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.