Happy Newvember!

I am really excited to be involved with so many resourceful events and initiatives this month helping us to make the most of what we already have, be less wasteful and prolong or breathe new life into our belongings (and mindsets!) I hope you can join Fabrications at one of the following events! 

Hackney Fixers proudly presents 'The BIG Fix' 

Hackney's first festival of fixing! At St Mark's Church, Dalston, Saturday 21st November, 11am - 4pm

There is an impressive line up of experienced fixers to help you and teach you how to repair all kinds of items: electrical goods, electronics, clothing, chairs, bikes and more! Start getting ready with your stuff! 

Fabrications: Bring along an item of clothing to refresh. Learn patching, darning, sewing and alterations.

The Restart Project: Their fixers work with you to repair your gardgets (including mobile phones, laptops, printers, kitchen appliances and more!)

Hackney Bike Workshop: Fix your bicycle. Safety check, tyre check & pump up. Brake & gear adjustment & lubrication.

The School of Stuff: Chair repair surgery. Get sdvice and learn techniques for fixing your chair.

Traid: Protect your winter wardrobe, make a natural origami moth deterrent 

Eco Active: Make useful wallets, bags & beads from recycled materials.

Sugru: Demos and ideas on ways to use this amazing 'mouldable glue' or '21st Century duck tape!' which has become a globable fixing phenomenum - manufactured in Hackney!

Sustainable Hackney and Hackney Council's recycling team will also be on hand to provide information on recycling, waste prevention and re use.

 

 The Upcycling Academy is back! This time we will be at the Christmas Bust 'Craftacular' 

at York Hall, Bethnal Green, Sunday 22nd November, 11am - 5pm

'Craftacular' is one of London's largest and finest indie maker events. 'The Upcycling Academy' is an educational model created by Barley Massey (Fabrications) in conjunction with Traid, War on Want and The Craftivist Collectrive. Our aim is to start conversations and feel inspired to adjust our actions through hands on learning into textile waste, creative upcycling and better fashion industry practises.
 

Create a sweater bobble hat with Traid – 12-2pm – £5 – book here
Customise a Christmas jumper with Fabrications – 2-4pm – FREE* (bring your own jumper or Traid will have some to prchase before the workshop)
Fuse activism with craft and write a secret scroll with Craftivist Collective – 3- 5pm – FREE

Up next is TRAID's  #SecondHandFirst week which celebrates the power of second-hand to change the world by keeping the resources we already have in use for longer. It was launched by TRAID in 2014 and their key aim is to increase the number of people committing to wearing and sourcing more of their clothes (and other resources) second-hand, rather than new. The week will be packed full of events and actions, both in the UK and across the globe, to connect you to the huge environmental and social benefits of second-hand. Join Fabrications for our special #SecondHandFirst 'Darn it! Patch it! PARTY  at Fabrications,  Thursday 26th November, 6.30 - 9pm

Want to 'Refresh your Wardrobe' and unlock it's value? This is a regular class at Fabrications, because we love to pass on clothing care & repair techniques and inspiration all year round! Check out our CALENDAR for up and coming workshops and events! 

It's Traid's #Secondhandfirst week!

I was invited to guest write on Traid’s blog this week, so thought I'd post up a copy with a few more pictures on my own blog as well! This week Traid has initiated the first hopefully of many  #Secondhandfirst week, jam packed with interesting activities encouraging us to take the #Secondhandfirst Pledge. It is a great great initiative which also highlights the ways we buy our clothes and a reminder of all the environmental and social problems in the textile and garment supply chain. We all have the capacity to affect these problems in positive ways as conscious consumers and citizens.

The volume of textile and clothing waste in the UK is quite staggering (Source WRAP: 350,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill every year. 30% of our unwanted clothes goes to landfill. 60% of UK households have unwanted clothes & textiles at home) We are throwing away or just hoarding valuable resources!!

In the ‘Hierarchy of waste’; reduce and reuse are at the top of the pyramid. For me this way of thinking and being is very easy. I was brought up on a diet of second hand being careful. Hand me downs (or hand me ups!) was the norm without any shame or stigmas that today’s youngsters seem to feel. As a teenager (and continues to be so!) sourcing clothes from charity shops was fun, a great source of individuality, re styling possibilities and affordable! I still take advantage of Traid’s famous £2 sales!! As I enter my mid years I also appreciate the emotional durability of second hand, especially items from older relatives which hold memories, stories and history. Many vintage clothes were made to last too.

Care and repair is an important part of making our old clothes go further and re connecting with the joy in fixing and looking after items. Tired old clothes gives us an opportunity for re styling an item giving that buzz of wearing something completely different and you had a hand in making it happen! I have observed a skill shortage and lack of confidence in being able to do this. Back in the day these skills would have been passed on through the family or taught in school. This has motivated me to run regular classes in learning to sew and refreshing your wardrobe through simple alterations, mending, darning & embellishing and these classes are popular which is heartening!

Upcycling adds value through creativity and design. Items too damaged for re use present an opportunity for transformation. A few years ago I iinitiated ‘The Upcycling Academy’ to give young people the opportunity to experience a ‘Productive Line’ to re imagine a different approach to fashion, to create rather than consume. Partnering with Traid, War on Want & the Craftivist Collective, we each added ‘Values’ along the line.

Taking inspiration from ‘Cradle to Cradle’ thinking, imagine a garment circulating through many owners in its lifetime? (Truthfully many garments never reach their full potential in relation to resources, energy used to make and distribute the item)

I love the recent trend for Clothes Swapping or its older sister ‘Swishing’. Jo of Mrs Bears Clothes Swap tells me that that she has regulars who use her swaps to ‘rotate their wardrobe’ – brilliant!

Wonderfully TV programmes such as ‘The great British sewing Bee’ which added an upcycling / alteration challenge to the second series and ‘This old Thing’ (the vintage clothes show) have inspired the nation to look at old clothes and lost textile skills with a fresh passion. Even Coronation Street discussed the possibility of an ‘upcycled wedding’! It’s all good!

So now over to you dear reader! Get involved and feel inspired! There are a range of fun activities taking place during #Secondhandfirst week.

My next Fabrications craft club on Thursday 20^th November is a #Secondhandfirst themed evening with a clothes swap upstairs in the shop and revamp / mending session downstairs in the workshop. More information and Booking info.

P.S: All the featured projects in this post use clothing sourced from Traid!

Waste Less Live More

 

Today is the first day of 'Waste Less Live More' week. An initiative by 'Keep Britain Tidy' to raise awareness that environmental and social issues are interlinked and tackling these issues together is a far more effective solution. This year's theme is 'Be Resourceful', which is right up Fabrications street!

 I was approached by the 'Love your Clothes Campaign' to share one of my garment upcycling ideas as part of their 'Waste Less Live More' daily updates in collaboration with the 'Centre for Sustainable Fashion' . Between the two of them they will be streaming lots of tips and advise on how to get the most out of your old clothes in fun, practical and stylish ways. So make sure you tune in to their daily updates this week!

So here is my tutorial on how to transform a man's shirt into a stylish summer top. Time to raid your Father's, Brother's, Boyfriend's wardrobes! Thankyou Ali from Love your Clothes (London's arm) for taking such great pictures to illustrate how it's done. 

 

 

Step 1 -  Iron out any wrinkles to prepare for ....

Step 2 - Cut off the arms and cut through front and back of shirt in an even , straight line. Avoid accidentally cutting through a button! (which your scissors won't be very pleased about)

 

Step 3 - undo the buttons down the shirt front to reveal the inside back panel where you want to measure down 2" from the cut edge, put in a row of pins or mark with tailor's chalk.  

Step 4 - Folding under at the beginning and end (to hide raw edge), pin cotton tape (1" wide) along the row of pins / chalked line from side seam to side seam.  

Step 5 - Measure down 1.5" to add a second row of tape as per Step 4.  

Step 6 - Attach cotton tape to the inside (back panel) of the shirt by stitching along each edge, creating a decent sized channel for threading elastic through.

 

Step 7 - Attach a safety pin to your elastic (I used 6mm elastic) and thread through each channel, using the safety pin to secure the elastic at each end while you determine how gathered the back panel needs to be to fit your body. This can be done roughly at this stage and tweaked later to get a better fit.

 

Step 8 - Now it's time to play with the sleeves to make straps. Find 'Centre Back' and mark with a pin. Temporarily pin the sleeve cuffs on the front and lift sleeves over your shoulders towards the Centre Back pin mark. Now you know how much of the sleeves to cut down!

Step 9 - Set the machine to the longest straight stitch and run along the newly cut edge through both sides of sleeves (opposite end to cuffs) Pull on either top or bottom thread to gather.the fabric.

 

Step 10  - Pin both cuff ends facing down on top of outside of shirt fronts ('Right Sides Together') either side of the button opening and 'Stay Stitch' in position (stitch as close to the edge as you can, this stitching is just to help you for the next step.

Step 11 - Pin the cotton tape along the stay stitch line and just along each shirt fronts (not the back panel yet!) This time fold raw edges on each end of the cotton tape towards you (as this will get folded over as a hem later)  

 

Step 12 - Position the other end of the sleeve straps either side of your 'Centre Back' pin. Repeat same actions as Step 10 - pin 'Right Sides Together' and 'Stay Stitch' in position.

Step 13 - Attach cotton tape to the back panel, following the same method as Step 11

Step 14 - Fold the cotton tape over creating a hem in 3 parts (Front/Back/Front) on the inside. You can use an iron to help press into position neatly. The sleeve straps and any raw edges should be sandwiched and hidden behind the cotton tape.

Step 15 - Pin into position and stitch down the remaining cotton edge along the 3 sections of the shirt. 

Step 16 - As you've stitched the tape in 3 sections, you should have a neat opening on the back panel to thread elastic through to add a third level of elastication on the back.

Step 17 - Final touches! Pull elastic in all 3 channels to fit your body or ruched how you like it! Once happy cut back any excess elastic and hand stitch to anchor on the inside of each end the cotton tape channel.

As with many upcycling projects you will be led by the size and style of the shirt to create many variations on a theme. The blue shirt was an XL so needed more gathering on the back panel. On the purple gingham I also gathered the middle section of the sleeve straps to create a different finish. The possibilities are endless! Happy Upcycling! I'd love to see what you create! Please post your pictures on my Facebook or Twitter pages with the #wllm14

The Upcycling Academy at this year's Knitting and Stitching show

 

 

Last month, I took my 'Upcycling Academy' experience to the Knitting and Stitching show. Now in it's third year the aim of the Upcycling Academy is to raise awareness and 'create change' to the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry through creative and thought provoking activities which can be delivered at large events or in smaller gatherings. Recently 6th form students at Woodford High school, engaged with the Upcycling Academy team on their induction day. 

 

 

As well as adding value through creativity and design, the Upcycling Academy promotes the value of working collaboratively and collectively. I approached Traid, War on Want and The Craftivist Collective to bring their perspective to the experience and give participants a well rounded picture.
 

 

Here is our 'productive line' of workshops. The spirit of The Upcycling Academy was well captured in pictures this year by Rosie Allt, who kindly offered us her photography skills.

Brother sewing UK supported the 'chop & change' upcycling of clothes area with their easy to use NV10a sewing machines, which worked like a dream in this busy area.

 

 

This was a quiet moment!! A hive of activity and discussions.

 

 

Fabrications recycled rosettes were popular again!

 

Traid's 'Sew Good' workshops appealed to all ages

 

 

Here is the lovely Sarah Corbett, founder of the 'Craftivist Collective' who joined The Upcycling Academy team for the first time this year. She created a hand stitched petition in conjunction with War on Want's 'Love Fashion Hate sweatshops' campaign.

 

Participants were invited to add their hand stitched signature to the petition. Extra fabric was needed by day 2 as the embroidered signatures over spilled the petition.

 

Here I am (Barley Massey) showing people a variety of upcycled textile techniques, including 'MACRO' knitting & french knitting and peg loom weaving,

 

A beautiful atmosphere was created, with all kinds of people coming together to try new skills, share ideas, experiences and talk about the issues the Upcycling Academy provokes.

 

Some thoughts on Collectivism

These thoughts have been whirling around my mind for some time now, perhaps even most of my life, having been brought up in rural North Wales in the 70's where a sense of community and working together is embedded into the welsh culture.


Somewhere along the line, there has been a prevailing attitude of  "look out out for No 1" and not to worry about or look too deeply at the consequences of our actions on others. (positive and negative)

Recently at the Holloway Arts Festival, Rowan Arts screened Ken Loach's film "The spirit of 45" which I went along to watch. It is a powerful and rather upsetting (I cried at the end!) documentary style portrayal of the re building of Britain following the second war including the creation of social welfare, the NHS, the railways, manufacturing and employment and then the slow disassembling, erosion and privatisation under the election of Margaret Thatcher in the 80's. Ken Loach juxtaposes archive footage of soldiers and working class people declaring "We came together to fight the war, we can now come together to work for good" versus Harry Enfield's "Loadsa Money!" character.
                             

When I set up the 'Upcycling Academy' 3 years ago with the aim of raising awareness of the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry, I also wanted the Upcycling Academy to promote and demonstrate the power of collaboration. To bring together different independent organisations working together to deliver a message / activities, actions in a fun, creative and informed way. So I approached Traid, who approached War on Want.

The first Upcycling Academy took place at the Knitting & Stitching shows. It was interesting to observe the overwhelming feedback we received from an older generation on how good it was to see different organisations working together in this way and how unusual it was! Has the spirit of 45 really been lost?

As Nadia Idle, outreach officer at War on Want succinctly put it in her recent post on the Craftivist Collective's blog " The value of the collective, of coming together to act. Let us reject greed and profit as a motivation and rejoice in activities that bring us together to make things better for ourselves and others"

The Upcycling Academy will be taking place once again at this year's Knitting & Stitching show at Alexander Palace. Thursday 10th - Sunday 13th October. This year the Craftivist Collective are joining forces too.
Why don't you come along too??

Water - Colour

It's London Design Festival time again! Last night I attended the opening of Katherine May's 'Water-Colour' installation at the new Precinct space at the 'Arthouse' on Richmond Road in Hackney and what a special experience it was. I'm looking forward to seeing how the installation evolves over the next few weeks and beyond....

The installation brings together Katherine's sustainable textile practise which focuses on cloth and community , her recent MA research and cleverly references Arthouse's past life as a laundry.
Up above in the tall atrium, dyed silk cloths gently whisp about from a series of washing lines, while below a series vats of blue liquid covered in bubbles await the next submerge of white cloth.

Here is Katherine and blue was definitely the colour of the evening! The vats contain the natural dye 'Indigo' produced by the plants leaves. The process is truly magical as the cloth goes through a range of shades during the dying process from green to deep blue as the dyed cloth oxidises with the air at the drying stage.

Over the course of the installation time frame, cloth will be dyed daily until the dye vats are exhausted. The washing lines will fill up with cloth journeying through slow graduations from dark to light blue. The Dye vats will then get replaced by a sewing work space and the making of the cloth into quilts.

The Water-Colour installation has been designed to raise awareness of water consumption in the production and use of textiles and aims to reconnect us physically to water through a direct experience of handling water in a dye vat. As the space filled up with visitors, it was certainly mesmerising watching the dyeing process, which was attracting quite a crowd!

Over the next 2 weeks there is also an exciting programme of talks, workshops and events taking place within the installation. I've got my eye on the following:
Emma Rigby's  (co founder of the Dalston ethical fashion store 'Here Today, Here Tomorrow) 'Garment Polling Station'.
Emma Neuberg's (Slow Textiles Group) workshop on Sashiko, a decorative reinforcement stitching from Japan.
Katherine May's patchwork and mending workshop inspired by the Japanese technique Boro.
To find out more and book visit Precint's Eventbrite page.

DIY Christmas!

As the festive season is nearly upon us, here at Fabrications HQ, I'm planning a "Re design Christmas Craft Club", taking place every Wednesday, starting this week. Inspired by the book "Why don't you Re-Design Christmas?" published by the organisation Re Design (and featuring some ideas by me and on sale at Fabrications!) the aim of the club is to demostrate different resourceful gift and decoration making ideas which are quick and effective, money saving, recycled and beautiful and we guarantee you will have fun with others while doing it! I've also invited along some eco designer guests - Rebecca Alderman (Girl with Beads) and Annie Sherburne to share their expertise.

 

MORE INFORMATION & BOOKING:

 

Week 1: Upcycled Christmas Decorations. CLICK HERE 

Week 2: Bows, Ties & Bow-Ties. CLICK HERE

Week 3: Personalised Santa Sacks. CLICK HERE

Week 4: Lovely Bubbly Fascinator Party. CLICK HERE

Behind the Seams!

I had a little film made about me recently by Story as part of series of films 'Uncovering East London' for the new Westfield shopping centre (Stratford) website.
I was quite surprised that I had been chosen as my independent cottage industry is the antidote to this global chain of shopping malls. But it's a positive portrayal ,and I'm always for looking for mainstream channels for getting my environmental, social and value of craft messages out there. Hope you enjoy it!

Behind the Seams photos thanks to Story!

Green Goddesses

Shoreditch Sister's July meeting focused on the environment. For those of you who may not have heard about them, they are my local WI group and have been incredibly successful is attracting a range of women of all ages and backgrounds to join the WI. As well as providing a meeting point, support network and skills exchange, they are also very active in campaigning for women's social injustices. Recent campaigns include female genital mutilation 'Embroideries'

WEN (the Women's environmental network) were invited to talk about their aims and the projects they are currently engaging in and I was invited to run a little crafting session, so I showed the sisters how to make a shopping bag out of an old t-shirt!

There was an even bigger turn out than usual apparently, following the Shoreditch Sisters interview on Radio 4's 'Womens Hour'. I found the meeting very open, welcoming and fun!
The secretary Caroline Brooks generously helped me in the Upcycling Workshop area last weekend at Vintage at the Southbank - which I will be reporting in my next post!

Get Real!

* * NEWS JUST IN * from Hannah, there are still places available on her bargain workshop as part of Hackney's Real Nappy week. Over to Hannah:

Create your own wetbag for storing nappies (and later perhaps wet clothes/ swim stuff!) and washable wet wipes at Thursday 19th May 1-2pm The Create Place in Bethnal Green. £2 for an hour workshop including materials and tuition. Limited buggy space available. Only 12 people per workshop so book asap!

Disposable wet wipes are just rubbish! They are expensive, can't be flushed down the toilet, are very slow to biodegrade, and often contain potentially carcinogenic ingredients.

It is thought that all the wet wipes ever used are still festering in landfill sites. Figures from N.America suggest that all the wipes purchased there in one year would fill 9,000 18-wheel trucks, stretching 68 miles, carrying 83,000 tonnes of used wipes! (The Ecologist 2008).

So get smart, save money and your baby's skin and make your own washable wipes and a wet bag from recycled textiles to keep them and your wet cloth nappies in.

Take once daily....

I have prescribed to Dr Emma Neuberg's (Slow Textiles Group) daily brain food! But I got over excited by her recommendations and over dosed (but I'm ok now!)

To be recommended! Click on through!

Emotional Baggage Handling Service 'Hypothecary' area
Glastonbury Festival 2005

Holy holes!

Last year I showed my house mate Claire some simple darning techniques, after she went through her wardrobe and discovered those naughty Hackney moths had targeted some of her favorite garments, including this DKNY knitted mustard yellow dress....

I love her approach to this large mending challenge! - treating the darning as if painting onto the dress from a palette of mustard yarns at the top which blends through to shades of brown that stand out. This dress has been totally transformed and given a new lease of life. With cheap clothing being so readily available mending and darning has become less of a necessity as it once was but perhaps it could become a desirable fashion statement to show off and be proud of restoration or a stand against fast fashion. It's not make do and mend but make and uplift! (thanks to Annie Sherburne for those words of wisdom!)

There are spaces still available on our 'Refresh your wardrobe' workshop on Sunday 13th February, where we invite you to go through your wardrobe and bring in a few items of clothing in need of repair or some love and attention. We will show you simple darning, patching and customising techniques. For more details and info on how to book visit the workshop section on our website.

Inside Crochet

Congratulations to Inside Crochet magazine for their latest issue on slow living, featuring eco and ethical yarns, make do + mend + customising and some lovely patterns, reviews and articles...

I Especially like the one on Independant eco store owners, which e..hem includes a 2 page spread on Fabrications!

Fab's Top 10 green gifts

And herewith starts the Christmas gift ideas at Fabrications.... I will be posting up a few suggestions in the next few days. Kicking off with Fab's top 10 green gift ideas that are kind to the environment...

1) Shirt + Tie cushion (£40) by Barley Massey, old shirts + ties are lovingly washed unpicked and re fabricated into cushions.
2) Sun Jar (£20) by Tobias Wong for Suck UK, a jar that collects and stores sunshine so that you can use it at night.
3) Dot to Date (£12) by Dan Usiskin, a calender printed in a very friendly way that reveals a different London landmark each month with a box that turns into a frame.
4) Envelope Angel (£4.95) by Blue Marmalade, every envelope deserves another journey with these stylish sticky labels.
5) Rethink Rubbish - sustainable gift wrapping kit by Barley Massey (£10) Combine the Japanese art of Furoshiki with 3 vintage scarves and 2 handmade bows.
6) Gift Wrapping service at Fabrications (£1 - £2) If you don't want to DIY, we can do it for you! Pick a scarf from our display and we'll wrap your gift (you can bring in gifts purchase elsewhere!)
7) Why don't you (RE) design Christmas book (£9) by Re Design, make it yourself activities by 33 of (Re) Design's designers for a fun and thrifty Christmas. Includes Snowball pom poms and Woolly chains by Barley Massey.
8) Robin decorations sewing kit (£9.50) by Sparrow Kids. Get the little ones stitching up Xmas!
9) Eco - Frenzy badges (£3.50) by Mark Pawson. Recycling and ecology symbols to wear proudly.
10) Darn It! (£7.50) darning kit by Barley Massey. Everything you need to repair and refresh your wardrobe in the new year in a lovely embroidered bag.