Now if I can believe there would be a resurgent interest in sewing among the younger generation of women, that would be cool. Looks like need to economize might be an underlying driver, amongst other reasons, like "upcycling" not recycling. A new fashionable twist on transforming a old/cheaper garment into something even more contemporary/fashionable for today:

Refashionistas are sew ahead of the pack
HEIDI SOPINKA

Special to The Globe and Mail

October 18, 2008

At this month's fashion week in Paris - the world's luxe central -Vivienne Westwood had a word of advice for those wringing their hands over the economy. The British designer and former grand dame of punk sent models down the runway in repurposed garments and swathes of unstructured fabric. Some carried cute little hobo bags on sticks. Her message for fashion addicts? Do it yourself.

Just as the design world is seeing a trend to "upcycling" - creating high-end objects out of discards - serious fashion is seeing a back-to-the-bobbin movement. Unlike knitters, who trade delayed gratification for the Zen-like meditation of knit and purl, sewers find pleasure in their rapid and resourceful output.

While the movement is infused with a definite eco-consciousness, there's also the notion that everybody can be a designer, fuelled by shows such as Project Runway.

"There is a certain demographic that have begun to take up sewing - younger women in their 20s to 40s," says Karyn Valinos, owner of The Workroom, a new sew-by-the-hour studio in Toronto's Parkdale district.

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"A lot of people will say, 'My mom and my grandmother sewed. It's something I feel I should know.' "

The sewing industry has taken note. Pfaff, manufacturer of high-end sewing machines, has just unveiled its largest introduction in its 146-year history. Equipped with LED lighting, graphic displays, and free-motion sewing capabilities, these machines can make designers out of dilettantes.

Unlike the sewing circles your grandmother might have stitched in, the new seamsters are also plugged into a world-wide sewing circle - on-line.

"There's no question that Websites such as Burdastyle.com, blogs, chatrooms, Flickr, and YouTube have become a huge part of the craft community," says Valinos.

She admits that before opening The Workroom, she spent a lot of time at her office job surfing sewing blogs. "Part of me wanted to say, 'Yeah that's really cool to know what a girl in Washington made over the weekend,' but I felt that there were people making connections on-line who may never meet each other, and that there should be an off-line community too."

Charlotte Griffin, 25, who works in post-production for television, happened to walk past The Workroom one day and "instantly fell in love. I've always enjoyed sewing, but moved around way too much to own a sewing machine, so it's the perfect place for me." Griffin says. "I really aspire to a life where I am self-sufficient, and sewing plays a huge part in that."

Another Workroom habituée, Lauren Bunton, 26, echoes Griffin's environmental concerns. She's interested in the bricolage aspect of refashioning, trickled down from such uber designers as Belgian Martin Margiela. His line of "garments remodelled by hand" have included a leather jacket made from old footballs, a raincoat fashioned from umbrellas, and a dress of hand-braided silk scarves.

Many "refashionistas" are followers of Australia's Nichola Prested, who created the Wardrobe Refashion pledge (http://www.nikkishell.com): "I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of 'new' manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 /4 /6 months."

Fellow seamsters are instructed to make or recycle clothing from pre-loved items, which can involve massive surgery or simply refitting or mending (the most eco-friendly fabrics are those that already exist). Thanks to Prested's collaborative blog and Flickr group, more than 1,000 devout worn-agains around the globe have joined the cause.

Rita Gramsch, president and founder of Toronto's Creativ Festival (http://www.creativfestival.ca), whose 21st takes place this weekend, agrees that refashioning is a big part of the sewing surge. This year's show is challenging student designers to use thrift shop clothing and revamp it into something stunning.

"I've taught classes where we take a T-shirt and transform it, or take a men's dress shirt and reform it into a fitted blouse," Valinos says. "It's definitely something people find really exciting. To go to Value Village and get a $2 T-shirt and then make it really cute."

And if you have always been afraid of sewing, Valinos points out that perfect French seams and slavishly following patterns are a thing of the past. With even serious designers favouring frayed edges and obvious stitching, "now people can wear something that looks homemade. There was a time when that wasn't cool.

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