Sherlie McMillan (at rear, in green) getting hands-on in a recent workshop (Photo: Lis Bastian)
Story by Linda Moon
Global problems are creating renewed interest in traditional DIY skills like sewing. Here’s how a local grandmother is sharing her rag trade experience to make a difference and how you can get involved.
Key Points:
- Upcycling old clothing helps the planet, saves you bucks and empowers your creative side.
- Each year 200,000 tonnes of clothing go into landfill in Australia, according to the Australian Fashion Council.
- An ongoing Fashion Upcycling program at the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre is helping train new generations in dying skills.
At age seventy, Sherlie McMillan has a goldmine of skills and knowledge. And the retired pattern maker (for Macpac, Kathmandu and others), and former tutor at New Zealand’s Design and Art College and Christchurch Polytech, has found plenty interested to learn from her.
This year she trained a group of 18 to 25 year olds in how to upcycle fashion. Now, in July, the Blackheath Rotary Club member from New Zealand is back at the sewing machine training the newest bunch of recruits. In a win for all 18+ folk, the Upcycling Fashion program has been opened up to allow adults of all ages, male and female, to join in.
Career opportunities
Since news spread via word-of-mouth that Sherlie could do alterations, she’s had more requests for local work than she can keep up with. “I get so many jobs now that would have been done by the mother of the house,” she said. Things like sewing on a button or taking up a hem.
“You can create your own job if you learn some of these skills,” she said. “Especially in the Blue Mountains where there aren’t a lot of jobs out there. And you don’t need a lot of equipment.”
Sherlie, who has 40 years experience in the industry, taught her own three sons to sew when they were young. “At one stage I’d bring home work and they would be repairing the garments and getting paid for it,” she said.
So what’s involved?
Sherlie (at whiteboard) and eager upcyclers in the making. (Photo: Lis Bastian)
What is upcycled fashion?
It’s the transformation of unwanted or surplus clothing, textiles or scrap fabric into new, unique garments. People can upcycle anything – including their own clothing or something from a thrift store.
A key skill is altering secondhand clothing to make it fit. This might involve letting it out and pattern making – which involves lots of measuring and drawing a flat outline on cardboard to fit the garment to the body, Sherlie said. Another key skill is learning how to repair clothing.
Upcycled fashion can incorporate artwork, embroidery, crochet or knitted elements. “Wool and fabric can all be combined. Artwork looks fabulous when it’s incorporated into a garment,” Sherlie said.
Lost human skills
Sherlie’s interest in pattern making was initially driven by having a non-standard body shape and difficulty finding clothing that fitted her. But most of her sewing skills were gained before she turned 12. “We would sit around the fire and listen to a radio and our hands would be doing things,” she said.
“A lot of these skills are being lost. My dad was overseas in the Second World War and he knitted and repaired socks for himself. It was just normal. There wasn’t the same number of things you could buy. If you bought something you would treasure it and look after it.”
As a working mother before the digital age, Sherlie still managed to find time to mend and look after her family. Thanks to the Internet and ultra-busyness, today most of us feel we lack time to repair our own clothes. However, interest in traditional skills is on the upswing, with experts pointing to the cost-of-living crisis, environmental awareness and other factors.
“I do think some of the basics skills are being lost.” – Sherlie McMillan
Workshop participants enjoy the social aspect as much as learning a new skill (Photo: Lis Bastian)
Why upcycle clothing?
“Environmentally, it’s important that we don’t continually buy cheap clothes and discard them,” Sherlie said. “It’s better we reuse and try to make a garment last longer than one or two seasons.”
“Garments can be made into so many other things,” she enthused. “It’s cheap on the pocket. And you can pick up the most wonderful things. People sometimes don’t know the value of the product that they manage to get in a lot of the secondhand shops in Australia.”
Along with encouraging waste, fast fashion (cheap, trendy clothing churned out quickly) is simply bad news.
Synthetic textiles, like nylon, polyester, acrylic, spandex and rayon, are chemically engineered, petroleum-based products. They can’t break down in the environment.
Fast fashion also contributes to modern slavery, animal cruelty and environmental devastation. “Faux fur” claims, for instance, are often fake – it’s cheaper to produce the real thing. Humans working in the industry face exploitation and life threatening conditions. In fast fashion, ethics are low and cheap toxic dyes and chemicals are common, harming workers and the environment.
As reported by ragtrader.com.au, in March France’s lower house of parliament voted in favour of a bill proposing a ban on ultra-fast fashion.
About the workshops
On a positive note, we can all learn to source ethical fashion, upcycle, swap, buy secondhand and repair our own clothes.
Sherlie’s workshops run monthly, on the first Saturday of the month from 9am to 3pm at the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre at Katoomba. As they’re very hands-on, participants are capped at a maximum of 12, which encourages a cosy closeness. “Socialising has been part of this initial group and friendships have built up over time,” Sherlie said.
Participants are encouraged to bring along their own sewing machine. But it’s not essential to taking part. Nor do you need to know how to use a sewing machine.
“People tell me what they really want to know and I work from there,” Sherlie said. For some this means starting from scratch, for others it might be learning how to understand the tension on their sewing machine. The programs incorporate pattern making and how to fit, alter and repair garments. “I work with a basic T-shirt. But you can turn it into a dress or shirt or a coat or a lot of things,” she said.
The workshops also teach what to look for in a good upcycling piece. In line with a skill-share concept, the idea is that everyone can share what they know and be as creative as they like.
It feels good to make something new out of something old! (Photo: Lis Bastian)
Free Skillshare Saturdays
The Upcycling Fashion Program is a community outreach activity of Blackheath Rotary Club. It’s also part of Skillshare Saturdays, which launched on Saturday 6 July at the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre. All programs are free.
Meet Sherlie and some keen upcyclers in this short video
Take Action:
- Check out what participants from the Fashion Upcycling workshop had to say about it here.
- Contact [email protected] if you’d like to join in or if you have a skill you’re able to share.
- Buy less, avoid fickle fashion trends, shop secondhand, recycle, rent and swap clothing.
- Shop from more sustainable brands. Learn about them from sites like Good On You.
Share this article:
This story has been produced as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health and is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
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