What is it and why should I do it?

Are you looking to work more sustainably, perhaps using recycled or discarded materials? Or might you be interested in incorporating historical fabrics and their stories into your art? Maybe you want to raise awareness about environmental concerns through your work? 

Textiles Who says fashion cannot be sustainable and environmentally friendly? Fashion has long been known for its frivolousness as last year’s clothes and materials head for landfill. Become a 'recycler' of fashion textiles by giving an unwanted fashion/textile item textiles a second chance at being desirable, useful and loved. Students will recycle yesterday’s fashion into up-cycled. Students will use found textiles and fabric to reimagine, repurpose and recontextualise to create new designs. Think soft sculptures, quilts, toys and other impressive reimagining of textiles in new and radical ways.

Skills include: applique, reverse applique, patch work, mosaic with fabric, product construction and using your creative thinking skills. Previous  and transformed individual fashion statements using embroidery, applique, deconstruction and/or reconstruction techniques. Students need to supply the ready-made garment for reconstruction. Previous sewing experience would be an advantage but not essential.