Fashion Revolution Week 2020: get your fashion fix!

Refashioning, upcycling and mending have been some of my favourite topics to blog about, and if you look back through my blog you’ll find a variety of projects, from adding pockets to turning skirts into trousers. I love that Fashion Revolution’s campaigns also cover our responsibility as part of the fashion supply chain - as wearers of clothes, and the people who determine a garment’s fate once it’s been bought, the way we care for our clothes can reduce our environmental impact. Being able to mend clothes, or refashion them if they no longer suit our body shape or personal style, reduces the amount of new clothes we buy and keeps wearable but well-loved clothes out of landfill.

While more and more people are embracing this new mending revolution, there are sadly still plenty of people who think of sewing as old-fashioned, and refashioning as unfashionable. To try to dispel some preconceptions I’ve selected four examples to showcase for Fashion Revolution Week, to show that there are minimalist, flamboyant, practical and even silly ways to get your fashion fix on.

Visible Mending

Darning is a traditional skill but it’s having a bit of a moment right now, thanks to visible mending artists like Celia Pym and Tom of Holland. This old cardigan was one of my first visible mending projects, thanks to its popularity with clothes moths, and I’ve recently had to mend another couple of holes in the sleeve. I love the contrast of the bright yellow darning wool with the dark stripes of the knit, and I couldn’t resist embroidering antennae and legs, adding another couple of beetles to the swarm on this cardi! 

Upcycling

My sister grabbed this silk blouse as an upcycling project for me from a sample sale - the sleeves were unhemmed and were very tight and ill-fitting but the rest of the blouse looked quite nice. I removed the sleeves, then used some fabric left over from a dress I’d made for a friend to create some frills in a contrast colour. The blouse still looks neat and smart, but the pop of colour makes it unique and eye catching.

Refashioning

I’ve featured this blouse on the blog before, but I think it’s a good example of a “minimalist” refashion/upcycle and also illustrates an important point about the relationship between our bodies and our clothes. This blouse used to be a dress, but over the years since I bought it I’ve put on some weight on my hips and the bottom half of the dress had become uncomfortably tight. The top half still fitted well though, so I simply chopped it off at the waist and hemmed it, creating a boxy blouse that looks great with trousers or a skirt. Refashioning or upcycling doesn’t have to be about adding new features, it can be about taking something away, particularly if you prefer a minimalist style. I think it’s also important to remember that we should be altering our clothes to fit our bodies, not altering our bodies to fit our clothes. 

Invisible Mending

This jumpsuit is an example of invisible mending, which is something I get asked about when clothes have ripped around the crotch! I got the jumpsuit at a clothes swap, and when I tried it on at home I noticed there was a hole at the bottom of the zip where the fabric had frayed away - right on the butt. The key to invisible mending is to patch the hole from the back, then catch down any frayed fabric or loose threads with lots and lots of tiny stitches. It’s fiddly, and you’ll probably discover you need glasses, but it’s worth it when you get a smart garment looking as good as new. 

I’ve loved learning how to sew and constantly improving over the years, and I also love teaching people to sew in a creative, relaxed way - no one is going to want to learn something if it feels like a chore. The key to getting good at sewing is practice - try out ideas on old clothes that are heading for textile recycling anyway, or master a technique on a piece of scrap fabric first before making the real thing. Your projects can be flamboyant or practical, depending on your personal style and clothing requirements. I find sewing calming and meditative, especially when my anxious brain wants me to keep endlessly scrolling on my phone. If you feel like you might need a new lockdown hobby, grab some fabric, thread and a sewing needle and see where your imagination might take you.

Top to toe alterations: how to hem your clothes

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a short woman in possession of several maxi dresses must be in need of a good hemming tutorial!

One of the reasons our clothes might not get worn very often is poor fit, and this can apply vertically as well as horizontally on the body. I’m a little bit shorter than average, and I own several maxi skirts and dresses that are just that little bit too long. I've made the mistake of wearing them thinking they would be fine, and then realised they really wouldn’t be. I’ve tripped on the stairs at work while carrying coffee, nearly got a floaty hem caught in the escalator at a tube station and noticed that the streets of London are much too dirty for nice clothes to trail on the ground!

There are several ways you can alter the hem on your clothes, depending on whether you have a sewing machine, an overlocker or just your hands. I’ve had several hems to alter recently, so here are some examples of various techniques.

A herringbone hem, by hand

The hem on this vintage dress has been finished off with a lace trim, and secured using a blind hemming machine. Unless you work in an industrial sewing facility you are unlikely to have access to a blind hemming machine, but it’s easy enough to replicate a similar stitch by hand.

For this stitch, you sew “backwards” (i.e. towards the hand you sew with). I am left handed, so apologies to right-handed people if this is confusing, but this might be a nice opportunity for my fellow lefties to benefit! To start, secure your thread to the hem allowance, then make a tiny stitch into the fabric just above the hem allowance, with your needle pointing “forwards”. Bring your thread back towards your sewing hand, and make another small stitch in your hem allowance. The thread will form a crisscrossing pattern over the edge of your hem allowance, while the only thing visible on the right side of the garment will be the tiny stitches you have made in the fabric.

The only disadvantage to this stitch is that it can cause the appearance of a ridge or line on the garment if it is made of quite a thick fabric, and some shoes could get snagged on the stitches! To avoid this, you can do the same stitch between your hem allowance and the fabric of the garment, like I have done here with this lovely pair of wide-leg trousers that were much too long! Fold down the top centimetre of the hem allowance towards you, then herringbone in the same way.

A topstitched hem, using a sewing machine

This ripped hem was the result of my trip on the stairs, and the point where I could no longer ignore the fact that this skirt was a bit too long! The skirt had ripped just above where the original hem allowance finished, so I cut this off all the way round the skirt, then replicated the original hem.

I pressed a 1cm hem allowance all the way round the skirt, then folded this up on itself again and pressed the new hem edge, so the raw edge of the hem allowance would be hidden.

I machined the hem from the right side of the skirt (known as “topstitching”) using the measurement gauge on my sewing machine to make sure I was catching the seam allowance on the wrong side.

A babylock hem, using an overlocker

An overlocker (or serger) is a specialist sewing machine that uses three or four threads to finish off a fabric edge, or stitch two edges together. It has a built-in blade that trims away excess fabric as you sew, so it’s not suitable for every job, but is great if you want to work with stretch fabrics or give homemade garments a professional looking finish. As well as seams, overlockers are useful for edges; this fine “babylock” edge can be used on a lot of floaty fabrics.

It’s a surprisingly robust finish; this skirt didn’t tear when I caught it in an escalator, but it did give me enough of a fright to resolve to sort out the hem! When I put it on I could see that the front and back of the skirt had “dropped” - this is quite common on circle skirts where the part of the skirt hanging from the waistband on the bias stretches a bit (or a lot!)

I levelled the hem on my dressmaking stand, then cut off the excess fabric, leaving a few millimetres for the blade on my overlocker to trim off, to get the neatest possible edge. It took a few minutes to change the settings on my overlocker, and then the job was done in no time at all!

I know it’s tempting to reach for the iron-on hemming tape, but I hope this tutorial will encourage at least some of you to pick up a needle and thread instead and give your garments a professional finish.

Put together a professional sewing kit for under £50

Sewing can seem like an expensive or gadget-heavy hobby, especially when a visit to the haberdashery section in a department store or craft shop reveals racks and racks of tools, threads, fastenings and other bits and bobs. If you want to take up sewing to care for your clothes and live a more sustainable lifestyle, buying a lot of new items (often encased in plastic packaging) might seem counter-intuiative and off-putting. 

We’ve all heard the saying “A bad workman blames their tools” but when you are sewing a variety of fabrics, quality tools make all the difference. Novelty sewing kits look really cute but they won’t always contain the best tools for the job, and the cheap haberdashery basics available from supermarkets or corner shops will be fine for sewing on a button but won’t last if you’re planning to sew on a regular basis. Poor quality pins and needles can snag your clothes, and blunt scissors make cutting fabric more difficult than it needs to be. 

Of course, it’s possible to put together a cheaper sewing kit than the one I’ve assembled, but all the tools on my “must have” list are items I use every day as a professional costume maker: they are practical, durable and help to make sewing jobs a pleasure rather than a chore. It’s tempting to buy everything you might possibly need when you start a new hobby, but investing in a few key tools to start with and adding to your kit as the need arises is a more cost-effective in the long run, and means you don’t end up with a lot of excess clutter if you’re short on space. (Prices for the items on this list are approximate, and I haven't factored in shipping costs if you buy online.) 

Here are the eight items I wouldn’t want to be without:

Fabric cutting scissors

I am left-handed but learned to cut with right-handed scissors, so they are useable, but the shaped handle (like this pair of orange Fiskars scissors) gets uncomfortable if I am cutting out for a long time. The Fiskars soft-touch multi purpose scissors have a soft grip and a spring mechanism, so they are great for ambidextrous stitchers and anyone with joint problems. Specialist left-handed scissors are also available from craft suppliers, but you’ll have less choice and they may be pricier. I've seen Fiskars scissors available for between £13 and £18, so it's a good idea to shop around.

Embroidery scissors 

I use a small, sharp pair of scissors for snipping threads, and for unpicking; I find the tiny pointed blades are more accurate than the hook of a seam ripper. My 4 inch Kai embroidery scissors are my favourite all-purpose pair, but if you’re attached to your seam ripper, the classic "Stork" embroidery scissors are a good buy. Kai scissors are around £13-£14, Stork scissors are between £6 and £8.

Tape Measure

This is something you don’t need to spend a lot of money on, but as a left-hander I prefer one with measurements on both sides, otherwise I often find myself measuring in the “wrong” direction, or upside down! Extendable tape measures are fine for taking body measurements that don’t need to be perfectly accurate, but I find the flat metal end of a wider tape measure more useful when I’m measuring and marking an alteration.A decent tape measure will probably cost £2-£3.

Needles

Hand-sewing needles are a real personal preference; I prefer using a long, thin needle unless I’m sewing something very thick, but that won’t suit everyone. John James make professional quality needles, but sell them in sensible amounts for home sewing too. If you’re just getting to grips with hand sewing, I would recommend getting an assorted pack, then buying a specific size if you end up having a favourite. "Pebble" packs, where the needles come in a handy little container, are £1.45, needles in ordinary packaging are around £1.

Pins

These should be a straightforward item to get hold of, but if you’ve had to throw away half a pack because they had blunt ends, or had them bend out of shape or snap in half, you’ll know all pins are not made alike! Prym make a variety of pins in different lengths and widths; long thin pins for delicate dressmaking, and shorter, wider pins for tougher fabrics. A 25g box of Prym pins is just under £2.50

Safety Pins

Really useful for fitting garments on yourself; your carefully pinned alteration won’t come undone as you take that piece of clothing off! Again, you want a sturdy pin with a sharp point that won’t damage delicate fabrics, in a variety of sizes for different garments and alterations. A pack of good quality safety pins will be around £1.75

Tailors Chalk

This is perfect for marking alterations before you sew; the Hemline chalk is available in yellow and white as well as red and blue, and has a slightly waxy feel to it. It’s great for marking the insides of your clothes, or on fluffy fabric where a softer chalk won’t make a longlasting mark. The Hancocks chalk is loved by tailors because you can mark the right side of a garment with the white chalk and it brushes off easily. I like to keep the edges of my chalk sharp so I can draw a neat line; you can buy a chalk sharpening gadget, but I usually just use the blade on an old pair of scissors. A pack of 2 Hancocks chalks is about £2.50


Thimble

Not everyone finds they need a thimble for hand sewing, but if you do want to use one it’s important to find the right size! People with medium to large hands will probably find something adequate in most haberdashery suppliers; if you have small hands or narrow fingers your best bet is probably Thread and Trimmings who supply seven different sizes of thimble (compared to the usual three - S,M and L).I’ve also found really comfortable thimbles in antique or bric-a-brac shops. A decent thimble shouldn't cost more than about £2.

Total: around £45.

Other useful tools I’d recommend adding to a sewing kit if you are doing a lot of mending and alterations would be pinking shears, a measuring gauge, a technical drawing set square and a darning mushroom! There are other pieces of kit that come in really useful if you are interested in making clothes from scratch, and I’m planning to cover sewing thread in a separate post, because using the correct thread can make a real difference to the success of a sewing project. Leave a comment or come to find me on social media to chat all things sewing-related, or if you think I’ve left something vital off this list.

Invisible mending for smart clothes: quick fixes to stop a small problem becoming a big project!

It’s probably happened to all of us. We’re happily going about our business, in a seemingly well-fitting piece of clothing. Then we bend down suddenly or hop up to perch on a high chair and hear that telltale krrrrrrrk of ripping fabric, or feel a breath of chilly air on a previously well-covered part of our persons. If our clothes are particularly sneaky, we won’t notice at all until someone points it out to us. If we’re dressed smartly, we’ll probably sidle around with a jumper tied around our middles until we can scurry home to change. What happens to these clothes now? Can they be saved, or do we have to send them to textile recycling?

Casual clothes are easier to repair; a visibly patched pair of jeans will probably look more on-trend than they did when they were brand new, and knitwear or dresses can be embellished with embroidery to disguise holes. Smart clothes can be a different story (especially if there is a dress code to follow), and if clothes have torn in an area you’d rather not draw attention to, your options are either refashioning, or invisible mending. 

This loose-fitting dress apparently wasn’t loose-fitting everywhere, as it split right across my bottom while I was at work! This is a good illustration of why we shouldn’t take fit issues that lead to rips in our clothes too personally; problems with the pattern, manufacture, or faults in the fabric itself are most likely to contribute to a lack of “ease” that allows clothes to move with our bodies. 

Because of the position and size of the tear, I decided to refashion the dress into a top, but I realised I could use the fabric to save a pair of trousers (made by the same brand, from the same fabric) that were destined for a similar fate.

A key part of looking after clothes is actually to look at them; give them a once-over after washing, or while you are putting them away. It’s much easier to reinforce an area that looks a bit threadbare than to repair a big rip or tear. This small ladder in the fabric doesn't look like much of a problem now, but because it’s right on the crotch seam, I wanted to repair it straight away, before it got any worse. 

Using the fabric I cut from the bottom of my tunic dress, I cut a patch to reinforce the trousers from the inside. Using pinking shears means the edges of the patch won’t fray, and I cut the patch on the bias (following a diagonal line across the fabric, rather than the vertical or horizontal lines of the warp and weft threads of a woven fabric) so it will have a bit of “give” in it. If you don’t conveniently have a piece of matching fabric to hand, most fabric shops will sell a 10cm wide piece as a sample, or send you a swatch that is approx 10 by 10cm for around £1.

I pinned the patch on the inside of the trousers, then turned them the right way out to stitch the patch down. This doesn’t require a special technique, just a running stitch around the hole or ladder (I usually do several rows or concentric circles to make sure the patch is secure). I also stitched the loose threads in the ladder down to the patch to stop them from catching on anything or pulling further.

I was in a mending mood, so I also darned the underarm of a black roll-neck sweater (underarms are another area where I prefer an invisible mend). Mending yarns for fine, shop-bought machine knits are available from haberdashery shops in a range of colours. There is a great darning tutorial in the Fashion Revolution zine Loved Clothes Last; it works for visible or invisible darning, just choose the colour of your yarn!

Looking at the photos I’d taken of the tunic dress to show the rip, I realised the style was actually quite unflattering on me. I unpicked the gathered elastic band, and cut a triangular underbust panel from the piece I’d cut from the bottom, to give the top more of a vintage look. I also cut two strips which I made into waist ties so I can cinch the waist in a bit.

I topstitched the new panel onto the dress, catching the waist ties on at the side seams, then folded the top of the pocket panel down and stitched it in place. I finished the top by hemming it; I only used a small hem allowance because I wanted to keep as much length in the top as possible, and I did have to shorten the pocket bags slightly so they wouldn’t hang out from under the hem, but I’ve managed to turn something that was unwearable in its broken state into something I’ll want to wear again.

Hopefully my newly-mended sweater and trousers will remain intact for the foreseeable future: they had both been out of circulation for quite a while because they needed mending and now I just wish I hadn’t put it off for so long; these mends are quick and hassle-free! There’s no sewing machine required, and I was able to work with one eye on the TV.

If you have clothes that aren’t quite up to scratch, why not put aside a couple of minutes this weekend to do a quick repair, and reunite yourself with a favourite piece of clothing.