Upcycling Challenge brings dormant textiles to life

Due to the Omicron outbreak, Eco Fashion Week Australia and the associated Upcycling Challenge (outlined in the post below) has been postponed until 2023.

Garments with meaning and story fit for A Closet of the Anthropocene will form the Upcycling Challenge collection at the upcoming Eco Fashion Week Australia in 2022.

Participating designers are asked to choose a ‘’hero’’ textile lying dormant in its current form and build on that to create a uniquely meaningful garment with a great story to tell about how it came to be in the world.

The hero textile might be Granny’s embroidered tablecloth, Mum’s outdated wedding dress, Dad’s old uniform, a favourite childhood dress or jumper, something painted in art school, or a beautiful but damaged treasure discovered in an op shop. This textile can be repurposed along with other materials of choice into a storyful creation with the hero at heart.

The EFWA Upcycling Challenge coordinator is Jane Milburn who has been personally upcycling since 2013 as a way to spark action in response to fashion excess and textile waste. Her upcycled wardrobe includes history skirts, denim tunics and geometric dresses made from dormant materials.

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Local through and through

An alignment of values was integral to Timber Queensland’s search for a local natural-fibre shirt to include in marketing materials for its Buy Queensland Timber campaign.

“We are promoting the benefits of natural, renewable locally-sourced building products and our message is buy local, from local supply chains,” said the group’s strategic relations and communications manager Clarissa Brandt. “We wanted to echo that and work with other local supply chains to tell our story and walk our talk.”

Jason Ross in local cotton with Clarissa Brandt, in front of local contemporary charred timber cladding.

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Permaculture your wardrobe

Permaculture clothing is real; it is what I wear. All my wardrobe selections are natural fibres, made and mended, thrifted and repurposed, adapted to suit current needs. Produce no waste, slow and small solutions, creatively use and respond to change. Permaculture principles to live and dress by for a more permanent culture.

I was invited to present a session on Permaculture your Wardrobe at the 2021 Australasian Permaculture Convergence and delighted to have my work described there by permaculture leader Robin Clayfield as a ‘new edge’. Also delighted to recently chat with global permaculture ambassador Morag Gamble on her podcast Sense-making in a changing world.

Michael Wardle of Savour Soils Permaculture and Jane Milburn at the 2021 Australasian Permaculture Convergence

Dressing is integral to life. Skin is our largest organ and we can think about clothes doing for us on the outside what food does inside. They protect and warm our bodies, and influence the way we feel and present to the world. And dressing is an agricultural act, if we want to wear natural fibres rather than plastic fibres.

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Use lockdown time to know yourself: Kate Ng

The opportunity to spend time getting to know yourself and understanding your motivations has been an upside of pandemic lockdown, according to Kate Ng from The Netherlands. She said accepting the curfew, knowing we just have to deal with it because there’s nothing we can do about it, makes it easier. “I can just get to know myself really well, get to know the things that make me tick and things that irritate me, and then I can manage better in my everyday life.”

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Rising to resilience

Disruption arising from the pandemic reminds us of the need to live thoughtfully in tune with nature, as Jane Milburn reports.

Jane Milburn wears self-made upcycled silk dress. Photo by Robin McConchie at Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.

Sewing arose as a survival skill during the COVID-19 pandemic when global supply chains fractured and locally-made cloth face masks became valuable personal protection equipment. Even New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made her own face covering to help stop the spread of the coronavirus when masks became mandatory on public transport during the Auckland breakout.

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On the Textile Beat Dec 2020

It has been hard to find words for this year, this time. Grateful to be living in Australia. Thankful for health, family and home. Inspired by a Permaculture Design Course. Disappointed my Churchill Fellowship was deferred until international travel becomes possible. Excited to be starting a new book yet easily distracted by gardening, cups of tea and visitors. Mostly grateful. Hoping things are OK at your end. I’ve put together a December enews, which you can read here now or if you would like to subscribe there is an avenue for that on the right-hand side of this website.

Wear the difference

When we follow a predictable path, we walk in another’s shadow. Only when we explore our own creativity and embrace the unusual can something original emerge. Jane Milburn reports

What is unusual? The dictionary says it is something remarkable or interesting because it is different from or better than others. Synonyms include extraordinary, singular, particular, marked, outstanding, notable, distinctive, striking, unique, unparalleled, mind-blowing and superior.

Jane Milburn, left, and Elizabeth Kingston, right, wear their own style. Photos by Patria Jannides and Evelina.

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Influencing behaviour change

Fashion is responsible for up to 10 percent of carbon emissions and about  70 percent of the clothes in our wardrobes are not worn. These are some of the reasons to choose ways of dressing that are more circular and regenerative.

Changing our behaviour is the biggest thing we can do to reduce our energy and resource consumption. Great to see reloving options expanding, with UNTAGGED Sustainable Fashion Exchange a new option for keeping wardrobes fresh whilst being kinder to our wallets, each other, and the planet.

They’ve been sharing quotes through their Instagram platform, including words from Cate Blanchett, Jane Goodall, Emma Watson, Livia Firth, Vivienne Westwood, Carry Somers, Elizabeth Cline,  Celine Semaan, and Jane Milburn (that’s me).

Making is a super power: Linnae Hamilton

You will never regret acquiring practical skills says Linnae Hamilton. Working on your self-reliance is a great thing to be doing at this time of uncertainty, as well as taking care of yourself, simplifying your life and possessions.

After a wide-ranging career including as a film maker and graphic artist, Linnae brought all her skills together to set up the non-profit Remade in Brooklyn in an old carriage house in New York in the United States. She based it on the model of Remade in Edinburgh and outfitted the carriage house with big tables and secondhand sewing machines to teach people to sew at free weekly workshops called Mend it Monday, which expanded to Fix it Friday as well as a Wednesday session. “I wanted to teach people how to sew, because sewing is a great life skill to have. I love making things and once it gets under your skin, you can’t not do it. It’s a super power.”

But as coronavirus turned everyone’s lives upside down, Linnae had to make the sad decision to close the doors on carriage house and has moved upstate New York to a healthy area where she can work remotely. She is now working to serve the community by developing an online community as a resource for people interested in repair.

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Wabi sabi time has arrived

Rethinking the way we live, work and play is happening as we adapt to the uncertainty and profound changes coming down the line with coronavirus. We can calm ourselves by focusing energy on living with creativity, simplicity and integrity, rather than worrying about distant unknowable possibilities.

Wabi sabi is a gentle approach to life embedded within Japanese culture that has its roots in Zen philosophy. As I (Jane Milburn) read more about wabi sabi during lockdown, it struck me as a way of living in tune with nature rather than seeking to control, manage and exploit it.

Jane Milburn wearing garments made from natural fibres coloured by leaves and bark. Photo by Patria Jannides.

At a time when we need to be adaptive and resourceful, wabi sabi is a salve that enables us to find beauty in what is around us, in all its imperfection and impermanence.

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