned from items off the $2 op-shop rack, just one step away from becoming landfill yet barely worn. The shirt sleeves became a belt, extended by an offcut from skirt which helps blend the pink and beige stripe separates.

In her 2014 book, Professor Sandy Black says taken holistically the textile and clothing life cycles consume more energy and water than do the product lifecycles of any other industry except construction or agriculture – with cleaning, drying and ironing of clothes by consumers being especially costly. Continue reading →

Sew 35 – Dress renovation

This op shop dress was done over by shortening it, taking pinking shears to the armholes then adding a knit-fabric collar cut from the bottom-half of an op shop vest.

Resewing existing clothing for a second life is creative, ethical, thrifty, sustainable – and fun. It takes is a little time (making that is the hard part), a simple sewing skills and imagination.

Society is now much more aware of where food comes from and its impact on our health and environment – and is gradually coming to consciousness about where clothing comes from and its equivalent impacts.

In her book Sew Eco, Ruth Singer says the textile and fashion industries are fraught with potential environmental and ethical issues. Some to consider are: Continue reading →

Sew 30 – Library full of knowledge

This garment was upcycled by Jane Milburn of Textile Beat. It is part of the Sew it Again project to demonstrate a different way of dressing by repurposing exiting clothing for pleasure, reward and sustainability.

That’s my job this year because I’m stepping up. As Rachael Robertson says in her book Leading on the Edge … ‘if you have the expertise or knowledge, speak out and step up into leadership, regardless of your position’.

The current propensity for endless, almost mindless, consumption means our world is bulging with cast-off clothing which we don’t know what to do with because home-sewing skills are now as rare as hen’s teeth.

Perhaps we are at a turning point. The fashion industry is recognizing the need for change after last year’s Rana Plaza fire in Bangladesh exposed exploitation and a fashion revolution is underway. Continue reading →

Sew 24 – Repurpose skirt to frock

Here’s another long skirt that wasn’t being worn which I’ve turned into a dress by using part of a top which is embellished with a strip torn from the skirt hem.

At my book club last night with fabulous, feisty, feminist, professional women I’ve been gathering with for more than a decade, I was thrilled to learn several are now dusting off their sewing machines and rediscovering the freedom of sewing.

In her book Sew Retro: a stylish history of the sewing revolution, Judi Ketteler writes about feminist history and women’s role in the home in the nineteenth century when everything was sewn by hand. Then in the twentieth century, women won the right to vote, cut our hair, ditched our corsets and joined the work force in earnest.

Ketteler says sewing was on its way out during the self-indulgent 1980s but is now making a huge comeback, thanks to a third wave of feminism that folded together ideas about DIY creativity, self-reliance, and eco-awareness.

“We don’t need stats to see the role that sewing now plays in so many women’s lives. Women carry their handmade bags to the grocery store, sport ‘upcycled’ denim skirts, and proudly give their handmade creations to friends and family. It’s a long way from 1941, but we’re still ‘sewing for victory’ – a victory over mass-produced, resource-greedy, uninspired, and cheaply made products. “

“We sew to support our families, to release tension from balancing work and family, to clothe the needy, to make a political statement, to celebrate a cancer survivor, to spoil our pets, to save a little money, to make our grandmothers proud, to teach our daughters how to think and live creatively, and just for pure, sweet pleasure.”

When Ketteler wrote this book in 2010, she said “sewing is about empowerment, creativity, sustainability, and sometimes sticking it to The Man. I can’t imagine a better place for sewing to have ended up.”

My Sew it Again project is not just about sewing, it is about re-sewing and demonstrating a different way of dressing. I am repurposing existing garments that have been discarded for various reasons and giving their gorgeous natural fibres a second chance at life.

Today’s offering was a Sportscraft skirt made of pretty printed silk-blend fabric which I merged with part of a stretch knit top to become a frock by sewing them together. The skirt is about 4m circumference at the bottom, and I tore a strip off it to shorten the skirt and provide a gathered feature around the neckline. To tear the strip, you begin with a small cut and then grip your thumb and forefinger close to the edges and tear. It is a satisfying action because you keep moving your hands along the fabric until you get to the other end. I sewed a gathering thread along the middle of this strip, pulled it up and pinned then sewed the strip around the front and back of the top, using the remainder to form a flower feature at the front.

Sew 21 – Skirt with a story to tell

This history skirt is upcycled from five reject garments made of silk, screen-printed cotton, linen and vintage buttons found at opportunity shops during a road trip up the Queensland coast.

History skirts are an original design and concept which I created based on a gored skirt pattern. It was inspired by a shirt I bought from the amazingly creative Mary Ede of The Skirt, who is based in Townsville north Queensland.

I wondered what could be done with all the natural fibres, fabrics and found stuff I was rescuing from op shops along the way – and the Textile Beat creative business/social enterprise and this Sew it Again project are results of that wondering.

It is rewarding when people like champion swimmer, expert trainer and stylish dresser (among other things) Lisa Curry support one’s efforts.

Last year, when Lisa Curry stepped into Blackall Cultural Centre while on her Aussie road trip inspiring health and wellbeing, her attention was immediately captured by my history skirts.

While Lisa’s eyes were drawn to its colour and creativity, her decision to purchase this upcycled natural fibre garment demonstrates support for slow fashion as one small way to boost ecological health and reduce our carbon footprint.

I posted this story of Lisa’s orange and avocado history skirt: “It was handcrafted in Brisbane by Jane Milburn from at least 10 upcycled fabric sources including an Italian linen dress, silk shirt and tie, rayon vest, cotton scarf, floral cotton from Nana’s fabric box, vintage buttons and more.”

I’ve got Col Jackson from Blues Country Magazine to thank for this photo taken at the QRRRWN annual conference, and my Australian Rural Leadership Program colleague Ele Cook from Coolah in New South Wales to thank for helping me follow my heart on this creative journey inspiring the upcycling of natural fibres for pleasure, reward and sustainability.

This chocolate swirl history skirt has several pockets for gadgets and each panel has a feature created from off-cuts. It is brought together by a stretch-knit waistband and hemmed with a border of raw silk. Because the construction is time consuming, it is a labour of love. I’ve teamed this skirt with a knit top from which I removed the roll collar and hemmed with zigzag.

Sew 17 – Old-new not new-new

This cotton dress once was sleeveless and long now is short with peplum and sleeves following a hand-sew modification.

It was a $2 purchase from the op shop sale I wrote about in this post – op shop sales being just as frequent as sales in the thousands of dress shops and department stores pushing newer, brighter, seemingly ever-cheaper clothing.

In her book Overdressed: The shockingly high cost of cheap fashion, New York-based writer Elizabeth L. Cline said that for many consumers, part of the appeal of cheap fashion is that it allows them to get rid of their purchases when newer, more with-it items come along.

She sites astonishing textile consumption figures when clothing is combined with sheets and towels. Every year, Americans throw away 12.7 million tons, or 68 pounds of textiles per person, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which also estimates that 1.6 million tons of this waste could be recycled or reused.

You might think this clothing churn is not bad for the environment because some of it can be reused, but Elizabeth says a tremendous amount of clothing is in fact not getting recycled but getting trashed, and the environmental impact of making clothes is being entirely overlooked.

There’s a large disconnect between expanding wardrobes and the additional demands for fossil fuels, energy and water – and the resulting impact on our environment and climate.

As an agricultural scientist and journalist, it is from the perspective of reducing and reusing natural resources that I’m undertaking this Sew it Again campaign to demonstrate simple ways we can upcycle natural-fibre clothing from our own and others’ wardrobes.

Today’s watermelon pink cotton dress was adapted with hand-sewing done while chatting and watching TV. I trimmed the bottom from the long skirt to make it knee length then used the hem off-cut as a peplum around the waist and to create sleeves. It took a little time, but was not difficult and the rhythm of the needlework was relaxing and satisfying. It reconnected me to skills I learned from previous generations of my family, when home-sewing was as natural a part of everyday life as home-cooking. I have an aversion to ironing and find that giving cotton good shake after washing and smoothing the crinkles by hand is enough to avoid the need for it.

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 →