Tag Archives: Textile Beat

Sew 152 – Sustainable fashion at the fair

Endless consumption can’t rule. To sustain our lifestyle into the future we need to be mindful about the resources we consume and the waste we create in doing so.

It’s wonderful to be living in a city that promotes sustainable choices through the biannual Green Heart Fair and share ideas with friendly Brisbane residents and visitors.

Textile Beat was part of the action, and thanks to City Smart, family and friends for enabling that to be. Some of the Sew it Again collection found new homes – and others were paraded by the gorgeous Em and Maddy. Continue reading →

Sew 151 – T-shirts reworked

The fabulous City of Brisbane Australia demonstrates that it values sustainable living by hosting the Green Heart Fair twice each year – and this free community event is on again at Chermside tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to engaging with eco-aware locals on the topic of sustainable and ethical dressing – discussing ways we can reduce our clothing footprint.

With the 365-day Sew it Again campaign approaching the half-way mark (well nearly), there are plenty of garments to fill out the Textile Beat tent this year.

Although time is against me now, I’m working on a few t-shirt upcycles we can do – sans sewing machine with just scissors, hand stitching and crafting. Continue reading →

Sew 117 – Upcycle with length

It is shocking – horrifying even – that there is such a surfeit of clothing in the world that barely worn stuff is being tossed for lack of the right look, shape, size, pattern or fit.

We are encouraged to buy more stuff at every turn, without mindful consideration of a longer-term perspective for ourselves and the planet.

This year I’m pausing to reflect and sort all the stuff I’ve accumulated – my stuff of choice being found natural fibre clothing from opshops.

Over the past three years of op-shopping, I’ve accumulated enough to see out my lifetime. I don’t harbour any guilt from it because I’ve had a sense of rescuing it for a good cause. That cause is the Sew it Again project, upcycling every day this year to demonstrate how simple home sewing skills can extend the life of existing clothing by adapting to suit one’s needs. Continue reading →

Sew 107 – Little brown number

Chocolate brown is a favourite colour and I gravitate towards it in op shops – which of course I’m trying to steer clear of these days as I work my way through the accumulated stockpile.

Doing some research ahead of an interview tonight with 612 ABC Local Radio’s Rebecca Levingston, I came across the Little Brown Dress project in which Seattle artist Alex Martin wore the same brown dress in different ways for an entire year in 2006.

In this Seattle Times article Martin said she did it to make a personal attempt to confront consumerism. “Martin was troubled by sweatshops, over-consumption and the modern American penchant for disposable items. And she was irritated by the societal pressure on women to buy into, literally and figuratively, what’s considered fashionable.”

My personal commitment this year is to upcycling – adding value by mending, modifying, remaking, resewing, refashioning – unworn and reject clothing for a second life. Continue reading →

Sew 63 – Camouflage for stain

Two orange knit garments were melded into a dress to camouflage an unfortunate stain on an otherwise beautiful wool top.

When a hole appears, a button falls off, seam pops or stain appears – what do you do? Turn to expert, toss them out, or DIY? If you have simple home-sewing skills, you are empowered to apply them creatively to solve small defects in otherwise perfectly good clothing.

With my Sew it Again campaign this year I’m working my way through wardrobes full of natural-fibre clothing accumulated from various sources over time, demonstrating creative ways of upcycling and reviving them for a second life.

I’ve run a number of different campaigns in my time, and it was interesting to be described as an ‘avid sewer and sustainable fashion advocate’ by Laura Stead-Churchill in Bmag.com. Continue reading →

Sew 62 – Unleashing upcycling creativity

This linen combo springs from jumper and jacket uplifted by creating jumper scarf with jumper bottom becoming skirt.

It is fun, resourceful and economical to magic something fresh from existing clothing that’s in the reject pile – and I love sharing ideas and skills to help others find their inner creative.

A key learning from postgraduate study last year that applies at any stage of life is seeking the skills/asking for help from those with the knowledge to move you forward.

Some people say they don’t have a creative bone in their body or can’t sew. I believe that’s a self-limiting approach inadvertently sown (excuse the pun) by a parent, teacher, partner or ‘friend’ somewhere in the past. Continue reading →

Sew 45 – Love for natural resources

Business attire is dress code for today’s Rural Press Club lunch at Tattersalls so I’m wearing this black silk top (found in op shop as is, never worn) teamed with silk-embellished linen skirt.

Speaking today is National Farmers’ Federation president Brent Finlay about the future for family farming in Australia, in what is the UN’s International Year of Family Farming 2014.

About 99 percent of Australian farms are family-owned and operated, but the challenges involved in growing food and fibre for the world include drought, low profitability, rising debt and a dwindling rural workforce.

In addition to being NFF president, Brent is a wool producer from the Traprock region of southern Queensland whom I met 15 years ago at a Wear Wool Wednesday fashion parade in the Red Chamber at Queensland Parliament House when I was working for then Minister for Primary Industries Henry Palaszczuk. Continue reading →

Sew 44 – What is it all for?

This dress was created by sewing a linen skirt to the top of a cotton/silk shift because the blue and yellow shades in both looked as if they were meant to be together.

Some things are just meant to be – and I think this year in the rhythm of sewing, photographing, writing and posting about my resewing experiences is one of those things.

I’m currently working out how to manage this rhythm while in Western Australia next month, my third trip west during the past year since my youngest brother Paul lost his life in an excavator accident there.

Losing a much-loved sibling is painful, as well as a wake-up call for what really matters. Paul was living an adventurous life in his Mercedes Sprinter van fitted out as a mobile home/tool kit, working as a builder in remote parts of the state. He had no children, was twice married and twice divorced.

Paul didn’t leave a Will, so part of my journey this year after being appointed as administrator is deciding what to do with his possessions. Less is more and quality remains long after price forgotten were codes by which Paul lived – and I’m fortunate he gathered a couple of high-quality friends who are helping me work through this process. Continue reading →

Sew 33 – Renewal by upcycling

This bias-cut silk skirt was shortened by cutting off the old waistline and replacing with thin elastic, then recasting the waistline offcut as a draped collar for a matching silk shirt.

My friend Robyn Sheptooha called in with a bag of surplus clothing the other day and we shared a cup of tea while she told me the story of each – how it came into her life and why it was going out – and being put to good use as garment fodder for my 365-day Sew it Again upcycling project.

We met ages ago with boys in Year 3 and meander in and out of each other’s lives, catching up when time permits.

I did so enjoy reading Nikki Gemmell’s column Swamped Again in The Weekend Australian Magazine yesterday because it took me back to those days on the whirligig, bringing up three children with little time to call your own. 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 →