Tag Archives: Kuala Lumpur

Sew 182 – Merino lives on

I’m half-way through the Sew it Again project – and celebrated by flying into the Gold Coast this morning with the sun rising on a beautiful clear sky day – and a bush walk up Mt Coot-tha with daughter Lily where the clear skies meant we could see across Moreton Bay.

I loved visiting the colourful, cultural melting pot that is Kuala Lumpur to catch up with my brother Tony Capon and his family, and my aunt Kate McLachlan from New Zealand, but city high-rise living in a tropical metropolis is very different to our leafy-green Queenslander lifestyle in inner-suburban Brisbane where we live close to nature. Continue reading →

Sew 177 – History in the making

Here’s the lovely and productive Bev in the History Skirt she made at our Biloela REfashion workshop which is still delivering dividends, including #upcycle number 177 of 365 in the Sew it Again year.

Although I have a few more days left to enjoy in Kuala Lumpur, I’m already planning for my next workshop Creative Chop and Change on July 12 which is being hosted by the Queensland branch of the Australian Textile Artists and Surface Designers Association – you can book here if you are interested in being mindfully creative with rejects from your wardrobe. Continue reading →

Sew 176 – REfashion for celebration

The 60th anniversary of UNICEF’s presence in Malaysia is cause for celebration and I am proud that my sister-in-law Dr Wendy Relf chose to wear upcycled REfashion, namely Sew 176, instead of other available choices.

Photographed below is Wendy, with my brother Professor Tony Capon, Director of the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University in Kuala Lumpur, as they headed off to this special event tonight.

Many of us have many, perhaps too many, choices in what we can wear because there is a surfeit of clothes in the world. What happens to clothes when we tire of them, grow out of them, find they don’t suit our shape anymore? Continue reading →

Sew 173 – History skirt with local touch

When in Malaysia, do as the Malaysian people do. Dressing for local conditions is practical and respectful. I don’t always wear a head scarf here, but it is certainly good to pack a few so one can blend into the local streetscape. I made this blue cotton scarf from a five-metre length I picked up at a Warwick op shop a while back. It had been in someone’s fabric stash then discarded before they did anything with it. It was lovely light loose-weave cotton which is quite hard to come by, so naturally I snapped it up and stored until I had a use for it. It was just a matter of cutting a length about 1.75m long, folding over lengthwise then sewing together while leaving a gap of about 8cm so it can be turned inside out to become a scarf. Good for sun protection, mopping a perspiring brow, and to dress as do many locals with the hair covered. Continue reading →

Sew 172 – It’s Fashion Week in KL

It is amazing to be transported via AirAsia from the Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur in less than one day – and now be posting from Bukit Bintang.

People here are so helpful and it is great to catch up with family – my brother Professor Tony Capon, Wendy and boys Will and Hugh.

It is exciting to find I will be able to catch the last day of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week at Pavilion tomorrow! That will an enlightening experience, as is the shopping immersion which KL offers with all the high fashion brands seemingly on every corner. Such a contrast to the way I live and shop in Brisbane! Continue reading →