London College of Fashion = Community Repair = Sustainable Fashion ...

Community repair ...

renewing a tired garment ...

can mean more than mending torn seams...

a re-worked and embellished mens jacket ...

a moth eaten coat ...

now embroidered with moths ...

a trench coat lined with patchwork.

The fabulous project, Strategic Repair, explores the idea of reciprocity through the act of making together and connecting within communities, using an existing starting point of value and developing that value.

Throughout the project, students explored how craft skills among members of their local communities can be mobilised for the repair or adjustment of a garment; and how the compassion for a garment, the crafting of a shared memory and the mending of a social skin can be the needle on which the thread of gifts and exchanges can stitch up a shattered community.

Loving the notion of sharing and caring ...
an excellent idea ...
workable in any community ...
maybe even yours!

more HERE.

Victorian-Era Dress + 1000 Beetle Wings + £50,000 Restoration = phenomenal sewing history ...

The restoration team re-attached the wings that had fallen off ...

that had been collected during the years of storage ...

patched the 100 or more broken wings ...

using small pieces of Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste ...

it took 1300 hours and £50,000 ($81,000) to restore.

Now the glittering emerald gown ...

originally made from 1000 beetle parts is ready. 

Read full story here.

Make a T Shirt into a Skirt courtesy designer John Patrick ...

Place your T-shirt on a flat surface.

Mark off the desired length of your skirt from the shirt’s hem up to the underarms.

Chop off the top of the T-shirt (including sleeves) with scissors so that you’re left with a rectangular tube of fabric

At the end of the tube that is not hemmed, grasp one layer of the fabric and cut a small slit about 12 cms down one side of the fabric.

Only cut one layer. 

Leave the layer that will be the back of the skirt intact.

Grasp the two ends of the fabric and tie them together.

Tie them as tightly or as loosely as you like till you get the perfect fit

You could take old silk scarves or printed fabrics.

Go really wild and use ribbons, trim, and scraps.

Isn't this fabulous, so easy!

More about John Patrick and his organic fashion HERE.