The Maker Within

There is a maker inside us all. People often speak of the soothing and satisfying nature of making for relaxation, reward or reinvention. In earlier times, working with our hands was how we explored and became connected to the world. Then with industrialization and the feminist movement, many of us shifted away from making and towards higher-status thinking careers.  Working with our hands was often associated with home-based domestic work – and we didn’t want to be trapped there.

The COVID-19 lockdown gave pause, for some not on the frontline, to explore making and creating with our hands – gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, knitting and mending clothes.  We are ready for more conversation about slower living, adaptation and resourcefulness – using our hands, head and heart to create change.

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Join us for a Slow Fashion Season

Are you up for a Slow Fashion Season? To make conscious wardrobe choices for three months from June 21 to September 21 this year? It might mean buying nothing for three months; or swapping, upcycling or sewing your stash; buying second-hand and vintage; or supporting sustainable, local, small fashion labels if you find you really need something new.

Slow Fashion Season, a global challenge out of The Netherlands, which aims to have 25,000 people participate and together save the equivalent of up to 750 million litres of water and 2.5 million kgs of CO2 emissions through positive choices. We’d love you to sign up and be part of this collective action.

I personally committed to making conscious choices in my wardrobe forever after noticing fashion excess and setting up Textile Beat in 2013 to have conversations about textile waste. My personal actions for the next three months will be upcycling what I already own.

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Niche, nimble and natural

Coronavirus is a catalyst for change. The world has shrunk and supply chains are under threat at this time of global disruption. Local manufacturing is coming into its own, and being niche, nimble and natural are key ingredients for success, says Kerrie Richards from Merino Country.

“We are people of action, and actions speak louder than words. It is not who you are, it is what you do and how you make a difference in the world,” Kerrie says.

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Sustainable fashion actions

Small individual actions can, and do, create big changes. About 10 percent of our carbon footprint is embedded in the clothes we wear therefore our choices matter. Since 2013, Jane Milburn has been raising awareness about ways to reduce our material footprint through slow clothing actions: think, choose natural, quality, local, have few, care for what you have, make your own, revive, upcycle and salvage. In this news report, ABC journalist Lucy MacDonald outlined three ways for dress sustainably: buy sustainable fibres, choose pre-loved, and shop your wardrobe. She chatted with Jane about upcycling and reskilling so we can get more life out of what we aready own.

Zero Waste Sewing, the book

Sewing in straight lines and basic math skills are all that’s required to achieve success with the simplest of the handmade clothing projects in a clever new book Zero Waste Sewing from South Australia’s Elizabeth Haywood.

Zero Waste Sewing is a practical and resourceful book based around 16 projects to make, wear and enjoy, with plenty of opportunity to modify and adapt them to suit your shape and preferences.

Through her ingenious patterns, Liz inspires a sustainable, resourceful approach by showing us how to use 100 per cent of the fabric, with nothing left over. Such a great goal to work towards!

The Craft of Clothes is Liz’s blog about sewing and fashion, and her earlier book The Dressmakers Companion, reflect her background and experience as a pattern maker and sewing teacher.

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Bring on 2020

On the Textile Beat enews December 2019 is in your inbox now if you’re subscribed, or you can read here or register on the right hand side of this website.

There’s been so much change in the past decade, it is exciting to think about what the next decade might bring. This time 10 years ago, I was on a journey of self-awareness with the Australian Rural Leadership Program. A pivotal decision to stop drinking alcohol (after having early stage breast cancer) enabled me to focus energy in a creative and purposeful way. Through Textile Beat, my background, interests, skills, experience and knowledge have come together to influence change and create awareness of more sustainable ways of dressing (Here’s one of my early Stitch in Time columns). Since 2013, I’ve had nearly 600 engagements around Australia spreading ideas for reducing our material footprint and have seen so much change in that time. I’ve been awarded a Churchill Fellowship based on that work which enables me to travel to Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe next year to investigate ways that upcycling/mending can help reduce our textile waste and enhance wellbeing. Wishing you and me well for our next decade of life.

Sewing a fresh seam 

By Jane Milburn *

Sowing or sewing? If you are a gardener or a sewist, you reap what you sow or sew. While there are many gardeners among us growing some food, there are fewer sewists making their own clothes.

In the same way many are sowing seeds to yield nutritious home-grown, local, natural food, it is time to invest energy in sewing local natural clothes.

With global supply chains pumping out 80 billion garments each year, most people have lost sight of where and how things are made, and what from. Slavery combined with increasing use of synthetic/plastic fibres, has led many to buy two to four times what we used to, resulting in waste and pollution, and a loss of skills and knowledge about clothes.

Over the past two decades, globalisation and production efficiencies have meant it is cheaper to buy clothes than make them. We’ve got used to affordable, ever-changing styles. Shopping is addictive and we’re encouraged to buy quantity over quality for the good of the economy. It is only when we stop and think about why clothes are so cheap that we come to understand they are not properly costed, that exploitation of people and resources exists in the system.

Each of us influences the future of the fashion industry through our buying choices. Surely the beginning of a new decade is a great time to turn over a new leaf. Let’s think about fewer clothes of better quality that we wear for longer.

Author Jane Milburn with Julian Roberts from Royal College of Art London at the Fabric subtraction-cutting workshop held at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

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Reuse to reduce textile waste

WornOut is an annual showcase of creativity and resourcefulness organised by Reverse Garbage Queensland to showcase designers working to reduce textile waste, with the 2019 theme being The Future of Waste.

As ambassador, Jane Milburn said that future really must be for us to waste nothing – and invest creative effort to keep materials endlessly circulating. Jane and ABC Brisbane’s Rebecca Levingston co-hosted this year’s event.

Rebecca Levingston and Jane Milburn co-hosts of WornOut 2019

‘There has never been a more important time to change our thinking and actions around reuse – to fully value and appreciate our planet’s precious resources,’ Jane said.

WornOut  is now in its third year and taps into the global awakening about social and ecological impacts of the fashion industry, which contributes up to 10 percent of humanity’s carbon emissions. It is curated by Elizabeth Kingston, supported Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, and was held on November 23 at Princess Theatre with showcases of refashion, wearable art and cos play.

Jane said the purpose of the WornOut showcase is to:

  • invest human energy, skills and creativity to transform ‘waste’
  • change attitudes about when – if ever – textile resources are ‘wornout’
  • show thrift and resourcefulness thriving in the local circular economy
  • have fun with what we wear in inclusive and diverse ways

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Investigating slow clothing culture

By Robin McConchie

We live in a throwaway society, with an increasing amount of textiles used in the fashion industry made from synthetic fibres and garments produced using underpaid labour. Jane Milburn has a passion for natural fibres and believes behaviour change is needed towards dressing more responsibly, wearing clothes for longer and limiting the amount of textile waste thrown into landfill each year.

Using her campaigning and making skills, Jane created Textile Beat in 2013 and developed a 10-point Slow Clothing Manifesto of ways to reduce our material footprint. During the past six years, Jane has advocated for change across Australia through more than 560 engagements.

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Jane Milburn awarded Churchill Fellowship 2019

Jane Milburn of Textile Beat has been awarded a 2019 Churchill Fellowship to investigate ways that hands-on upcycling actions can reduce textile waste and enhance wellbeing.

The fellowship will enable Jane to undertake research across three continents to further her work inspiring social change and contributing to sustainable living across communities through slow clothing practice.

“I feel deeply honoured to be awarded a Churchill Fellowship and I believe this recognition will elevate the slow clothing work I’ve undertaken since observing fashion excess in 2011,” Ms Milburn said.

Jane Milburn: Churchill Fellow 2019, Slow Clothing author, Textile Beat founder, agricultural scientist and Fashion Revolution Australia committee member.

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