Sew Your Own

I'v been watching a show on ABCiview, called Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts.
It follows six young fashion addicts who go to India to learn, live and work with the people who sew clothes in factories, and sweat shops, and work in the cotton fields.
Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts revealssome of the real inequalities and problems within the fashion industry and the way our economy functions.

I highly recomend watchin it!

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/lifestyle

Sew...after watching that, I feel even more empowered to resist the temptation to buy new, cheaply produced clothes. Below are some pictures of dresses I have made and altered from the op shop.

I found the dress above from the Red Cross, it was too big and went down below my knees. I took it in at the sides and shortened it.
The floral top was originally an old tea towl, I cut out each flower from the tea towl and ironed it on to the dress top with interfacing. I then sewed around each flower with black cotton to reinforce it.
Other little alterations were changing all the buttons and hemming the bottom with a red scalloped stich.
The dress cost $5, teatowl $1.

I got the bag (above) at the markets for $6, it was such a bargain, and is perfect to take food shopping. My mum found a bag similar in an antique shop for $40!!! crazy!

 I got Pip Lincolne's second craft/sewing book for christmas. I love all the photos in it, and there are great things to sew with simple patterns and instructions. I have been making heaps of her Sunny Day Dresses, which I can now whip up in just a few hours.

These were my first two Sunny Day Dresses, the blue one was made from secondhand fabric for $3 from the Salvos, allthough the fabric is very thin and I have to hand wash it. The yellow dress is an old bed sheet ($5) and the best thing is I still have heaps of fabric left over.

My newest dress is this green one, and its now my favorite!! the fabric cost $4 and it is so colorful and happy. To add some detail I sewed one of my nannas old doilies on the top!

Enjoy!