Monthly Archives: June 2014

Sew 171 – Tropical shirt becomes apron

Shirt becomes apronThis apron is refashioned from a children’s shirt, with second-button torn on an otherwise useful cotton garment.

The tropical print is getting me into a packing mood for a trip to Malaysia tomorrow – sorting summer gear and scarves. And I’m pleased to still have at least five guest upcycles by Gwen, Bev, Audrey, Kerrie and Meredith from the productive Biloela workshop to post while I’m in KL!

Today’s tropical shirt was part of a ‘fill-a-bag for $2’ batch of natural fibre rejects I recently gathered from my favourite Windsor Road Baptist Church Thrift Shop and Eternity Boutique. I am trying to keep out of op shops, but like my upcycling colleague and fellow frugal-refashionista Karen Ellis of #scavengerstyle in Victoria I’m always on the lookout to rescue useful stuff that’s going to waste. Continue reading →

Sew 170 – REfashion is non-toxic

Dominique's apron upcycledThe reasons why I’m upcycling natural fibre garments during 2014 include because it is creative, mindful, resourceful, flexible, sustainable, thrifty, bespoke, handy, fun, ethical, reducing waste, shifting habits, demonstrating alternatives and non-toxic.

This Ecouterre article about toxic threads provides further affirmation: “Around 80 billion garments are produced worldwide, the equivalent of just over 11 garments a year for every person on the planet, according to Greenpeace. The growing volumes of clothing being made, sold, and disposed of magnifies the human and environmental costs of our clothes at every stage of their life cycle, which means that even minute quantities of toxins can cumulatively amount to the widespread dispersal of damaging chemicals across the globe, the group says.”  Continue reading →

Sew 169 – Gorgeous zero-waste skirt

Creative reuse of waste garmentsAt a global level people are beginning to question the way we dress, where clothing comes from, and whether it is made with ethical and sustainable processes.

As there is rising interest in home cooking and food growing for health and wellbeing, there is a pressing need to rethink our approach to textiles and fashion. Fast food and fast fashion are convenient – but not necessarily sustainable or good for us and our planet.

My model for a social and environmental shift includes empowering individuals to reimagine and recreate their own wardrobe collection by creatively chopping and changing existing clothing to suit themselves.

Instead of global generic bland brand dressing, this shift involves local, individual unfashionistas branding themselves through sustainable, ethical eco-clothing as part of a REfashion Revolution turning waste and reject clothing into something to wear with pride. Continue reading →

Sew 168 – Creative metamorphosis

Upcycled cotton skirtTo draw an analogy from nature, when you apply right-brained creative thinking to traditional sewing skills it is like undergoing metamorphosis. You can transform yourself and mediocre garments into something bespoke.

What I most enjoyed about the Biloela upcycling workshop was enabling willing and able women to make a chop of faith and change their garments – and in some ways themselves – forever more.

It is not particularly hard or risky when you use reject and unworn clothing that isn’t working for you any more as it was anyway. And once your creative right-brain switches on to the potential of upcycling, there’s no end to what you can do when you invest time and energy in a mindfully creative way.  Continue reading →

Sew 167 – Skirt with upcycle history

History Skirt by FayThis history skirt may have a few minor imperfections but there is none other exactly like it in the world. Created by its owner Fay, it is based on an original concept developed by Jane Milburn as a way of reusing cast-off clothing and waste textiles to make garments with stories to tell about where they came from.

This skirt was made with skills and energy invested Fay at a Biloela Arts Council upcycling workshop she organised in central Queensland which saw me (Jane) fly-in and fly-out this past weekend with support from a Regional Arts Developing Fund grant.

How exciting to be reusing materials that would otherwise languish in cupboards or eventually be dumped to create something unique and wearable that can be endlessly patched, mended or adapted further – adding even more character to the story of how it came to be. We individual unfashionistas interested in sustainable, ethical eco-clothing are bringing on the REfashion Revolution turning waste and reject clothing into something we wear with pride. Continue reading →

Sew 166 – Shirts refashioned into dress

Meredith in white linen shirts' dressIt was great to engage with such a productive and enthusiastic group of women at the Biloela history skirt workshop. We were fortunate to have been able to invest two days of time and energy in mindfully using imagination and skills to refashion unworn clothing to suit ourselves.

The concept of reusing existing clothing has appeal to people who dislike waste and are prepared to be resourceful and creative in how they dress. It requires right-brain engagement and an overhaul of our previous way of thinking about fashion and textiles.

I see it as a significant milestone in the refashion revolution that this workshop was made possible by the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), which is a partnership between Queensland Government’s Arts Queensland and Banana Shire Council to support local arts and culture. Continue reading →

Sew 165 – Mending favourites, again

Upcycle jeans by mendingIt is exciting to be in central Queensland for a creative upcycling workshop supported by Biloela Arts Council and the Banana Shire’s Regional Arts Development Fund.  This marks the beginning of a community-wide REfashion Revolution in which we open our minds to chopping and changing dated garments into something more current and wearable.

Some people toss out unworn clothes, hopefully to an op shop rather than into the rubbish. Many others treasure the natural fibres or the sentiment of garments and hold them in the back of the wardrobe – even though they aren’t wearing them because they no longer fit, are frumpy or old-fashioned in style or stained in some way.  Continue reading →

Sew 164 – Rice-cum-library bag

Upcycled rice bagWe’re cutting down on rice consumption in our household and only occasionally buy a 10kg bag. Instead of throwing out the tough plastic bag, I recognised its potential as a bespoke library bag.

I’ve rediscovered the library as a great source of inspiration. We can borrow for a month then extend for a month (if no one else has placed a hold). That’s plenty of time to absorb any book’s offerings I reckon. And the Brisbane City Council library e-catalogue is such that you order on-line and be emailed when the book’s ready for pickup at your local. Fabulous service #teambne. I’ll be using my new library bag to return my books this morning before flying to Biloela this afternoon for our weekend History Skirt workshop and the regional launch for our homegrown #REfashion Revolution.  Continue reading →

Sew 163 – Pinny from upcycled jeans

Danielle in upcycled jeans apron Great to enable undomestic goddesses to join the refashioning revolution today with Danielle Crismani aka Digella, Sally Gardner, Alison Triffett and friends of #bakedrelief recreating aprons from reject jeans at a workshop in the Textile Beat studio.

As i introduce others to upcycling, I’m learning more about the stumbling blocks to sewing, how people missed out on learning these life skills, and why others were turned off by previous experience or simply don’t have access to a sewing machine.

Sewing is a reasonably straight-forward process but you need to problem solve because things never go smoothly – particularly when you are working with random, irregular and different resources such as reject clothing and fabric offcuts. Ingenuity, persistence and creative solutions are the order of the day. But it is fun, and you can magic something useful out of not much – as these great ladies did today making aprons from jeans and offcuts.  Continue reading →

Sew 162 – The REfashion Revolution

refashioned cotton skirt We are what we repeatedly do. I’m repeatedly refashioning existing clothing to prevent them going to waste. Everyday this year, I use what I have and do what I can to demonstrate a more creative way of reusing natural fibre clothing instead of dumping them.

In so doing, I’m part of a REfashion Revolution which is inspiring thoughtful and creative reuse of existing clothing instead of buying more.

Waste not, want not, as my Great Grandma used to say – but it is astounding how wasteful our society has become in pursuit of new stuff.

The REfashion Revolution has integrity.

IntegrityIt is creative, autonomous and purposeful in reducing waste and exploitation – and in alignment with my personal values. Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles – or another graphic definition I picked up via social media recently which I love is this: Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.  

The REfashion Revolution is happening all around us, when we pause to consider how we can reuse clothing by chopping and changing instead of tossing out. Continue reading →