Tag Archives: vintage buttons

Sew 264 – Buttons carry memories

Fiona Lake wears Textile Beat upcycledAre you a hoarder or a thrower? There is always a balance between holding on to materials with memories of the past, and clearing the decks so new things can come into your life.

I have hoarder tendencies. After ‘rescuing’ a lot of natural fibres and found stuff from op shops during the past two years to add to my existing collection, I’m going through a shedding process during this Sew it Again year.

My friend Fiona Lake also has hoarder tendencies – and during the past few days while in her company many treasures have emerged, including her mother’s button stash. I enjoyed sorting the shell buttons into a smaller container to display very special treasure. Then Fiona produced this amazing little babies top, with shell buttons in situ where they would have been used to attach bloomers, which would have been from her grandmother’s era before zips and press studs. Continue reading

Sew 32 – Ethical dressing

linen outfit with vintage buttonsThe beautiful buttons on this linen outfit are from my mother-in-law’s collection gathered over her lifetime in Cairns north Queensland and given to me in metal cake tin containers.

Quality, heritage and warmth are interwoven in my journey to revive traditional home-sewing skills and reuse natural resources for pleasure and purpose.

I’m also discovering a global ethical fashion community conscious of where clothes come from, how they are made and their ‘true cost’ to people and the environment.

Beautiful, informed people such as founder of manifeco.com Kate Black who wrote on Huff Post recently:

“Ethical fashion, also known as eco, green or sustainable fashion, can take many forms; it can be items that have been passed down (through family or from thrift and vintage shops), clothes from small-batch or local designers, even big brands are getting in the game with fair-trade certifications and using environmentally preferred fibres like organic cotton or tencel.”  Continue reading