This striking green silk was a short collarless jacket and long skirt, upcycled by cropping skirt and attaching offcut as a double collar.

Upcycling is a way of valuing natural fibres as precious resources and this year I’m demonstrating simple ways this can be achieved by resewing at home with my Sew it Again project.

I’m enjoying reading London journalist and environmentalist Lucy Siegle’s book To die for: is fashion wearing out the world – an authoritative and entertaining read.

As Siegle says, silkworms die so their silk cocoons can become fabric (1500 little critters for each metre of silk) – which is why it’s doubly worthwhile refashioning silk garments for a second/third life until they’re worn out.

On March 30, Siegle will be in Australia as part of the All about Women festival and speaking at Sydney Opera House on the topic Is fashion wearing out the world? 

Siegle writes about the ‘shop and toss’ mentality (pg220): “Who knew that our old clothes are literally destined for Timbuktu? We don’t exactly ask many questions when clearing out our wardrobes. Every now and then the consumer dictated to by fast fashion tackles her wardrobe with the assiduity normally reserved for the fridge. But instead of tipping out milk that’s past its sell-by date and emptying the salad drawer, it’s clothes that are on the way out as we engage in a desperate bid to stay in control of our ever-increasing wardrobes.” Sound familiar?

“Increased consumption inevitably means an increased discarding of clothes. Oddly, it seems that nobody every stopped to think about this as fast fashion was taking off like a jet plane. It has been left to the charity shops to deal with the resultant mayhem.”

This year, I’m not just thinking about this but taking action by demonstrating how we can resew op shop finds or clothes from our own wardrobes so they live again.

Model Mabel’s outfit today is from my collection, an op shop silk outfit I upcycled in 2012 and wore to a Health Media Club lunch, photo right, addressed by Health Minister Lawrence Springborg in an earlier life.

The original suit had obviously been made well by a dressmaker. The skirt had a thick waistband, which I cut off then zigzagged to secure and added a few extra darts to better fit my waistline. I cut the skirt to knee length, then folded this offcut as a double collar for what was a plain neckline by sewing on the inside of collar including a few tucks to make it fit and provide some flounce when it was folded back over the neckline. The back seam below the zip had recently pulled a little (too many ice-creams), so I resewed to secure again.