The recent Textile Beat history skirt workshop at Biloela was ‘sew’ productive it is still providing a store of daily upcycles for me to post while I visit my brother Professor Anthony (Tony) Capon in Malaysia.

Tony is based in KL as Director of the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University and it is always inspiring to have the opportunity to talk about big issues facing the world around our shared interest in disease prevention, ecological health and food production.

Obesity is a growing global epidemic and was the focus of a recent opinion piece Tony wrote for the New Straits Times which has since opened new dialogue about obesity as the ‘mother of all diseases’. Tony and I also enjoyed visiting Malaysia’s League of Extraordinary Women exhibition which features global humanitarian Dr Jemilah Mahmood, see photo below. 

Just as we are now consuming more energy-dense food than we need for physical health, we are over-consuming textiles at an alarming rate and this is the focus of my Sew it Again project as I demonstrate ways to reuse existing clothing instead of buying new.

Ahead of our recent upcycling workshop, Kerrie selected about six reject jumpers from Biloela’s op shop in colours she liked and proceeded to cut 10 panels from them, which she sewed together to make a circle. From a reject fawn-coloured poncho, she cut off half of the rolled collar and sewed it to the skirt (sew the cut side of band to skirt to prevent fraying) where it instantly became a waistband without needing elastic. The wool history skirt can be worn as a poncho as well as a skirt, and the remains of the original poncho became a skirt (or still a poncho). Additionally, Kerrie sewed two skirt pockets from jumper offcuts, and sewed together various sleeves to become a scarf, and then creatively reworked one of the jumpers by adding off-cut sleeves to the centre front and back, and made a flower to creatively cover the join. There’s no looking back for Kerrie now – after just one workshop she’s mastered the concept of creatively upcycling any reject clothing that comes her way. You go girl – look forward to seeing future creations!